Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-06-05
.G|LLEN TO HALT
BOARD OF WORKS
PAVING AWARDS
Says He'll Ask Courts TO Re-
strain City from Laying
Bitulitl1ic.
CONTRACTS ARE EXPECTED
TO BE GIVEN OUT TODAY
Commissioner Has Collected
Data on Which to Base
Legal Action.

If the Board of Works carries out
its program today in awarding six
paving contracts to the Standard
Bitulithic Company, Commissioner
Charles p Gillen, of that body,
threatens court proceedings.
Ever since he has taken his seat in
the board, Mr. Gillen has been most
bitter in his attacks upon patent
pavements and has contended time
and again that the city Is not justi-
fed in awarding contracts on any
specifications that are closed to all
but monopoly. Recently he has
centred his attack upon the btu
lithic interests.
When seen just prior to the board
meeting, Mr.. Gillen declared that IL
the other members persisted In maxi
ing awards to this concern he would
get out an injunction, restraining the
city from going on with the work. 1t
is probable also that he will seek to
prevent the laying of bitulithic under
contracts that have already been
awarded. He now has this under
consideration.
Bidding Is a Joke.
Bidding on bitulithic pavements un-
der the present specifications APP
proved by the engineers Mr.. Gillen
characterized as joke. Invariably.
he said, there is only one bid, that of
the Standard Bitulithic Company,
which. he declared, was in position
to fix the price to suit itself. 1t Is
impossible for any contractor to COM
pete with this firm on this style OF
pavement, he pointed out, because
they would have to pay royalty on
the patent rights
eff there is no other way in which
to stop these proceedings" declared
Mr.. Gillen, then 1 will seek redress
in the courts. There are several
States which now refuse to allow any
patented pavement to be laid for the
same reason which l have pointed
out-there is no competitive bidding.
To my mind, and l believe that the
courts will uphold my contention, the
city has no right to use. specifications
on which only one firm Is able to bid.
my fight is not only on bitulithic
but on any kind of patent pavement
on which no one but the patentee or
his agents is able to bid. l am in
this fight to the finish"
Last week resolution was intro
duced by Commissioner Albert H..
Biertuempfel on petitions from prop
erty owners, authorizing the pave
ment of six streets with bitulithic
pavement. Mr.. Gillen succeeded in
having this held up for a week. 1t
is this matter which, according to
n
days session.
Mr.. Gillen's Evidence.
Mr.. Gillen has collected mass of
evidence showing what had been the
experience of other cities with the
interests which control the Standard
Bitulithic Company. This material
includes a report made by Chief En-
gineer Morris r. Sherrerd to the an
nual convention of the American So
ciety of Municipal improvements, at
Erie. Pa, in October, 1910. 1t is
pointed out in this report that btu
lithic can be improved upon as a
pavement. Mr.. Sherrerd goes on to
say further that the company is not
in all cases laying pavements which
are described in its patents.
Commissioner Charles F. Kraemer
when seen later pointed out that the
board was laying bitulithic pave
ments only when petitions for the
same were sent in by property own
ers He contended further that this
pavement can be laid much cheaper
than most of the others and claimed
that it was for this reason that
nronerty owners wanted it. The fact