The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-05-09
| MIR. RECORD y. = EXPLAINS
His Connection With the Hud-
son County Stone Crush
ing Industries.

RfOHt ftC Vtf s&t ~ ANNS
The bill pending in the Legislature which
prohibits the sale of crushed stone by the
county does not please the Freeholders. Al
| the meeting Yesterday afternoon Counsel
| McGrath advised the board to send a protest
to the Legislature against its passage, as tne
! county does not want it The county owns.
| at Snake Hill, two stone crushing machines,
| and can turn out large quantities of stone
I Mr.. McGrath argued that as the county has
Lonly three roads to keep in order, and does
not need all the Crushed stone turned out for
its own use, a greet many OF the prisoners az
Snake Hill would be- idle if the county could
not sell its crushed stohe.A .
The bill was introduceGfor the benefit or
the New Jersey Trap Rock Company, a corr
poration which leases from the estate OF
Abel L. Smith all that portion OF Snake kill
not owned by the county. The company
leased this property two years aGoe, and
| erected large crushing machines, which haVe
been in operation ever since. Trap rock
| found at Snake Hill Is known to turn out
the best crushed stone Of any quarries here
abouts, and brings a very good price. Inc
| county owned O small crusher at the time,
| but as this machine did not turn out enough
! stone for the county roads, a new crusher
| was purchased for $4,000. The capacity OF
| this machine was 200 cubic yards q day, and
as this was more stone than was actually
| REQUIRED, the county decided to sell the
surplus. Consequently the machines are Q
| source of revenue. A great quantity OF
scrap rock has also been furnished, whlch
has been used in filling in the marshy ground
at the county farm. The two crushers also
furnished work for the convicts, and In this
way the men were kept busy.
For a time the county sold It's stone at a
| lower price than did the outside corpora
tions. The corporations objected TO THIS,
| and about three months ago the Board or
Freeholders passed a resolution that the
ao,,,k.y oh 0,,ld call dts ct1pa at the rnUillr
market price. Even this did not satisfy
| the New Jersey Trap Rock Company.
| George L. Record, foreman of the last
| Grand Jury, isipresident of the New Jersey
Trap Rock Company, and it IS said that
| while he was on the Grand Jury ne
went before the Board of Freeholders in
| committee meeting and asked the board to
| sell to the New Jersey Trap Rock Com
| pany ali the surplus stone. The board did
| not take action. The company is very
DESTROYS of maintaining a monopoly OF the
| trap1bck market in this region. 1t Is gen
| orally known that Mr.. Record caused the
| introduction of the above mentioned bill III
Tie Legislature. The Board Of Freeholders
! would not agree to his demands, and now
| the Legislature has been asked to take a
| hand and help him.
Judge McGrath's suggestion that the board
| protest against the passage OF the bill was
| not acted on Yesterday, but the board will
Il IlSeU ARdll uGAUW OCAj WAS NJ
be done.
1t has been limited that the efforts which
| were made by the last Grand Jury to indict
! the Board Of Freeholders were prompted by
revenge.
Mr, Records Version of 1t.
Mr.. George L. Record sends to The JER-
| sEY CRY NEWS for publication in answer
to the above the following statement
etr1 -. -. =. IT,,Jo1, o,,,Au fhraa 1arrn
| stone crushing industries, that Of the New
| Jersey Trap Rock Company at Snake Hill,
| and two other large plants on the Hudson
! River, at Gutenberg. The combined cap
| ital invested in this business in This county
is probably not far from $250,0OO. This cap
| ital is all fmperilled, and the workmen en-
] ployed by it are threatened with loss OF EN-
| ployment, because of the action Of the Free
| holders In selling stone in the markets at
| prices beyond the reach of competition. We
| naturally object TO this, because we think
| it is not fair, and we have striyen
| in every reasonable way to have It stopped.
| The claim that it is necessary to sell the stone
| PRODUCED by the convitts in order to keep
! them employed is not true. The county has
| abundant use for every yard OF stone 1T can
| produce on its own roads, which are poorly
| sustained. When the roads now under con-
| troll of the county are properly repaired, the
! county can make any street in the county a
| county rOdQ, dUu ptOCtou Y iAApAotO ~
| The county has the worst roads in the state,
| and there is absolutely no excuse for the sale
| of a yard of its product.
1.-THE Essex county Freeholders produce.
| broken stone by convict labor, but they put
| it all on their own roads. Our Freeholders
| sell the stone to Brooklyn, New York and
| Bergen county, and let our own roads remain
| almost impossible.
but we have met the county's excuse in
| another way; we lave said to the
Freeholders that if they think it
| their duty to sell stone, we are willing to
| buy their entire surplus at the highest mar
ket price. This would keep the market price
| from being ruinously cut, and would keep
| the c~onvicts at work. But for some reason
/ the Freeholders win not sell to us. Their
| resolution to sell the stone at the market
price does not satisfy us, because the price
| can be actually fixed at any figure for a fav-
| ored buyer by manipulating the measure
| ment of the stone sold. Their refusal to sell
| their surplus to us, and their persistence in
| selling stone at all, when their own roads
| are suffering for it, puts them in the posi-
! ton of wilfully injuring legitimate and inn
, portant industries in the county. This we
propose to stop if there is any honorable
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