The Detroit times., 1911-08-30


), American society TOR Testing AatsriAis
uhIll their annual meeting An June al
this year. and our ewn distribution az
this time has covered the cities an 10
The oontrnots for brick With Detroit
were entered into Jan. ,, 1911.
l an. surprised 20 md that the OK
ecutfye head OF the department. u kuD-
tic works has no Jurisdiction whatever
oyer the engineering department.. or
i that the engineering department. has
no jurisdiction and 10 In fact uncon-
nected with the execution OF the spe-
arising from such official organise tion
may be expected With no real d.
| recting head could you ever produce On
automobile? Your mechanical. engineer
---or suppose on your executive head.
shut In his drafting room. with no
connection with the execution OF his
design. should devolve the building OF
an automobile without the aid Of a
| single mechanical assistant-how long
would IL take you 10 develop machine
worth beyond mere curiosity.
Yet under yoru system OF govern
ment. the director OF public works 10
undertaking To- build your streets with
| oIt the aid OF a single trained. OK
perienced engineer. He cannot do II.
His supervising help can neither APP
4 preciate nor understand why this or
Il
| tails are lost sight OF No mora can
the engineer draw plans meeting the
exigencies of the case unless he has
a familiarity with their possible and
practical execution. There is not one
/ OF you, gentlemen. who would tolerate
this condition OF affairs I'm your private
enterprises for one minute. This allu-
sion To your city governmental system
may not be deemed to be entirely with
In the case in hand, but IL Affects II so
materially that IL can hardly be sep
arated from It.
| HASN'T Power 20 Direct.
Under your system you have a pub
lie service director without power TO
| direct; you have an engineer without
engineering function. Your attention
has been directed simply Ia the quality
Your commissioner OF public works
has invited our assistance In the mat
ter OF construction, to which we would
! gladly respond, as We have In the rast
| seven years to other cities, but II Is
obvious that our hands would be tied
as his are.
Without embracing many details that
will be brought out during the inves-
| tigation, this embodies the case es we
see IL and are prepared TO verify every
statement OF fact here declared
BY expert testimony as far as that
Is applicable;
by exposition to you and examina-
tion into. in your presence, all and
every item herein alleged to be fact.
/ Our expert testimony Will be offered
at such times and in any way accept
able to you. We do not see how II is
possible TO expose TO you intelligently
/ testimony of fact except your commit
| tee first visited places and conditions
and p conditions and S
| other way do we see that IL Ii pos
sible to enlighten and satisfy, beyond
any question IL this course Is pur-
sued. not only will our claims be es-
Il tai
clearly OF the belief that no evidence
whatever can be produced In dispute.
Moreover, II cur conception of this In
vestigation Is not covered in the Judg-
| ment of your committee. we gladly will
do all within our power TO meet the
demand and respond, to the best or
our ability. TO any and every question
| you may desire to submit. that you
| may be completely advised to your own
satisfaction We wish to submit. In
connection herewith, our own direc-
tions for the construction of brick
leading engineers Of the country.
An oppressive silence followed the
reading OF the statement by Mr.. Blair.
Public Works Commissioner Haarer
came in toward the close OF 1t and
took a seat well toward the front. At
torney Charles b. Warren, acting as
spokesman for the committee, quizzed
out In the report and from the nature
of the questions II was apparent that
the committee proposes to go to the
bottom of the question before 1t fin
ishes its work. Mr.. Blair agreed to
undertake thorough investigation OF
the streets. OF enough OF them to
show the actual condition existing,
under the direction OF the board.
Commissioner Haarer promised to
lend all the assistance possible in the
way OF men and tools.
Harrer Isn't Ruffled.
IL would like to take TINS commit
tee out to some Of the streets myself
and find out. IL possible. why there
are in such bad condition" said the
commissioner, who did not appear to
be even ruffled by Blair's statement.
In the early part Of his statement,
Mr.. Blair told OF the efforts OF his as
ISOLATION to educate cities as to the
proper construction OF brick pave
ments. Detroit received the informa-
tion along with the rest. When the
statement was made in a meeting Of
the Society for Municipal Improve
ments, in 1907, that these instructions
had been followed In Detroit and had
not given satisfactory results, Mr..
Blair challenged the correctness of
the statement. and he at that time
made an investigation in the effort to
sustain his conviction that the instruc-
tions had not been followed. In the
first street examined, West Jefferson.
In the vicinity of Twenty-frstst., he
found, he says. that not only had the
associations instruction not been fol-
lowed, but had been violated in such
a manner that the life OF the streets.
in his opinion, was shortened by many
years.
Former Public Works Commissioner
William II. Maybury, who was an in
terested spectator. asked Mr.. Blair as
to the condition OF the street today.
1T is in fairly good condition, but
| take IL that the street is not subject
to much wear" was the reply.
What, in your opinion, Is the nat
ural life OF brick pavement
III properly constructed, IL ought to
last so years, without penny of re-
pairs, and that's putting II mildly"
Did you ever see brick pavement
so years old?" Mr.. Warren asked.
No, but I've seen one 20 years old,
on South Clark-st., Terra Haute, Ind,
that Is in almost as good condition to-