Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1922-10-06
SOME LIGHT ON wARRENITE
fFrom the Elmer Times)

(ErOm the Elmer llneSJ
A series of articles by Einar Barfod,
a special writer of the Philadelphia
North American, have caused a mild
sensation in various parts of New Jer-
sew the past week and some of the rev.
Citations, if true, T quite startling.
Mr.. Barfod is e~ndeavoring to %enlighten
Jersey taxpayers on road building
graft and urges passage of the forty
million dollar road bond bill at the
November election, to overcome pres
ent so called intolerable conditions.
In the opinion of the Times the ar
ticles contain much that is true and
much that is very misleading, at least
as far as South Jersey is concerned.
Mr.. Barfod claims that New Jersey
pays at least twice as much per mile
for hard surface roads as does Penn
sylvania and charges that where War
renite patented paving" is used, graft
enters into the situation. There is no
disputing the fact that Warrenite
roads cost excessively, because they
can only be built under closed specifi-
cations and the Standard Bitulithic
Company controls the situation. We
do not, however, think that the con-
crete roads built in South Jersey cost
nymor than the concrete roads in
PENNSYLVANIA, if both are built under
similar conditions and specifications.
New Jersey is noted for building the
finest type of hard surface road. They
are wide and heavy, mostly reinforced
and made with expansion joints. 1t is
perfectly natural to discover that a 20
or "a foot concrete road eight to ten
inches thick is costing a great deal
more than a 16 or Is foot road with
a thickness of 6 to 8 inches. That is
undoubtedly one of the ways in which
the articles are misleading.
When Mr.. Barfod loosens his pub
licity shafts against "Warrenite," he is
striking in the right direction. War
renite'' is nothing more o less than
a certain grade Of bitulithic %surfacing
material which years ago was patented
by the Warren Brothers, and ever
since that time has been a potent fac
tor in the business of road building.
Any experienced asphalt man can mix
a similar grade of %surfacing material
but he cannot call it "Warrenite."
When specifications are made by
counties or state to call for a Warren
tie surface, the contractor has no re-
course other than to purchase his ma
terial from the one firm who monOpo-
Lies the field and must pay a price far
in excess of the actual cost. Warren
tie roads are usually good roads, but
equally good roads could be built at a
lower cost, with specifications which
did not require the use of the patented
material.
Salem County Freeholders have
never fallen for the Warrenite game,
although it is common m that
thered his nest had he listened to the
tempter; in fact, it is difficult to con-
vince the average citizen that any
member of any Board can vote favor
ably for the Warrenite bitulithic sur
face and escape the charge of graft"
Cumberland County is busily build
ing a number of Warrenite roads I'M
u0r Iu6 SLdI0 T00ulDuI SSll0Al pail
Some of the Freeholders may have
known what they were doing when the
specifications were made up to call for
Warrenite, but if the truth should ac-
tually come out we surmise that sew
eral members had something pulled
over on them and that a word or two
was surreptitiously embodied in the
specifications after, instead of before
it was passed. An affidavit from each
member on this matter would doubt
less be an interesting revelation.
The state law appears to have been
purposely framed to protect the mon
opolist grafters, and unless that law
can be repealed or so modified that
open competitive bidding will be re-
we doubt the advisability of
for the $4O,O OO, 900 bond issue
next November.