The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-12-01
DANIELS WANTS U. s. TO MAKE OWN MUNITIONS Annual Report of Secretary of the Navy Enbodies Radical Recommendations. L
  Aims at End of Domination of Priv Manufacturers OveTSSupply of Navy
 Department. s

], Washington Dec. 1.-"Armor, guns,
 and powder should be made by the
 government
 This szb-head in the annual report
 Of the Secretary of the Navy is a tre-
 mendoals testimony to Josephus Dan
 iels and the present administra ton of the Navy Department
 These words mean that the Navy
 Department of the United States Gov
 ernment iS no longer dominated by a
 ring of private manufacturers that for
 years has been ourageously overcharg-
 Ing the government for army and navy
 supplies JosephuS Daniels has shown
 himself big enough and courageous
 enough Fand patriotic enough to serve
 noticefon the ring that they shall not,
 while he is Secretary of the Navy, have
 free access to the funds of the people.
 The time has come,'' declares Sec retary Daniels in his report, just made
 public. when the department should
 be freed from excessive prices charged by private manufacturers of armor-
 plate. guns and gun-forgings, powder,
 torpedoes, and other supplies and nnu- nitfons. It has been demonstrated that the department could save money by
 making its powder guns and torpe-
 does. also recommend the construc- ton of government atmor plant to relieve the situation, which, in my es- tinatfon, is into1erable and a total NdT1dnCo W1Cn the pr1nC1plo Of economy in spending government money.
 It is evident that without an armor
 plant of its own the government in time of war. or impending war would be entirely at the mercy of three man
 ufacturers and obliged to pay practi- Ically whatever price they asked. His tory does not warrant an assumption
 that the patriotism of these companies would prove superior to their desire Tor profits, inaSmuch as during the time that war with Spain was innn1i-
 nent, these companies refused to ae- cept the price fixed by Congress after investigation a, just rate and de- clined to manufacture any armor until they got their own price of $100 a. ton more than that which Congress had determined on. In this connection; it is well to note that the love of country possessed by these companies did no1
 prevent them from furnishing armor to Russia, as reported to Congress, in 1894 at $249 a ton, while they were charging the United States $616:t4 a ton upon purchases under the contract of March, 1898, nor did it hinder them 1 from furnishing armor to Italy in 1911 | at $395.03 ton, while they were charg- ing, their own gewernment $40 acton, l and that even at the present day, ac- cording to 3inforr1atfon that seems re-. l lia bIe. they are furnishing the armor for the Haruna, now being built by l lI10 fAdWaSdhl 1O. dI fAOD0 TOT Japaus at $4O6 .35 a ton as against the price,
 ranging from $504 to $40 a ton, which they are now charging us for the ar nor of battleshfp No. 39.
 Under the present system our inn
 provements become the property of all | the world, and can be obtained by any | body who cares to buy them Even l now the improvements in armor and 1 the designs worked out by the Navy | have been embodied in the warship of l another nation built by the Bethlehem Steel Co. and recently put into com
 mission. This is not an argument 1 lightly to be disregarded in favor of | government armor, plant, nor has it 1 been overlooked, for instance, by Ja- 1 pan, which has erected it's own armor- plate plant and surrounded 1t with | such secrecy that none of the other 1 nations are able to tell whether OF not l at this minute the Japanese arm Or l may not be superior to any other in | existence.
 | E'The government can achieve a say | ing by the erection of 10000 ton-a-
 year plant of $1.O61,,36O per annufn af- ], ter deducting. 4 per cent. as interest on I the money used in erection and install l lation of plant and $3,048, ,462 year on \ the basis of a government plant capa-
 b1e of producing 20,Oo0 tons a years,'