One Thousand Ways to Make Money by Page Fox

936. ASPHALT COMPANIES.--Here is an example of the enormous profits made

by these companies. In one city the mayor, suspecting the charges were exorbitant, forced them to a lower scale, when the company actually agreed to do for $1.50 per yard what they had hitherto received $2.25 for laying. This last was a living profit, but the profits over and above a fair compensation were seventy-five cents per square yard. This is the way contractors for the government get rich.