The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1910-11-17
.GAAsTRA FAILS TO SEE TEST
Members of the Council and Many In
terested Tax Payers Witness Test
And Are Satisfied With Construc-
tion.


The official test OF the floor of the
city hall building was made On Wednes.
day afternoon and the building stood
every test demanded by the specifca-
tions. In fact it stood a better test
than was demanded. The specifications
provided that the, floors when ready
to be turned over to the city should
stand test of $50 pounds dead weight
for each square foot. In the test on
Wednesday thirty tons of weight was
placed on portion of the floor and it
failed to show any DETECTION.
There was lot of interest in the
test and more than a hundred people,
many of them contractors and builders
turned out to witness the test. After
the test was over these men expressed
themselves as satisfied with the con
struction of the building and many of
them were enthusiastic over the test
that had been made. Alderman Fill
bin, head of the committee on build
ings and waterworks of the common
council was in charge of the test and
he was assisted by J. H. Leland and
w. G. Rath of Milwaukee both re-
garded as experts in steel and concrete
construction. Special invitations had
been given to Douwe Gaastra, Henry
Hastings and other people who had
protested against the construction of
the building but none of these men
did the city the honor to appear to wit
ness the test. Ali members Of the com
mon council was on hand and took an
active part in the test. The portion
i'll the very center of the building
where it was held the strain would be
the greatest. A space IS by % feet
was marked off and on this was piled
bags of cement until the total weight
OF the cement was little over 1855
pounds to the square foot. After the
cement had been piled on the floor
fifty three men were placed on the top
of the mass of cement and they re
NAMED there long enough for several
pictures of the test to be made. Evil
IDENTIFY the builders themselves had
every confidence that the test would
prove correct for the men worked di-
rectly under the piece Of floor tested
and not once during the afternoon was
the work discontinued. The test is to
be continued for several days and the
dead weight will be left on the floors
indefinitely in order to give all the
people of the city chance to see that
the floor meets the test demanded by
the specifications. The men from other
cities who witnessed the testing of the
floor and the concrete beams of the
building declared that the work would
have stood test of more than double
the weight placed on it. 1t should be
remembered that this food was poured
only six weeks ago and that it will
not attain it's full measure of strength
for several months.
The city officials all expressed them
selves as satisfied with the outcome of
the test and all expressed confidence
in the safety Of the building. w. G..
Rath who was in charge of the concrete
work declared that there had never
been a safer building erected in any
city in Wisconsin and that the people
of Kenosha could feel certain that the
General Construction Company had
lived up to its contract to the very
letter,
AS a result of the test it is certain
that the city council will decline to
take any action on the protest made
by Douwe Gaastra and the protest will
probably be laid on the table at the
next meeting Of the council.