The age-herald., 1897-08-07

1 the armor plate that went into our ves-
 sells. Some years ago it was discovered
 that Carnegie was selling armor plate o
 Russia at a reduced figure. When the l secretary of the navy secured this in-
 formation Carnegie came down to $425 1 per ton. Then it came out that Carnegie
 was selling plate to Russia for $225 per
 gon. This done, probably, to get into that
 market. The secretary of the navy had
 had an investigation made as to the est i or turning out the plate. The cJst of
 making the pfa.e a., the Be. .hl hem plant l which is under the control of Canegic
 was found to be $161 per ton, labor ard
 material included, while at s.he Carn.gie
 r'Iant it was fou.d to be s167.
 l When the question came up before con- gress it was concluded that $425 was too | much to pay for the armor of tha last three batD,ehirs. Bids were then ad- i vertised for, under the act of congress re- l quiring that no bid should be over $300 | The people declined to bid. At this urn ] of affairs it was decided ito appoint the isssssnlaalaa- hoard, ,-a-l lcommitte so investl- 1 gate the cost of a plant and collect ir-
 formation as 70 a suitable location.
 Early in the session I introduced a | bill for the establishment of an armor lfplate planc in Birmingham" sad tha co = sgfessnaan. 'I did met think at that time an armor pla.e plant would be s abished
 here at once, but I warted the facs and l figures to come out as 10 how cheap we
 could furnish iron and steel. When I
 hlaId that Carnegie refused to make plate l for $500, I alt once wrote 70 get informa-
 tion as So how to gst the mal1-er properly l before the ordnance board, which will
 simply report on cost and location.
 "We will have tremendous fight on our hands to get the plant here,' he con 1 tinued. MT. Carnegie has millions of l dollars which we will have to battle 1 against, but the way he is holding out when we have three battleships on the 1 dock, it looks like he is trying to hold | congress by the throat"
 Tn view of this, I think We have l good opportunity. If we can succeed
 in getting th= ordnance board to report l that armor plate can be made cheaper
 in Birmingham than anywhere else, 1t
 would be great card for this district.
 As soon as I hear definitely from the | ordnance board as to what we will have 1 to do, I will communicate with the conn
 mbtlee and we will take every measure to get our advantages properly before 1 the board"
 President Milner, in answer to ques-
 ton from an Age-Herald reporter, said i that he had not completed the roster of
 the committee, but that he intended to
 appoint mining experts and men who l would take an active interest in the 1 work The list will be made known in 1 few days.
 This committee will work jointly with ! Representative Underwood, who is very enthusiastic on the subject. The price of steel making in Alabama will be ! clearly put before ordnance committee,
 and if good quality of stsel at a lower ! price than it can be produced anywhere in the world will have any weight, Bir- 1 mingham has got the armor plate plant. i President Haas, of the Sloss Iron and 1 Steel company, said: q see no reason l why we should not make our best effort { ito get the plant. We can turn out the | steel cheaply and that is what is needsd. won't talk any more on the subject
 now, but I will do all in my power to | get the plant.''
 |. ''There is no question about Birming
 ham being able to furnish the steel fix ings needed for constructing the hulls of war vessels cheaper than any other locality" These were the words of Vice.
 President Bowron, of the Tennessee Coal and Iron company, when approached on the subject.
 1.-The location of a ship yard at Pen sacola would greatly assist Birmingham in getting the armor plate plant. The
 government would probably deem the f freight expense too heavy to have the armor made here and shipped to the yards at Philadelphia, Bath, Me; New port News and San Francisco. Tn view of the situation now the government has only three alternatives. It will either have to erect plant, purchase one, or it might import the plate from England, France or Germany National senti- ment however, would be against such procedure"
 Arms for Cuba.