The Duluth rip-saw. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1917-19??, 1922-04-15
ASPHALT HAS BEEN CHOSEN
TO PAVE SUPERIOR STREET
~t Might Have Been Worse but the Sophisticated Folk Fail
to See How-Facts and Figures on Asphaltic Pave
ment-Ciy's Mixing Plant Still Missing.

"My Paving Program still pro
,ceeds, profitably to contractors and
Others, presumably, but certainly not tc
the dear old property owners and tax
payers on Superior st.
1t now seems certain, thanks to clever
manipulation, scheming and camouflage
that those who pay the bill for paving
Superior ~, not only have lost the
durable brick, but that they will be
-fleeeed out of $4,000 by the unanimou:
vote of the city council, just the same
as those who pay the bills will bt
fleeced out of 100000 in the Second
st. grab.
The suckers on Superior st. can con
sole themselves with the thought thai
"It might have been worse" for thu
sLeahy 1Glough combine would have
been able to over-charge to the extent
of $4,000, instead of $4,000.
Even city attorney Coe seems to hold
the opinion that cit might have beer
'worse,' for he has been quoted re
>speatedly in the daily papers to the eff
fest that his estimate was over $190, 00C
for asphalt, whereas the contract was
awarded to D. H. Clough for $lS2, 900.
There Has Been Whispering.
There has been whispering to the eff
feet that commissioner Farrell's dong
and steady cry for brick on Superior
st. was clever camouflage and that he
really wished and expected that his
dear friend, Mr.. Leahy, get his long
slender finger into the plum pie. In
the windup, Mr.. Leahy certainly got
a big piece of pie, filled with big plums
aInsistent citizens came to the council
chamber, crying: "Give us asphalt on
Superior street or give us death. y
They got the asphalt easily enough.
When these suckers see the effects of
heavy hauling on that Leahy- Clough
piece de resistance, as Count de Lesseps
would have called it, they may wish
that they had demanded death, instead.
There is whispering, by the way, to
the effect that some of those noisy
boosters may have been richly paid or
even given a rebate on their paving
bills, if they have any, but all that is
another story.
Barnum was right in his estimate of
the American people if the property
owners on Second and Superior streets
*are any indication.
Engineer Goes Estimates.
Mr.. Coe has neglected to supply the
Great Family Journal with his original
estimate of the cost of re-paving this
section of Superior street, therefore it
IL - ,6o&
modifying clauses it may have contain
ed. 1t very properly might have con-
tanned one as follows, viz:
81 have no idea just how hard Mr..
Leahy is likely to soak the poor suckers
along this street in accordance with
our specifications, but it probably will
be over 100000"
In addition to the paving on Superior
St, Mr.. Clough 8 contract provides for
resetting $500 feet of curb at $1.35 per
foot. Much of this curb will be moved
but little, if any, from its present posi-
ton, yet the poor but deserving Clough
receives a price originally paid for this
curb and setting it in concrete few
years ago.
On this particular job, c. R. Mclean
and Olson & johnson each bid 90 cents
per foot. Nothing can show more clearly
-She lack of competitive bidding, for
Clough's price on curb, alone, repre-
sents a profit of about 100 per cent, or
,615.
Cutting Down the Binder.
In estimating the cost of asphalt in a
previous article, the Rip-saw assumed
standard pavement, or one calling for
an one and one-half inch binder course
and twoinch top. 1t now is learned
that the pavement on Superior st. is to
nave a binder course only one inch
thick, notwithstanding the fact that
the Asphalt Association Specifications,
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