Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-06-03
] LOCAL COMMENT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A waiting room at the end of the
North Third street car line will be of
great convenience to the public and 1t
suggests the need of an artistic shelter
of some kind at the corner of Third
street and main. That is getting to be
well frequented transfer point ana
will be more SO next year when the
Third ward line is in operation Let It
be so designed as to be an object OF
beauty as we'll as Of convenience For
the time being ground might be rented
on the vacant corner lot.
The appointment of W. E. lMcLeland
as county auditor was the best that
could have been done as Mr.. tMcLeland
is experienced in that office and proved
himself highly competent when there
before. His friends can compliment
him by writing in his name upon the
primary ballot altho it is probable that
the county convention will do the ac-
tual nominating. However, if more
votes should be cast for McLeland than
for the late A. w. Dobson whose death
occurred after the ballots, had been
printed, McLeland would he the pri-
mary nominee.
A remarkable testimonial as to Mr..
Jones efficiency as member Of the
board of supervisors appeared in the
mails this morning signed by eighteen
prominent business men of this city in
that the names represented both those
who had been for him when he was
a candidate for mayor and those who
opposed MIN then. These men declare
that regardless of past differences we
are for him now and they put it on
the ground that Mr.. Jones is the mNre
competent, in their judgment. to man
age the county's large business affairs
economically and still go forward with
the public improvements that are
needed. Mr.. Jones has been one of the
bes: supervisors the county ever had
and this testimonial as to his efficiency
should be worth more to him than any
nomination or election could possibly
be.
In the paving hearings last Monday
Attorney Bradford sought to arouse
prejudice by claiming that personal
property such as the stocks of mer
chandise owned by the merchants who
were urging the council to improve our
main streets leading into town would
not be assessed under the special levy
Tor the citys share OF the paving Ref
erence to the law discloses the fact
that the one mill levy will be made
upon all taxable property other than
moneys and credits so Mr.. Bradford's
argument falls into that doubtful class
of affairs which would be important
If they were only true.
The Times Republican during past
years has devoted great deal of space
promoting concrete pavement that can
be bought on open specifications with
out royalties for patents and the news
paper has also urged reducing the
width of pavements on outlying streets
SO as to cut down the expense of street
Improvement. Our public purpose has
been to reduce the cost of paving to
such a point that everybody would
want his street paved and the bids this
year havS brought us very close to the
ideal. The same contractor bid Seal
for brick and sl.2Sk for concrete on
inside streets. The old street width OF
thirty feet paved with briCi. at Sc23
per square yard would, with curb at
81 cents foot. cost a sixty foot lot
S2t2.20, whereas the twenty-four foot
street of concrete at Sl.2Sh with the
same curb now costs sixty foot lot
s!i2So, Each lot owner has thus been
saved 500 in the cost of his paving
by modern methods AS to durability
there is small choice Sioux Falls S. |
D.. larger city than MarshaIltown,
has concrete paving twenty six wears
Did which is In use yet When ours
becomes pitted and rough we can sur
ace II with skim coat OF asphalt for
cents per square yard and have a
2ew pavement out OF It. Seven Der
cent interest upon the 800 already
saved TO each lot would surface this
every year with the thin coat
Of asphalt so 1t becomes apparent that
We can never lose on our investment in
altho the inevitable cracks are
lnsightly. This renewable character of
Is what caused the California
state highway commission to adopt
with the skim coat of asphalt
rs the best type OF pavement to outlast
a fifty year state bond issue.
Another new wrinkle In concrete
paving has recently been worked out
in East Milwaukee which would save
sli.70 more for each lot owner with
frontage Of sixty feet. 1t Is a method
of moulding a curb on to a pavement
instead OF sinking perpendicular curb
down into the ground and laying the
pavement up to 1t. The new method
moulds bead or raised edge into the
paving Stag as It is laid and this pro-
vides the curb. Curbs now constitute
thirty square feet Of the paved surface
sixty foot lot. They cost
g. cents per square foot whereas the
pavement costs only Is cents per
square foot. The total saving on thirty
square feet at 40 cents each is $14.7o
to the lot frontage.
4
Under an opinion from the attorney
generals office the city council will
receive this years revenues from the
bridge taxes which are paid by own
ers Of property within the city. The
new bridge needed at the foot of the
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