100 Years Ago: May 26-June 1

From The Indianapolis News, Thursday, May 31: Tests recently made, at the request of the state board of accounts, by Purdue University on samples of road oils and road surfacing materials for which contracts have been let by the Marion County Commissioners for work on county roads indicate the oils and materials fail to meet specifications. Commissioners had received samples of the material from the contractor before the contract was let, but no test were ever made. It was presumed that the samples met specifications. The price of 9¾ cents (2016: $1.86) a gallon for the 30,000 gallons stipulated in the contract should guarantee first-class materials, but the practice of substituting inferior materials is not uncommon. Frauds in the filling of contracts for road oils and road surfacing materials have been somewhat frequent in other parts of Indiana.