Omaha daily bee., 1906-06-07
ANIMUS OF The CONTRACTORS
Desire Rejection Of City Engineer for Get
ting Asphalt Plant and Laboratory,
INTERESTS OF OMAHA is NOT THEIRS
scheme 60 Defeat DahIman's APpOint-
ment Contemplate. the AbOIi-
tiOn of These Two Eye
sores 60 Them.

Coincident with the enor. 10 GUST An
drew Rosewater as city engineer Is a re-
ported effort on the part of paving con-
tractors to get rid of the chemical lab
oratory of the department and the asphalt
repair plant. Councilmen admit they had
some such plan under advisement on the
plea of economy. and they said they had
BEEN told the laboratory was a useless ex-
p6nse.
That certain paving contractors are the
sources responsible for the rejection of
the city engineer by the council is no Sc
cret For ten years the engineer tried
to get a laboratory established so the
quality OF asphalt and other materials
could, be proven to a certainty and the
city protected and finally succeeded in
Dos when the municipal asphalt repair
plant was put in operation. The repair
plant and the laboratory have been re-
garded as the biggest stride Omaha has
taken in years toward the induction of
scientific and modern methods in public
construction.
DahIman is Determined.
81 do not propose to drop the EFFORT TO
retain City Engineer Rosewater," said
Mayor Dahlman. 81 believe he 10 the
right man for the place ana no one has
been able to dispute this to my satisfac-
ton. Any attempt to abolish the chemi-
cal laboratory should be resisted to the
limit and l shall never permit II II II Is
within my power. To discontinue thu
laboratory would mean a step backwards
and remove one of the most important
levers for protecting the public against
INSCRIPTIONS contractors
II, was never possible to secure chem
Ical laboratory for testing paving and
I b. lfaI g.
plant was built, although Engineer Rose.
water frequently pointed out the urgent
need of the laboratory and requested funds
to inaugurate 1t.
Made Laboratory Necessary.
The repair plant made the laborator,
absolutely necessary and It was put in and
a graduate chemist placed in charge
Since then exhaustive experiments have
| been made to ascertain why certain asphalt
| Jobs have proven failures and others sue
cesses. The first of the year Chemis
KIrschbraun made detailed report OF hi
researches. 1t was announced the engineer
! ing department for the first time in III
history was equipped with exact knowl
edge to enable It to know what proportion
Of ingredients is best for asphalt pave
ments in Omaha. Not only this. but in
position to insist upon faithful work from
contractors and to insure the proper con
struction of every foot OF pavement Tn
expense is something more than 500
month and it is estimated that these tool
alone can save the city hundreds OF thou
sands OF dollars in two or three years
Such laboratories are the most valuabl
factors OF the paving departments of tn
governments of Washington, New Yorl
and other progressive cities. Omahas as
phalt plant and laboratory have been sub
jects Of constant inquiry and inspection
from leading city engineers all over tn
country.
Contractors Oppose Both.
Not only Is the laboratory said TO be &
danger from the interested contractors. bu
the asphalt repair plant is said to be slate
also for the scrap heap. Nothing has bee
more annoying to the local contractors, ex