Evening star., 1939-10-08
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

are COIlVulCcu tIldI every OIlc VI lIlcu
subordinates is honest,
NV" Sefv'ee effcient and worthy of
IN fhe retention" reads an edi-
District torial In The Star Of Oc-
tober 2, 1889. they will, Of course, In
pursuance of the civil service reform
principle and of the wise policy which
has sought to give the District nom
partisan or balanced local government.
make no changes in the local offices
unless in a few instances it may seem
advisable to correct the effects OF the
use by their predecessors of the local
government as Democratic machine
by replacing capable Republican en-
ployes discharged solely to make room
for Democrats. If, however. any OF the
Commissioners subordinates, whether
high or low in the ranks, are not per-
forming their duties intelligently, faith
fully and satisfactorily. it is as much
the duty of the Commissioners to fill
their places at once with better men
as it is to retain those against whom no
complaint can be made. The local pub
lie will not sustain any attack upon the
Commissioners based upon their disre-
gard of selfish demand that they make
a clean political sweep of the offices
at their disposal, but it may not be
impossible to balance more equally the
representation of the two parties in the
District offices by appointing some Re-
publican residents of intelligence and
integrity, and, at the same time, to bene-
fit the public by giving to it better men
in places whose duties are not now per-
formed entirely to the public satisfac-
ton"
of October 2, 1889, concerning the streets
of the National Capt.
'"P.o'n9 tai indicates the prog
ne O'stF'et ress being made half
Streets century ago in one
phase of civic improvement:
"The transfer of Capt. Thomas w.
Symons from the position of assistant
to the Engineer Commission of the
District brings to mind several of the
important works with which he has been
recently identified in Washington. Dur
ing the last year he has made three
very important changes in the method
of conducting street improvements,
which must result in an ultimate saving
to the District of hundreds of thousands
of dollars. The first improvement con-
sists in the retention of existing cobble
and rubble stone pavements as the base
where an asphalt pavement is to be
substituted. This saves about IS cents
a half million square yards OF this pave
ment in the city the saving from this
Improvement alone will be very great.
The first case in which this was done
was on E street NV between Thir-
teen-and half and Fifteenth streets"
Another improvement was in the sub
stitution of macadam for gravel in
streets to be partially improved. This
macadam is laid at such an elevation
and with such cross-section that when
the street comes to be paved with as
phalt 1t can be retained as the base for
the pavement, thus saving the cost Of
the excavation for a new base and its
putting in place. This will save prob
ably so cents per square yard, and it Is
altogether probable that a million square
yards of asphalt will be laid on this
base within the next 10 years, and three
or four times as much during the suc-
ceeding 10 years. Capt. Symons be-
leves that II this method Of conducting
street improvements in the city Is sys-
tematically carried out, people will have
better roadways than ever before in the
immediate future and that the saving to
the District over the old methods WA
amount to enormous sums"