The San Francisco call., 1909-05-13
CEMENT TRUST
HAS ITS GRIP
UPON BUILDERS
Contractors Interested in Fight
Started by. State Engineer
Against Trust
No Competition in the Commod-
ity Which Is Manufactured
in This State

state Engineer Nat Ellery outcry
against the high price of cement is
echoed by the contractors of San Fran
cisco. His threat to initiate legal pro-
ceedfngs to break up the cement com
proval Cement is a sore subject with
the local contractors. Instinctively
they adopt an aggrieved tone when
talking about it. They complain that the
price is too high, that it may be boosted
still higher at any moment and that
there is no competition among the. pro-
ducers.
There are two reasons why the dis
satisfaction felt by the local contract
ors has not been made public long
ago The first is that they consider
themselves in the grip of the combine
and Judge that it is useless to KICK.
The second is that after the immemo-
rial fashion of contractors, they make
the public shoulder the burden. When
the price of cement scars the million
aire who is building class A sky
scraper and the humble householder
who is ordered to put in a cement base
ment are muIcted for the increase
MADE IN CALIFORNIA
The cement used in San Francisco is
all made in California. Eastern cement
and foreign cement can not compete
in this market because freight rates,
always stiff, have become prohioiIVe
since the transcontinental lines raised
their tariffs. For some few special
purposes the DykerhoH and Aisen &c.
ments, manufactured in Germany, are
used here, but they do not come fnto
competftion with the output OF the
California cement plants.
There are a number of cement manu-
featuring establishments in California,
but they do not compete for business.
All make exactly the same price BY
some this is explained as coin
cidence"; but Nat Ellery. the state
engineer, is pretty generally regarded
as speaking by the card when he de-
clares that it is the result Oh a com
bination which merits the application
of the Cartwright antitrust law
BIDS JUST THE SAME
The state board Of harbor commits
sioners had a glimpse of this extra
ordinary coincidence" recently, when
they opened four bids for supplying
cement and found that all four estab-
lfshments had submitted exactly the
same figures. The Davenport cement
company of Santa Cruz, the Standard
cement company of Napa Junction, the
Golden Gate cement company of
Tolenas, near Suisun, and the Mount
Dfablo cement company. all offered to
supply cement at S1.75 per barrel.
f. O. b.. or to lay it down on the water
front of San Francisco for $3.50 per
barrel
This is not the regular price, how
ever: the state is a favored customer.
The big contractors who buy in i'm
mense quantities are quoted cement at
s195 a barrel. In small consignments
the price is s2.05 a barrel. These prices
are misleading, unless the method of
shipping cement is understood. There
are four sacks of cement TO a barrel.
The sacks are valued at 10 cents
apiece. That brings the price charged
up to $2.35 and s2.45. The price of
the sacks is refunded when the sacks
are returned to the cement manufac-
turers-in theory; but the contractors
complain that the cement manufac-
returned sacks as unfit for use, thus
cutting down the rebate which the
contractors are led to expect. Not
more than rs per cent of the returned
sacks are accepted, say the con-
tractors. So the price of cement, after
the contractors have had their rebates
for sacks. is about s2.05 a barrel for
the big buyers and S2.lo Tor the little
fellows.
BIG JUMP IN PRICE
A big contractor declared yesterday
that the present price of cement was
from so cents to 81 more than the
price paid for the same quality one
year ago. He further declared that
cement cost the manufacturer from
60 to so cents per barrel. leaving
very comfortable profit indeed. To
show that these figures are not
guesses, he pointed out that an east
ern firm made bid of 72 cents per
barrel when the engineering depart
ment of this state asked for prices for
the coming fiscal years cement sup
ply. This state. the contractor pointed
out, can manufacture cement just as
cheapiy as the east; unskilled labor
being employed and oil being used in
place of coal, which Is the eastern fuel