The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-03-09
Donovan Objects To Attempt To Make Troubles Of Lake
 Company A Political Issue

Our people in Washington want bp have the Lake Co. bdd for 1he I7urlE of constructing eubmaranes- The Laks Co. is going to have a. chance to bdd built The Navy Departznen4 waG1a competition Our sldufuistraf1cu stands ready to give the Lake co. Ena sum of $50,0OO for the use o6 nncdsls and the government w1H build the bcaE itself in order to secure a delivery Am good time.
 Why, MT. Enoa, # cannot bs f1a-t you know anything about Ghe aatzh- ltshment of the Lake Co You cou1d not have judged them by &heir pane performances before writing a Iettsr such as you wrote on B,sbruary z4
 It ds true that the Lake Con EaF was a trifIe lower than that Of che Electric Boat Company burt @s Ad- rniraI Watt stated in his report esBut in view of the record Of Lake Co. co regards progress toward conup4se1uns cE the two subnnar1nea now under con etruction by thems the bureaus roo ommend that the seven veEsiB re- Lnadndng be distrfbuted between .4ha two companies able to supply nafzB- factory vesse1s." Of course the con- tracts for the last th<es boaAs awarded to the Lake CO call for the >ompls- tion of the boats In 25 mcuths. and half of that time has already eGapssd- and believe that on two of them mo progress has been made toward buf1d- ing them
 F'or~the rife Of me cannot frnaEsnr, how a live and soca1Ied capable Board of Trade can undertake to bofstsr ur such incompetent and slack rnauazee ment, or perhaps 1t might be bSttst to say that there ds no nanasemenf ss all.
 Surely the record that thas company has hung up for delinquencies might all be charged to the financial condl- tions that existed all over the cos-1- try in 1913. If 1t were poaafb1e to charge posterity with the wrongfu5 acts of their forsbearz
 The company delivered a R1oea or October IS, 1e12, which should have been delivered May 3. 191O- ghe wsr actually two years, five .naohfhs and IS days overdue Vas that due Co fne fFfancial eEnbarrassn1e4at .sfeIt all over the country in 1918"
 Then again a contract was signed June 19, 1911 for another boat two years before the time of the alleged financial embarrassment ssTelt all over the country On November G, 1913. the Lake Co. requested the Navy De- partment to take over the boat and continue the work in any manner that the government might zee fit The government declared tho contract for fefted Now from the date that fae
  to the time that it vvas duislasd T7aE two years two months, and 10 dayU- and the government had to finish t1s job. Was 1t financial emberraHsn1ent that "existed a1I over the country in s1913'' that Caused them to be two years behind Where was tho Br1dge- port Board of Trade when the bl111- ness of this boat building concern 7ga1 being done in this sloven1y W9yz
 Notwfthetanding the slrortcon1fnE of the Lake Boat Co, its slackness, and all of the things lacking that gem orally go to make up the average Con necticut misunderstanding concern GIs Lake Boat Go. win have e chance to bid if they show the ability to com pete If they will only get 1i1tls pepper into their organization and show soTnef action with the contrnctn they already have they may ersdEcals the reputation they have made for dates set for the completion Of work
 would suggest that the Board oE Trade dn the future 1nvesdgafs coudi- tions before 1t goes on record It should be an easy mater to ascsrtalu that the cause Of the trouble oE fhr company which exaat now have ezlnteG from the company's 4ncfpiency.
 I here with enclose a. 7eotsr from Secretary Daniels.
 Your sincerely,
 J. Donovan-
 Following is the letter written Ey Secretary Daniels to 1Ir. Donovan
 Washington, March 0. 1914 My Dear MT. Donovan:-
 Referring to our convsrsatfon el-I morning in which you urged that th1 department give favorable considera- ton to the request of the Brfdgoport Board of Trade and the building of sIIfbm arines by the Lake Company fu Bridgeport, have to state that have given more consideration to the re- quest Of the Lake Company than any other matter since have been sscrs- tary of the navy. My earnest desire in the matter of su'bmar1nes has been to secure competition. As soon as learned that the Lake Company wac in financial distress, I had not one but a. dozen interviews with officials of that company. Last fall, in order to give them an opportunity to re- organize and get on a basis where1I they could do the work for which tncT had contracted. orders were given 70 complete two of the boats they were unable to finish in our New York Navy Yard. They now have contractg tc build three submarines which they have not yet begun though the cou- tracts were made on March i 5, 1912 when I was before the Naval Affair Committee I was questioned as to why I had permitted such a long delay t1 the construction of the building of these boats and went into the mater explaining it to them that felt ir my duty to give hem all conBid eratid1 possible so as not to lose competltilr in the construction of submarine 1uE of course, if they could not carry out their contracts would not feel iu1tl- fled in waiting longer and could nol give them new contracts until they
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