MODERN STREET-PAVEMENTS. 89 



less thaw severe direct tests: their engineers had to pile wood 

 upon the asphaltum pavement, pour petroleum over it, and light it. 

 When the fire burned most lively, and there were plenty of red- 

 hot coals underneath, the space was cleared and nothing but little 

 flames were noticed, which immediately died out. G. A. Shaw, the 

 head of the London fire-brigade, who attended, declared expressly 

 his faith in the harmless nature of the pavements during conflagra- 

 tions. There is no doubt that asphaltum pavements may occasion- 

 ally fail, but, when they do, this is attributable not to the material, 

 if unadulterated, but rather to the method of its application, which 

 requires skilled workmen, whose eyes and hands are quick and 

 directed by an intelligent mind. The District of Columbia has about 

 $1,750,000 invested in concrete and asphalt pavements, including 

 the various patented mixtures and the natural asphaltic rock, and, 

 though a certain degree of success has been attained under some of 

 the patents, this does not appear to be uniform and under control 

 of the engineers; nearly all show clear evidences of disintegration, 

 and are periodically in need of repairs or resurfacing, which latter 

 means virtually a failure of the patented process, while the pave- 

 ments of natural rock rather improve by wear, and their first cost, in 

 depreciated securities, was but $4.25 per square yard against $3.20 for 

 the patented admixtures. 



After these explanations, based on personal observations, as well as 

 on the results of the experience of the leading engineers in this branch, 

 the conclusion may well be drawn that asphaltum roads are destined 

 to be the city pavements of the future a destiny which is deter- 

 mined by the progressive spirit of the age, and which cannot be re- 

 tarded for any lengtli of time ; it involves the interests of all, both 

 high and low. If the most elegant and most frequented streets have 

 the privilege to lead the van, it ought to be appreciated that the 

 luxurious life of the higher classes depends upon the strength and 

 activity of the children of the industrious classes as much as upon the 

 toil of the farm-hand who, fortunately enough, is enabled to recruit 

 his sti-ength in open fields ; hence, justice should be done likewise to 

 the demands of health for the poorer classes, who, in consequence of the 

 highly improper laying out of the cities, as bequests of by-gone genera- 

 tions, are frequently doomed to live in alleys and lanes, and these 

 should be drawn into the vortex of a reform which, when accomplislied, 

 will gladden the humanitarian, whose head and heart are in sympathy 

 with civilization in its noblest aspect. 



Washington, March 26, ] 875. 



