The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1913-09-25


The work on the construction Of the
concrete road on South Park avenue
was tied up this morning when High
way Commissioner NJ. G. Mcclellan is
sued formal order to George Wade,
the contractor on the work declaring
that he would not permit the use Of a
certain brand of cement on the job
and further declaring that he would
not accept more than eight hundred
feet of roadway already completed
The highway commissioner claims
that the contractor changed the brand
of cement being used on the job with
out giving any notice to the commits
sion and that he has caused tests Of
the cement being used to be made and
has found these unsatisfactory. The
commissioner declined to give his
sanction to the demand of the contrac-
tors for payment for the work already
done and notified them that they must
use another brand of cement. The
company in charge Of the work has a
balance Of about $1,000 due on the
work.
When asked in regard to the mat
ter Mr.. Mcclellan said: "The eontrae-
tor changed the cement on this Job
without giving any warning to the
commission and we have no way to
know that the work as done is salts
factory. I advised Contractor Wade
that 1 would not recommend payment
for the road SO far completed and if
they do not get some other brand Of
cement the work will be stopped and
stopped indefinitely. I do not believe
that the cement now being used is up
to what is demanded by the specified
tions. Tests of the cement have been
made and they have been unsatisfac-
tory"
Former City Engineer August Bait
Ter, who is acting as superintendent
for Contractor Wade, was very out
spoken in discussing the matter. He
declared that the cement being used
was q fine grade of Portland cement
ard that it had received the sanction
of Engineer Hirst of the Wisconsin
State Highway Commission before any
of it had been used in the roadway.
He declared that tests had been made
in the Office Of the city engineer and
that these tests showed that the CO.
ment was the equal of any cement
used in road building. Mr.. Baltzer
intiinated that Contractor Wade would
seek to defend himself in court in or
der to secure payments from the
county if necessary.
eff we are prevented from using
this cement it may be necessary to tie
up the work indefinitely declared
Baltzer. 1--WE have made an effort to
get other brands Of cement, but find
that we can not secure them on fair
prices and on fair terms of payment.
We met with the same trouble on the
Grand avenue job and were forced to
seek another brand Of cement. If it
were possible for us to get the brand
Of cement demanded by the highway
commissioner at the same terms as we
got it for the north shore road we
would be using 1t today, but We have
found this impossible. We are anxious
to 60 ahead and finish up the road and
already we have a large sum of money
tied up by the order of the commits
sioner. We believe that Mr.. McGee-
han is wrong in his decision against
the cement. =
It was declared later in the day
that the contractors would appeal d.
rectly to the state highway commits
sion and it is probable that engineers
of the commission will come to Keno
sha the first of next week and make
an effort to arrange matters SO that
the construction of the roadway may
continue. With the cold weather only
few weeks away the contractor and
the members of the highway commits
sion are anxious to get this work out
of the way.