Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-07-11
FINDS FLAW IN
PAVING CONTRACT
FOR PLANK ROAD
Colonel Howard Says Oil Spec
flied Is a Special Brand
of Tar.

Alleging that a clause in the con-
tract for paving a portion of the Plank
road contains m~onopolistic and OBJ
j~ectionable features, Colonel J.. w.
Howard, a local civil engineer, today
appealed to Wallace Ougheltree, direc-
tor of the Essex County Board of Free
holders, not to approve the contract
before a thorough investigation of tho
matter is made by experts.
Colonel Howard arrived in Newark
yesterday after a trip to Denver, Col,
and saw the provision in the Plank
road paving contract to which he OBJ
jects. The provision is as follows:
''The paving oil used for impregnat-
ing the blocks shall be a heavy creo-
sote product, the specific gravity OF
which must not be less than LIZ at Do
degrees Fahrenheit. and not more thar
Is per cent. of 1t shall distill below 6Oo
delrees Fahrenheit. The SPECIFIC gray
ity OF The residue obtained by distlillng
the oil up TO 600 degrees tanrenneie
snail not be less than Lib.
The oil must not contain more imam
3 per cent. of free carbon.
"Fortunately the contract has not
been approved as yet said Colonel
Howard, and IL the Boards or Free
holders of Essex and Hudson counties
investigate properly and Independently
If the sources from which the provision
originated they will probably learn
hat this is a secret, covert description
of a special brand of tar, and not oil
senu.Ae creosote oil.
.Tne material called for in that pro-
,ision will make a dirty, sticky and
larry wood pavement and not as dura-
ble nor as clean as n made by hav-
ing the blocks impregnated with genu-
inc creosote oil, of a specific gravity
between LOB and 1.07, such as has been
used for. more han sixty years. and Is
still used with success. The latter can
also be obtained in the open market
at lower prices thar the Objectionable
tar required In the Plank road specih-
cations.
Sees Danger TO Autos.
1.-The automobile tires and bodies will
lie damaged by the tar called for. In
warm weather the autos will slide and
akid dangerously"
Colonel Howard cited several cases
where the situation was Identical with
the one on Plank road, and declared
the practical ~monopolizing and objec-
tlonable features which had crept into
the Plank road specifications had been
exposed repeatedly in New York and
Chicago, and Mayor Wittpenn, of Jer-
sey City, rejected the same specif-
cations a year and a half ago..
At the next meeting of the Board
Of Trade in October, Colonel Howard
will make on official report of his find
ing, and says as a member of the
streets n paving committee of the
board he will make every effort to
protect the rights of the public In OPP
posing the present Plank road wood
block paving contract.
Freebooter Wallace Ougheltree today
said hat the contract for the wood
block paving of the Plank road had
ueen awarded to the j. r. Stanley
Company, of this city, Inc the VIII.
Jam Baker Company. of Jersey City,
by the Hudson County Board of Free
holders at their meeting last Thurs
day. The Essex freeholders will pass
on the contract tomorrow. Mr..
Ougheltree said that James Owen,
Essex county engineer. had informed
him that the contract was submitted
to the creosote people and that they
were satisfied.
County Engineer Satisfied.
When asked concerning the allega.
ton Of Colonel Howard, Mr.. Owen
said:
we were particularly careful that
there should be nothing ~monopolistic in
the awarding of this contract. l be-
ieve we have succeeded in eliminating
such a thing. Colonel Howard may
talk as much as he likes, but I am
satisfied that we are getting the genu-
ine article and nothing else. He Is
the only person who has objected to
~"
J. Henry Harrison. Essex county
counsel, said the matter has not been
brought to his attention. and therefore
he could not talk about 1t. He added
that John Griffin, counsel for Hudson