Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1915-02-12
PAVING TRUST AND ITS METHODS.

PAVING TRUST AND IIS MEIHODS.
The paving trust with its bunko patent processes OF
mixing asphalt and crushed stone is making hard fight
against the passage of Senator Bnghams bill which pro
poses to allow free competition in the hard surfacng of
country highways in this state The people Of Portland
after having been robbed for years by the paving com
panes who really compete with each other finally
forced the council to accept the bids Of four patent con-
and four nOn-patent mixtures on an equality the
lowest bidder to get the contract This arrangement has
tended to cheaper paving in Portland very materially and
is virtually what the Bingham bill seeks to do for the coun
try roads That the several paving concerns operating In
this state and claiming to lay patent pavement mixtures
frequently act in cOluSion and parcel out the terri
tory between themselves has been definitely determined
by all who investigated their operations closely Their
alleged patent processes amount to nothing and they sell
dom prosecute an infringement because they are aware
that their patent rights are meagre that they would
look ridiculous if shown up court of law Their prnc
pal object is to combine together and keep out Of the field
all nonpatented pavemenS the ground that they in
feror in quality This they have been quite successful in
doing in Oregon outside Of Portland although Washing
ton California and other western states ceased to recog
nize the patents little than bluff some time
ago In the east their claims have been rdicued by city
engineers for years and they given consideration
fair sample Of the operations of the paving concerns is
given in the Philadelphia North American Of October 2
1914 as follows
"of many schemes employed by Highway Commissioner Edward Man
ming Bgw the of state roads the price of $780,
have been prolific of graft than MS use of Wete and its twin sister
Ameite
wamute and %Amicdc merely mixtures Of asphalt sand and
crushed Wontc' mixture and 'Amese finer mix
controlled by Warren Brothers. Boston, claim patent
right on both
other Pibug where honest oadbudcr gone
mixed asphalt and crushed their highways without
paying any attention whatever the royalty demands of the wa"ao
aud 'AmieSte companies
gcow, monopoly
these and thereby has doubled the the state these kinds
poy O foot royalty the Warem and the
This SO i10 per Hnea
N every mile wide
o o
the authorized highway il the Bgeow scheme applied to
the entire distance
Exposure by such conservative, responsible paper as
the North American checked graft of millions that was
attempted in the construction of Pennsylvania state high
ways The difference in the situation with regard to Ore
gon highway improvement is that some of the Portland
papers standing in with the paving companies and at
tempting to throttle competition in the interest Of the
patent concerns operating in this state The North
American amply financially responsible for damages for
Libel as it is asserts in large type the front page of the
paper that the paving companies paid Mayor Reybum Of
Philadelphia, Sl98OO0 for using his influence to perpe
ate their graft in the city,
How much would it be reasonable to assume the same
combine has paid paper like the Portland Evening Tele-
gram to fight its bates Possibly that paper has re-
ceived money and maybe its correspondent at Salem
doing his work for the paving combine Just for lovewe
do not know, of cousebut as rule newspapers do not
rush to the defense of onopoes and CRAFTS without be-
ing paid for because they foolish to do it. and espe
cay in the case of so notorious and unpopular thing as
the paving combine