The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-07-17
ARMOR TRUST LOSES
A"uepeihuent Concern Awarded Navy
Contract-Government saves $780,
600.

When the bids for the armor for ,ba
~oattleships Michigan and South Caro-
lima We're opened yesterday at the navy
department 1t was found thai the in
dependent concern which was ;asr
year not allowed to compete nm &C.
count OF alleged incaDacity for the
work had underbid the trust comma
MES about $500. 900 on the 81 5o0 o0D
armor-plate contract.
The Midvaie Steel company bid xals
a ION, aggregating s2.43O.3 04 for The
Two ships; the Carnegie Steel comDany.
OF P~ittsburg. bid 1910 a ton. and The
bethlehem Steel company. OF Bethle-
mem, Pa. bid 1881. This is the frs,
Time that the two latter comnan:es.
known as the trust companies. have
offered seoarate bids.
The advent Of the Independent con-
Germ into the bidding has caused well
nigh a revolution in the prices OF steel
armOr. Last year the Carnegie and
bethlehem companies put in the same
Did for the same class of armor. a.
$500 a ton, with a royalty, which made
the price S445 Il ton Midvale concern
put IN It's first bid for ii government
contract at $330 a ton net, but the
navy department, after a great deal ,f
consideration, finally decided thai the
Midvale company could not handle he
contract, and gave them only 4 third
of it.
n MldVale company went 10 work.
ana his year came prepared 10 show
the navy department that they could
supply the whole contract. The trus-
companies lowered their bids SO a ton,
an aggregate Of more than a half mil
lion of dollars reduction over last year
But the Mldvale companies were eyi-
IDENTIFY expecting this, for their bids
were still below the trust companies.
The Carnegie and Bethlehem cO1nDa-
MES have the sole right of manufac-
turing the krupp process of
plate. The Midvale company makes its
armOr after its own process. and after
repeated tests by the ordnance bureau
of the navy it has been found TO be
equal in every way to the Krupp ar
Figures represented by the bids of
the companies are so much lower han
the government has been paying that
officials are figuring mentally just now
much the government has been paving
for its m plate before the advent
of the independent company. On the
new vessels a saving ver old prices
has been made of a quarter milton
on each of the new ships. Figuring at
this ate, although the prices were
much higher W. years ago and before.
millions Of dollars have been expended
for armOr which might have been
saved if an independent company had
been in the competition.
In addition to the above bids for he
first class armor. which was improved
face-hardened, armor of plates five
inches thick, the Midvale company ia
derbid the trust companies On the sec
ond class armor, or Harveyized steel.
and also on the third class. OF nickel
steel armOr, not face-hardened. In
each case the bids of the independent
company ran about $40 a ton less than
the other bids.
Only ten tons of the second class ar
NOR is needed, while 294 tons Of the
third class is required.
The Midvale company agrees to be-
gin the delivery Of armor in five
months of ter receiving the contract,
and t continue at the rate of 600 tons
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