Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1913-09-18

OWn FFatc-IHCEGd5t III IISSo
Been Felt
WASHINGTON. Seven million dollars
to provide for Il government arnor
plate plant is asked for in Il bill intro
duccd by Representative Erittcn Of IL
ln0is The bill WAS introduced cOincI.
dent with the announcement by the
navy department that bids for $1,000,
600 worth Of nrmor for baltlcship NO
80 had been rejected be 'atlSc they are
identical AIthoE h Representative
Brittcn is II Rcpnbli AN. his bill fol
lows generally III" idrAs Of Secretary
Daniels. who Ia reported that n
trust" evidently exists IN the armor
plate business and that the govern
ment should have II plant of its own,
not to make all its arnor. but to pro
vide enough to make competition with
the private mills.
In addition Representative Brittcn
tors the advisability Of changing the
Underwood tariff bin so MS to admit
arm0r plate free of duty.
Representative Britten's bill provides
for the acquisition of site, the cree
ton of suitable buildings and the pro
curing Of necessary machinery and
supplies for the establishment and
maintenance of the plan Active OPP
crations on the plant are 10 be begun
within six months after the passage Of
the bill.
In discussing his bill Representative
for some months the introducing Of "a
plan that would break up If possible
the trust now controlling the nrmor
plate situation In this country
'"rhc opening Of the bids Of the navy
department for $4,000. 600 worth of ar
NOR for bnttlcship No. 30. appropriated
for last year In which the bids of the
three armor producing companies In
the United States corrcspondcd exact
~ and giving the same amount per ton
as last year." said Mr. Brittcn, Shows
Ccnclusivcly the collision existing in
the bidding regardless of the fact that
each bidder nttcsts In an affidavit sub
mitted with his respective bids that
the company Is not engaged IN any
such agreement and proves conclusive
j. thnt competition for this enormous
amount of government business IL II
farce
Tho only way to procure armor
plate ut anything Hike reasonable
price Is for the government to enter
into direct competition In It's manu-
facturc with the companies already
engaged In this work. am not in
favor of entering into the field to
such an extent ns to put the other mr.
NOR producing companies out Of bust
ness, but to manufacture II sufficient
amount OF this commodity SO as to
Eorce them into competition and com
pei them to offer us their armor ut
least ut fairly reasonable cost
investigations recently made In this
direction have shown that In govern
ment plant capable of turning out
10000 tons II year which Is about half
of the armor needed on two battle
ship program, the cost of the armor
w III Hpl NNN'Nh Ftiii 81 ''''' wv ''''N'
Pnce between this and the amount bid
last Tuesday, which was exactly the
same per ton as the bids submitted
last year Sl5t; on 10000 tons, at
saving OF $40 per ton over the price
now paid the government would save
81 100000 per annum, pcductlng the
interest on the money used in building
the plant the government will still
save considerably over 81 100000 Il
year, which amount in very short
time will completely cover the cost of
the plant, and at the same time we
win be independent Of this branch OF
the steel trust AS n business PROPOSE
tlon the plant would net the govern
mcnt more than II per cent ON the en-.
tire investment after allowing ) per cent
on the total expenditure cor 81 ,2o000o.
"In 1906 the price of armor plate was
$346 Il ton, in 1907 the trust jumped 1t
to $500 ton. and last year ii was rails
cd to $l5l ton. The price goes up
constantly and remains up and the
evidence is not lacking that the price
Mt the present time is based more upon
what the companies think they can get
than what 1t costs,
Some years ago we were confronted
with the same problem in the purchase
of powder for the use of the army and
the navy. We built n powder plant,
entered into direct competition with
the powder companies and today are
saving $26SSO on each ton of powder,
I'VE manufacture our own powder In
part, we manufacture our own guns
ana there Is no reason in the world
why we should not manufacture n
part Of our own armor plate The cost
of the plant is not prohihitive, and the
cost Of operation will not be a sever,
obstacle.
Il am convinced that the govern
ment should erect plant large enough
TO manufacture goodly portion of tn,
Rrmor plate required and give the rcS'