New-York tribune., 1908-06-05
ARMY AND NAVY NEWS
To Precent Speculative Bidding on
Clothing and Equipment.
TFrom The Tribune Bureau-1

Washington. June T.
ONLY MAKERS MAY BID.-The War Depart
r,ent has received a protest from some OF the
manufacturers of cloth of which army uniforms
are made that the system Of obtaining nlos anu
a,ra-sinv contracts for clothing and equipment Is
defective and that il encourages speculative rather
than competitive bidding. In other words, mum
Der of firms have recently appeared as olooers' au
are said TO have obtained certain Faluapie con
tracts although they do not possess the 1aclhues
os rro6uction 10 which the War Department IN
tends 10 confne the contract for certain kinds OIL
material such Khaki, duck, kersey, serge nan
-els blankets. drilling and so on. OF wfnch iai &c
uan-ttv is purchased each year and for which pro-
posals have now been invited. with the prospects
THAT more than 81 900 will be represented in the
orders given The War Department authoriues
have been impressed with the complaints which
have been made and il has been oecloeo 10 es
tablish such system Of competitive piooiis as
shall confine the contract 10 manufacturers |Ac
,-df,rlv the department has called upon ali bid
ders TO furnish sample of goods of the sort which
the contract would cover. In this way the spec
uletive bidder who has plant VIII be unaoie 10
obtain the sample, and the competition VIII De
confined TO those who possess the facilues OF pIo
duction and the contracts viii be awarded to the
bidder furnishing the best sample for what is re-
sarded the lowest reasonable price rms action
has excited much interest among those hrTls VINO
expected 10 present bids in view of the large
appropriation made at the recent session OF Con-
Fress for army clothing and equipment for the
next fiscal year. including the material destined
for issue the national guard
PEACE AND WAR PAINT.-The Navy Depart
rnent is being besieged by the firms who supply
paint which is applied 10 the bottoms of ships OF
war. Under recent decision OF the Navy Depart
rent II is possible to extend the placing OF con
tracts for this material of which the government
purchases large quantity year. so as to re-
move the restriction of purchase and avoid the
monopoly which the Navy Department has hitherto
appeared encourage. by virtue Of the commercial
situation. Hereafter ships hull may be painted
with any Of four five brands of paint which have
heen determined by experts sufficiently alike 10
make their general possible. In way this
will do much TO relieve the Navy Department OF
the persistent rivalry which has been excited
among the paint dealers. and who have sought TO
obtain places put their particular and respective
brands by going TO the shipbuiders in the hrst in
stance and getting the paint applied when the YES
sci is ready for delivery to the government Under
the old rule a paint once applied established the
brand Of paint which would Thereafter De useo on
q shin The Navy Department upon the recon-
rnendation Of the chief constructor is about 10 IN
vite bids for the first time under general specl-
fications which viii permit free competition ana
considerable interest attaches to the incident since
II promises TO enable the government purchase
its ships bottoms paint at much lower price than
has heretofore been paid for that material 1t is
probable that nearly one-fourth Of million pounds
of this paint viii be bought within the next few
the Pacific Coast for the remainder of the circum-
raaviating cruise of the Atlantic feet
ORDERS IssUED-The following orders have
been issued:
First Isa'ensRt pelham LII @ p assF9P fea TaP + fdt a4eR Re ky
CAPTAIN al5ii f 5CHN Il wHoLLEr "a Infantry
sTss o2DsTsti2n s T9k at q f9 0fsnrg thomas
oooS SsPaP oY H2S L ckMBERLAIS Il inspector general
fr9 9 spT6fs 6x 20 pTSf[ F Eth Infantry from
Major 0Ts RD6LP f5Sia C EBERT Medical corps
ington 70 Vancouver Barracks. as chief surgeon De
FI PaT.ssa Tegensat az H Franz " DAWSON
work Fort Mclntosh
iieving First Lieutenant JULIAN L. DODGE, 18th
First Lieutenant THOMAS sPAuLDING coast artiI-
NAVY.
Lieutenant Commander p l. RUSSELL detached the
Charleston home await orders. .,, ,,s+
ieuSes LisuSensht ! " scHoESFED charge Of
cruiting at Buffalo vice Lieutenant Commander u
F. y m B6RS on 4S 6ssR assaGhed the
Ensign D. 2 WTCRERsHAM detached Nebraska
The foiIoHn detached the Neya ACADEMY der
ogN to the Nh APanE M via the the PFsT bssfs+ " M and
BrR11eR 3 fS saie to t NE kentud 0s NJ
The following midshipnen detached the NsTa Academy
T 70 the Msrlsnd y4e G3ST9R 4 8. to 1ass ths M1n nI
REIL. TO the West Virginia ....., ..,
nakota l5sl to to the Mnnesofa
Pisai PoTtsnou5h to the soace
MOVEMENTS OF VESSEI-s.-These movements
Of vessels have been reported:
ARRIVED
June 3-The Saturn and Buffalo. q Island.
the Chester, at Newport the Kentucky. at Port
Townsend
SAILED.
June The Saturn, from Santa Barbara Mare
Island
June 3-The Buffalo: from California City for Mare
Island the Hartford. from Norfolk Annapolis:
the South Dakota. from Santa Barbara Santa
C'lernente Island: the Kentucky. Bremerton
for Port Townsend: the Neushan from Hong Kong
for Shanghai
June 4-The Chattanooga, from Hong Kong for
The Davis. Fox the fSoldsborouRh and Rowan
ordered 10 visit Humboldt Bay: Cal July 10 6:
the Tacoma from New York June H. for Colon
the birmingham. at Guantanamo Bay.
ordered navy yard. Boston. July the Solace
commissioned. yard Mare Island June 2. tor
pedo supply ship: North Carolina ordered
Guantanamo Bay for shaking down cruise.