Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-05-08

ON BITUL|TH|C.
Henry N. DOremus Insists Upon
a Ten Year Guarantee For the
Materials Itat Allentown.

Material Saw ltat Allentown.
Mayor Doremus' position on btu
lithic paving was given in the New
ark Evening News last might, as fol
lows:
In consequence of his observations
at Allentown last Saturday Mayor
Henry MI Doremus made two an
nouncements this morning The FIRST
was that he will refuse to execute the
contract entered into by the Board OF
Works, for the paving of Niagara
street. with hitulithie materials n
that if an attempt is fna~destoscompel
him to do so he will fight it in the
courts. -.
The second announcement was
that in his judgment the city shouid
demand a ten year guarantee on all
contracts that may hereafter De en-
tered into for paving streets with this
material. In taking this stand, the
mayor said that he is convinced that
a guarantee that the pavement Will
maintain it's integrity and remain in
good condition for a period of five
years is not sufficient protection to
the city and to the property owners
who must pay the cost.
The mayor made the trip to AL
lentown for the purpose of inspecting
the bitulithic pavement laid on some
of the streets of that city, and to YER
ify a report made to him by Presi-
dent Eggers, of the board of works,
and Chief Engineer Sherrerd, who
had previously examined the Allen
town pavements. Their statement to
the mayor of what they had seen was
to the effect that the samples of btu
lithic there were not such as to rec
ommend its liberal use on the streets
of this city without a sufficient guar
antee that the pavement will with
stand ordinary use for a long term of
years.
81 was informed that none of the
bitulithic pavements in Allentown
have been down for o than two
years." said the mayor, referring to
his trip. 81 went first to the street
on which the material was laid. There
is a rather steep grade on this street,
the approach to which is across a
bridge. Before reaching the hill,
however, there is IN intersecting
street, and the greater part of the
traffic to and from the bridge is from
this intersecting street. | found that
on the hill where the traffic is light
the pavement seems to be in good
condition, but in the section between
the bridge and the side street, where
the traffic is heavy, there are tracks
made by the wagons that have cut
away the upper surface Of the pave
ment and have exposed the under
layer of small stones. The ruts in the
street reminded me of the tracks that
are cut through the snow in streets
by traffic in the winter time.
"At the immediate approach to the
for wagon traffic. and 1t is not i'm
peded or restricted by car tracks, ]
found the pavement to a width of
perhaps thirty feet crumbling away.
1t had become SO disintegrated that it
was easy to displace the stone of the
under layer with the toe of my shoe.
81 went to another street on which
bitulithic has been laid about eigh-
teen months. There ! found the same
evidences of disintegration. / was
informed that there have been laid in
Allentown about 10000 yards of this
| nnatnpto1 and thnt tho attitude IF tho
city authorities there is that no more
of it shall be laid. l was also in
formed that there is a lawsuit pend
ing as a result of the use of this ma
terial. 1t was instituted, l under
stand, by a man who claims to have
acted as promoter for the company
that controls the material, and who
claims he is entitled to a commission
of twenty-five cents a yard for all of
1t laid. las sts.A
81 am also in possession of infor-
nation that in st. Louis there are
pavements of bitulithic material that
have failed to YEA and have shown
the same propensity to crumble away
that charactefizes the pavements in
Allentown" continued the mayor.
Now, don't to say that I be-
lieve that 1t is not possible to lay this
kind of pavement in a proper manner
with entirely successful results. But
I do believe that before we permit
any more contracts for bitulithic to
be executed, the city should insist up
on a ten year guarantee, so that the
property owners shall be amply pro-
tected when they pay the cost. The
board of works passed a resolution,
over my veto, providing for a five