The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-04-12
SMOOTH PAVEMENT
IS RECOMMENDED
COUNCIL sUB-COMMIT-rEE DECIDES
AGAINST GRANITE BLOCK FOR
BROAD STREET.
SIDE WITH MERCHANTS
SAM COHEN CHARGES THAT Quar-
RYMEN ARE BEHIND THE
MOVEMENT FOR ROUGH
MATERIAL.

Broad street VIII be smooth paNeu
from Tenth street westward az far as
$4,000 appropriation will go, If the
recommendation Of a subcommittee or
the Council Committee on Streets Is
approved by the full committee.
This Recommendation was made
Yesterday afternoon at a meeting at
which advocates of smooth and rough
paving were heard at considerable
length The committee was unanimous
in it's opinion. the members being
Messrs. Powers, J. +. Pollock, Gunst
and Ferguson.
1t was Mr.. Ferguson who made the
motion that smooth paving be adopt
ed. However. no special variety OF
this paving was designated, settle
ment of this question being left to the
full committee.
Without exception, merchants along
Broad favored smooth paxing- among
those advocating IL being John q.
Corley, Sam Cohen, l. II, Kaufman,
and Moses Thalhimer.
On the other hand, there were nu-
mcrous advocates OF rough paving,
such as granite spall or Belgian block.
several petitions containing upward
of LOO names being presented to
strengthen their claims, Signers of
the papers were many wholesalers
who operate teams.
Cohen Makes Charge.
Mr.. Cohen charged openly that
quarry owners were behind the move
ment for granite block and insisted
that there was no real demand for
such pavement
One Of the leading advocates OF
.. block pavement was w. II. Shervin,
who appeared as representative of
Warner Moore & Company. n con-
Germ that does much hauling. Anoth-
err was II. G. Beattie. who contended
| that smooth paving would not stand
| heavy wear and traffic such as is to
| be found on Broad street. Incl
| dentally, he declared that ne neither
| made nor sold granite block. Mr..
| Beattie declared further that teams
! frequently fall on smooth paving
and are killed. Mr. Coriey ridiculed
/ this idea, saying that such animals are
/ nearly always on the verge of starva-
! ton and would fall on practically any
street. MIR. Beattle said he preferred
| Belgian block. laid on concrete
/ base with tarred joints.
w. A. Clarke. Jr. secretary OF the
| Retail Merchants Association. speak
! ing on behalf of that organization,
/ said the trend all over the country Is
| for smooth paving on heavily trav-
| eled thoroughfare. as we'll as on 9TH
| er streets II the city was going
! 10 adopt rought paving. he thought
| II had just AS soon repair the blocks
| now on Broad and save most of the
! money. which has been appropriated,
Differs with Boiling.
( city Engineer Boiling advocated
| rough paving along the car tracks
/ and smooth paving out to the curb
ing. on either side..@ 'riYiss he thought.
| would tend to divert heavy traffic
/ from between the tracks and thus IA
/ cilitate car traffic. Captain A. Il.
! Guigon. counsel for the Virginia Rail-
way and Power Company. took ex-
/ aotly the opposite view. He feared
/ that rough paving between the
/ tracks would attract heavy teams
/ more than otherwise. He asked that.
IL smooth paving from one side OF the
| street to the other were adopted. his
/ company be allowed to lay. a narrow
! strip Of vitrified brick along the car
| tracks SO as to better protect the rails.
1t was pointed out during the dis
eussion that much heavy yehicular
traffic that now goes down Franklin
and Grace streets would in all prob
ability be diverted TO Broad, IL there
were smooth paving on the latter
thoroughfare. The merchants prom
Used 70 see ~ it that Hroad street Isl
kept clean. Thus no objection could
be raised on the ground that smooth
paving would prove slippery for teams
in sieety and rainy weather. 1t was
admitted by representatives OF the
transfers that horses do not slip so
much If smooth pavements are kept
clean in rainy weather.