The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-02-01

Opened at the Navy Department-Bids Of
Various Kinds Sabmitted-Oniy one for .
Complete Plant

washington, January 2s.-Il accord
the navy department recently, pro-
posals opened in the Office OF Sec
rotary Long today for b construction
of a government armor plant, for the
sale to the government OF sites suitable
for u q a plant and for the machinery
n buildings necessary, il the govern
ment decides to make its own armor.
There were twenty-nine bids and they
every phase in the advertise
ment.
Many OF h proposals were merely
offers TO donate sites to the govern
ment, conditional upon the location Of
the plant, a number of Others were for
the supply of machinery. There were
only two bids to furnish a complete
plant and only one of these named
figures. The two companies now en-
! gagged in the manufacturing OF aIgnO
for the navy did not submit proposals.
The Huntington CIV. Va.) chamber Of
commerce offered TO follow the speci-
ficatiOns OF the board and build a COM
p2ete plant for the sum OF So, 1925, 905, in
Guiding site, buildings and plant.
Another offer TO supply a complete
plant came from the John p. Holland
Torpedo Boat Company, of New York,
but no figure was named, the company
simply offering to do this for a sun
of money!" and within a period less
than estimated by the armor factory
board in its report" This bid was ac-
companied by the expression of an
| opinion that ''armor should be included
in the construction contracts of all YES
sells, 10y which policy congress and the
country would understand the full cost
of ships and their protection and the
price of aTmOr would be reduced and
it's delivery expedited"
Another proposal that commanded
some attention was that of the Rear
ick Engineering Company, of Column
bus, O. This was a very complicated
proposal to supply each of the numer-
Gus buildings, ~urnac boilers, etc, re
quired, as well as fifty acres of land,
at sums specified in sac particular
case. A special point of INTEREST about
the bid was ar accompanying offer
from the chamber of commerce of Co
lumbus to donate the sum of $500, O0C
to the government if the plant were
located in that city.
Offers of sites for a plant gratis, OF
for a nominal sum of money, came
from Muskegon, Mich; Youngstown.
o., Escanaba, Mich; Duluth, Mimi.
Ensley, Ala; Morraine, O.; Winthrope
Harbor and Deck Company, OF Chi
cago; Sheffield, Tenn; Waukegan, III.
Detroit, Mich; Peoria, Ill.,; Marquette
Mich, and Admission, Ala.
"A Marionette, Wis, man offers te
dCnate a site free if the government
would build a 500, 900 dock into the
: lake. Offers came from one man in
Hampton, Va, ito sell some land and
machinery for 500. 900 and from g
Philadelphia man to supply some lanC
and a testing madhine for 81, 100. Some
of the big western tool concerns
am forward with offers to supply ma.
chinery needed for the plant. A Marion
county, Indiana, corporation offered tt
donate forty acres of and and fifty
wells of natural gas.
Tt will take some time to schedule
all of these bids, but as soon as they
can be arranged they viii be sent tt
congress by Secretary Long for the in
formation of that body, in case it de
sires to embark the government in tn;
manufacture of armOr.