Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-10-22

lost money in the strses-makins business In the
cify OF Washington in 1879. With view 70
protecting himsslf and associates from undue
composition and future losses in the paving
industry he Waited Trinidad in December Of
that year for the purpose Of reconeiling ihe
divers interests TO united action. HIS efforts
were successful Things ran smoothly until
1885, when the colonial government decided
that the fve-acre lot which il had reserved
should be thrown open 10 the market By grant
ing licenses to dig pitch therein
PROLIFIC SECTION.
Now. for the sake Of illustration, suppose that
a company owned a monopoly of a lake Of
water; that il was the only lake Of such water
in the world, and that the liquid was SO prsciou.
as TO sell FOR Ella ton. But let IL be assumed
at the same time that its control failed to in
clude one square yard specifically OF the lake
obviously II that square yard was thrown open
to others unprincipled rivals could get as much
water from that square yard as from the whole
lake. The case was precisely similar with the
pitch lake of Trinidad. lnasmuch a
hole dug in il would I'll mp Immediately
from the surrounding asphalt, five acres
were us good 10 draw from the whole
sheet. Imagine, then, the disgust and dis
comfort of Mr.. A. l.. Barber and his asso-
ciates at the prospect Of such q departure.
which would deprive them of their profitable
grip on the business and make asphalt pave
ments cheap for people of the United States.
Ii was at this critical point. which the river Of
gold threatened all nj once 80 stop flowing that
the genius OF Mr.. Barber showed itself. lie
brought about a concession of the entire
lake for twenty-one years and subsequently
succeeded in having the lease extended for
twenty -one years longer.
THE MONOPOLY COMPLETE.
To secure these concessions Mr.. Barber in
geniously combined large offers Of money with
suggestive threats. On the one hand he prom
ised the colony $4,000 a year for exclusive
rights, while on the other hand he gave warning
that II they were not granted he would make
arrangements for the transferring Of the as
phsltum-prodUcing industry 70 other places
where he had learned of the existence Of avail
able deposits. At the same timo a part of his
demand was that the government OF Trinidad
should not permit anybody TO dig for pitch on
general OF the colony he said: The crown
lands in the vicinity Of the pitch lake
have large deposits of pitch easily OBJ
tainable and equal in quality 10 the
lake pitch. To concede 20 US the right 20
win asphalt from the lake and at the same time
to allow the public TO obtain asphalt from the
lands In the neighborhood Of the lake is 10 de-
prlve the concession TO us OF all value In
other words 1t would break the monopoly. which
must be preserved at all hazards. In the same
letter he goes on TO say: You will observe that
We do not ask the right to win asphalt from
those lands. We merely ask that the
government shall not allow others 10
do So" That was all he wanted. except
that the colony should place export duty of
SLIGO ton on raw asphalt. SO that private
owners of pitch land should not be able
TO ship the product advantageously. The
colony finding itself in dilemma
granted everything and the monopoly was
thus rendered complete. The prospect il that
the price Of asphalt will be maintained by the
company. if it does not go up. and inasmuch
as there IL no reason for supposing that the
lease will not be indefinitely renewed the rea-
sonable expectation i. that tho United States
will depend in the future, in the past for this
indispensable material upon the Barber Paving
Company.