The evening light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1881-1883, 1883-01-18
THE ALAMO CEMENT.
The Local Manufacturers Reply to Mr..
Burns Communication and
Show that His Complaint
Is GrOundleSs.
The Cement is Good and its Local
Manufacture Deserves EncOur-

Manufacture Deserves EncOur-
agement.
To the Editor of the Evening Light.
SAN ANTONIO, Ten, January E.-Dear SIR
The communication from Mr.. Burns to the
city council, published in the LIGHT of the
18th, does the Alamo Cement Company gross
injustice, and SO reprseents-intentionally
we are sorry to say-the facts he Processes to
give, that we are obliged to asked You to allow
us to make the following statements in Justice
to ourselves and to public intrests.
In the first place Mr.. Burns misrepresents the
communication made to the city council on
behalf of the Alamo Cement Company. That
was called for by the report of the assistant city
engineer, Mr.. Morley, recommending that only
English Portland cement be used i'm pu bile
works. As this cement is liable to variation in
quality and strength, we simply asked that the
city council should fix a standard for cement,
and suggested the test adopted for Portland
cement by French and English engineers
and given by General Gilmore, the
most notable authority ON cements in the
United States, and we further suggested that
i'm view of the large amount of capital we had
invested in the Alamo cement production, and
employment 1t gave TO many citizens, that in
cases where the Alamo cementS was equal in
strength and expense it ShOuld,a u local indus
try, have the preference. We asked no special
legislation in our interests, but simply that if
money should be circulated among our citizens
and not needessly thrown into the foreign
markets. This proposition, you will see. was
simply n measure of justice all round and was
so fair as to commend itself to the unanimous
support of the Improvement committee, by
whom it was adopted. This step was absolute
~ necessary, because if foreign cements were
mentioned in the specification the contractors
would be obliged to use them 10 the exclusion
of local cemcnJs.
The honorable city council, in fixing stand
md for cam nHnl Int
tiOns, is only following the example of the
United States government, and OF many large
citIes,notably New York, Chicago and st. Louis.
Its action, therefore, is by no means unpaSal-
lecd; on the contrary they are carrying out
the first principle of government-protectiOn
of the interests Of citizens
Mr.. Burns alludeS to General GilmOre's re-
port upon 'the results of some tests made by
him for them from cement furnished him pur
porting TO be of their production" which
shows the Alamo cement 10 DC equal and in
some cases superior To foreign cementS by
the term "purpOrtng" Mr.. Burns insidouSly
nfcrs that the sample cement was not manu-
knows that the samples were taken
prOmscuOusly from dement's produced al
our work by Mayor French, City Engineer
Smith and the late Sam ;. Smith, county clerk,
by them sealed and forwarded to General Gill
more with seals intact. The general in his re-
port certifies To this fact, and writing of our
Roman cement "a SECOND grade-states as fol-
lows:
Your Roman cement takes Il very high
rank among cementS of its name and kind,
being superior in quality 10 some impor-
ted Portland cementS offered from time to time
in this market, and il is suitable for all the
various uses 10 which either of these kinds of
cement is usually applied
This proves that there is no doubt about the
bOna-hdes OF the test, and shows clearly the
satisfactory result obtained by it.
As to the alleged bad work on sidewalks, re-
Sulting from supposed defects in local cement:
One is said to be i'll Mr.. +. IL. TerIrlIs block
At the foot of this letter will he found Mr.
Terrell'S opinion and we leave that to speak for
itself. 1t shows that he is satisfied, but we wish
the public to bear in mind one fact-that we
guarantee the sidewalks we lay and repair any
defect Tree OF charge. This Mr.. Burns Will
not do, as Mr.. GroOs knows 10 his cost. And
we defy Mr.. Burns to show more perfect side
walks III his city than laid by the Alamo Ce
nent company, which are superior even to
those laid by him in which he used the much
Wanted and high priced foreign cement.
But the browning injustice is done I'm the al
legged report of the tests made by the assistant
city engineer of Alamo cements.
Now we must remind you that the Alamo
cement Is manufactured in two grades,
the Portland and the Roman. The cement
tested by Assistant City Engineer Morley was
Burns compares it with the recognized test for
the higher grade, Portland, thus dcCeivIng the
public and doing us AN intentional injustice.
But what was the result of the test The fol-
lowing facts will show
Mr.. Morley took samples of the Alamo
Roman and ROsendale cementS, tested seven
days old, and found aS follows:
TENSILE STRENGTH.
Pure ROsendale, 50; Alamo Roman, second
gldde) ~. 1hls unusual result was undOuDt-
eddy the result of II flaw i'll the brick, us the
three subsequent tests plainly showed, because
the same cementS when mixed with three parts
sand 10 one Of cement, the Alamo was found to
sustain 100 per cent, better test, thus proving
it 10 be better and more economical cement.
CRUSHING STRENGTH.
The same cements tested for crushing again
yielded victory. The Alamo pure roman
cement crushed 1850 on Gilmores test of l9gO,
mot.2445, us misstated by Mr.. Burns, that being
the standard for Alamo PortlandD The pure
Rosendale cement crushed az $50, showing, that
Il had no comparative strength with Alamo
Roman cement. When mixed with proportions
of sand the ROsendale cement was still further
behind the Alamo Roman; and III that form had
no comparative value.
This test was evidently satisfactory to Assist
ant city Engineer Morley, who ordered il to be
used in bridge building, and three piers
one on Houston street and two at Abat Ford,
have Deen built with Alamo Roman. Mr.
Cavanaugh, the contractor, expresses his entire
satisfaction at the cement and has since used
large quantities,andi has met with the APPROX
al OF the public Improvement committee.
These facts show that the test with which Mr..
Burns supports his case is misstated and of no
argumenIative value.
But Mr.. Burns, ami all his five supporters
VINO sign MS testimonials, ADMIT the Alamo ce-
meIits are good, but assert that they are not