Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1911-11-14
Paw
ING The | BEST
That is the Conclusion Of D. W Nor
ris Of Marshalltown After
Careful Study
Of It.
aoEs DEEP INTO QUESTION

- -----.--
Completely Rsfut.. tlhs Statements
II the Advooa,sss q Other
Materials.
a few days ago the freeman-
tribune wrote D. W. Norris Of Mar
shalltown.9yA editor Of the Times Re-
rnmnfhlican.for an article on street
nav,np1/ From time to time Mr..
Norr,sLhas written upon this sub
fact Br his own paper, and after
raad/hg his articles it was the juds-
1t Of the Freeman-Tribune that
~ thoroughly understands the
Question and takes his BEARINGS
kfrom the standpoint OF financially
disinterested party. The following
article, from the pen Of Mr.. Norris.
written before the publication n
these columns Of the Blair letter,
fully justifies the estimate placed
upon his ability to deal with the
question under consideration. me
people Of Webster City are DEFY In
terested in paving and wesaaope ey-
| cry reader Of the Freenian-Tribune
will carefully peruse Mr.. Norris let
| ter from beginning to end. He
writes:
Editor Freeman Tribune: You
win make no mistake in recommend
ing concrete for street paving IN
Webster City. When say this !
speak adyisedly, for have made as
exhaustive study OF this subject
for the past five years as any lay
man could. / became interested IN
concrete for paving through a retir-
ed contractor who possessed good
library and an inclination to study
He came to me to obtain govern
ment reports for him from the road
engineering departments at WASH
ington. When he had converted me
Ii promoted it in the newspaper. Fin
ally our city council decided to
adopt 1t, when suddenly there ap
peared upon the scene q promoter
representing patented concrete
block, who proposed to get away
with a long price for paving
which he could control in the bid
ding, and I fought 1t. The hight
LASTED for two years. in which tine
II read text books upon concrete,
gathered specifications from tweh-
ty-fve different cities, correspondent
personally with the engineering de-
partments Of three state universe
ties and the city engineers and may
crs OF over fifty large cities In the
i United States. / personally employ
ed cement contractors to compute
the cost of the proposed concrete
and the result was that our city
this year has laid concrete pave
rent unpatented but sound at $1.lS
per square yard, when our brick and
asphalt pavements have always cost
us about $500 per yard, and when
the proposed patented concrete
would have cost fully $4,000 more
than fair profit to contractor
had 1t been put through at the price
of $1.98 per square yard as propos-
ed.
| IF anyone asks you what a con.
crete pavement is tell him that y
Is the same thing as concrete
street crossing only thicker and
richer in cement, and extends clear
across the street. We all know that
concrete street crossings have been
withstanding the shock of heavily
loaded vehicles for years as the
wagons strike them from unpaved
streets and are lifted out of the mud
| II anyone argues that concrete 81
a street pavement is experimental
tell him that an asphalt pavement
fuses a concrete base to hold 1t up
that the best brick pavement today
is one course of brick on top OF q
concrete base. II your city council
would let the patentees Of Bitulithit
take them on a junketing trip to 81
Louis to inspect Bitulithic they
would find a concrete base holdins
lup a wearing surface composed u
tcrushed stone and bituminous as
phalt. II they should inspect Sarcc
in the parks of Chicago they would
find a concrete base under wear.
ing surface of crushed rock and
bituminous asphalt mixed according
to Sarco formula instead of Btu.
! llithic formula. It is the same with
mineral rubber. Creosoted wood
blocks, which are the aristocrat'f
pavement because they cost the
most, are laid on concrete base
Practically every known street pave
ment uses concrete in the base Il
q