Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1912-05-22


 "holly to blame, and this naturally
 keeps the official on his metal and
 ne glVes the best service there is in
 him.
 l DellVe the system of payine lib-
 efal salaries to public officials is q great improvement over eynnctino q I eitlzen 10 give his time and attention l to the city,s business without suffi- clent pay. Under this system a man IS expected to give his entire time to the work and there is no reason why l the business of q city should not te 1 performed as promptly and as eff. clently as any private business, and it j is so in Des Moines.
 ] In Des Moines the commissioners are paid $3.G00 each and the mayor S3,3Oo. This is lower than is paid in many other cities The powers of the mayor are no greater than any one member of the council. He is the presiding officer, but has no veto power, and votes with the body. The j council meets in morning session ev- cry other day and each superintend- ent has his department we'll in hand ] and the city S work is promptly per formed.
 One thing we have learned in Des i Moines that Pine Bluff might profit by is that business follows good pave 1 ments and good sidewalks, and no Des Moines business man would per init the deplorable condition of the street pavement that I observe in your city today. In Des Moines we have more than ninety miles of pave ments with les Sthan 100000 inhabit- ants. Under our system all of our improvements of this nature are as- sessed against abutting property not to exceed 9 per cent of the req! value of the property. While this to some may look negotiable, yet in all my experiences I have never known a city to have first class pavements where the improvement district sys- tenn is in effect. A city council should have the right to pave street with out petition of the property owners, if it becomes a public necessity. In no other way can you keep the streets in reasonably good order. always prefer to say a good word for a city than to criticise, but don't recall seeing a city in many years with streets as poorly kept as find them here, both as to cleanliness and the condition of the pavement You have splendid, contemplating city with great possibilities, but you must keep pace with the times if you are going to make your city attractive to outsiders.
 Under a system in vogue in Des Moines any plumber or public ser vice company desiring to excavate on a paved street must apply for per init and before receiving such permit must deposit with the city sufficient sum to cover the expense of properly filling and repaving the street, all of which is done by the city. In this way pavement can be put in it's for mer condition.
 Avoid experimenting in paving materials and in paving. There are plenty of approved pavements that have been tried out to select trom Brick is an excellent pavement with the one fault that after it becomes worn, it becomes noisy. Des Moines has used cresoted block under heavy traffic with excellent results. This is probably the best pavement that can be laid, but it's cost makes it pro- hibitive in most cities. We have used some cement pavement, which IS pret- ty good, but cannot be called first class. We are using more asphalt pavements than ever before and they are giving general satisfaction. We find that the Lake asphalts, like Trinidad and Bermudez, do better in a warm climate than do the Callfor- mia or Texas asphalt. It is very apparent that one reason for the poor condition for your pavement IS that they have not proper foundation. A successful pavement must have