Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-06-26
DISAPPOINTING, BUT NOT SURPRISING

the Metuchen Highland Park road with the patented War.
renite Bituithic is disappointing, but not surprising. 1t ha:
been pretty generally understood from the beginning that i
was the intention to give this job to the patent pavement
people. In fact, the persistency with which the requirement.
OF this stretch of highway has been urged leads to a sus-
picion that there there may have been some understanding
or obligation to see that the bitulithic people received this
particular contract during the present year.
At first it looked as if the responsibility for handing this
plum over to the patent pavement interests was to be shifted
to the Board of Freeholders. There is good reason to believe
That the f~reeholders would have gone ahead with the work
On the re- endorsement plan if certain taxpayers had not in
Dictated so plainly that there would be trouble if they did.
When it became evident that the county board would not
tackle the job, the State Highway Commission, although
previously announcing that if had no money for a new pave
ment this year, managed to juggle its funds so as to proceed
on its own account in spite of the fact that a half million dol
lars or more are involved.
The peculiar part about this particular job is that it has
been conceded from the beginning that it belonged to
the warrenite crowd hence the lack of surprise when the an
nouncement is made that the patent material is to be used;
linked with this also is the apparent determination to have
! he contract awarded this year.
The disappointment is twofold. In the first plaee there
The extra cost to the taxpayers that this use of the patented
terial means. The Newark Evening News has called at
ion to a recent decision in the United States District
Der It at Los Angeles in which decision was given in favor
of Fresno county, California, which had been sued by the
Warren Brothers Company for laying pavement that, it was
claimed, infringed a patent owned by the Warrens. The
Newark News goes on to say:
Warren Brothers obtained the basic patent for a Bit
ulithic pavement in 1908. 1t expired by limitation in Nav
1920. In the mean time, however, the company. under an
other patent, obtained later, which does not run out until
May, 1927, put forward a composite pavement which
they called Warrenite- Bitulithic.
1.-THE Fresno County officials, in the belief that the ma
tent did not cover the process of laying bituminous surface
ing they desired, refused to deal with the Warren firm and
laid down their paving according to specifications prepared
by their own engineers. The claims of infringement, with
respect to both process and product, were made last year.
The denial of them by United States District Court Judge
Benjamin F. Bledsoe on May 20 last was a complete victory
for the county. That means a considerable saving to the
people there, provided the decision is sustained on appeal,
the case to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals, the
for some sixty miles of improved highways were laid under
the specifications attacked by the Warrens, and some sixty
more miles are still to be laid"
While the Warren firm will, in all probability, appeal
the case to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals, the
decision rendered in the lower court is a decided victory for
the people and ought to cause those who are planning to pay
ont thousands of dollars of the peoples money in royalties
to this paving concern, to hesitate.
The second cause for disappointment is that the excel
lent concrete pavement on the Lincoln Highway through
Railway, Islin and Metuchen, and from New Brunswick to
Princeton is not to be linked together with the same kind
OF pavement. In view of the fact that this concrete already
said has given general satisfaction and that concrete can be
laid without paying any royalties on patents, there ought to
be no hesitancy in adopting concrete for the six miles be-
tween Metuchen and Highland Park. This is particularly
desirable because of the heavy traffic over this particular
stretch OF highway, ana the safety ana Senefal SATISFACTORY
that concrete gives to the great majority of drivers.
But New Jersey is notorious for the grip that the patent
pavement trust has on the state. 1t is this grip that Senator
Parry. of Essex county, has been trying to shake off for the
past two years by introducing in the legislature a bill calling
for open specifications and competition in all paving con-
tracts, but which bill he has been unable to get enacted into
law.
1t is this grip that the patent pavement crowd have
on the state that the people will think about when they go to
! he polls this fall and vote on the proposition to bond the
1 tate for $40, 900, 900 for paving the state highways. How
! much of this $40, 900, 900 will go in royalties to the patent
pavement trust is not intimated, but judging from the action
n fhis Metuchen- Highland Park road, much money will be
,asted in this way. The action of the State Highway Com
,ission in this Lincoln Highway paving job is not helping to
spire confidence in that body for handling the $4,000
30 which is asked for constructing permanent pavements
aushoui the state