Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1914-06-28
UNCLE sam May
BE MANUFACTURER
First Step Toward Con-
struction of Armor Plate
Plant Taken by Congress.
BUCKING THE TRUST
Secretary Of the Navy Daniels Cor.
WINGED That Uncle Sam Can Save
Money by Competing With "Arm-
Or Plate TruSt.-
(By Jonathan Winfield J

| Washington. June 27.--rhe first
! step toward the construction Of a
government armor plate plant, to
! manufacture the vast amount of armor
used in the building Of the nation s
! battleships, is provided for in the nav
al appropriation bill. This bill au-
thorizes the creation of a committee
to investigate and report upon plans
for building an armor plate factory
| to be operated by Uncle Sam.
! The idea is largely that of Secre-
| tary of the Navy Daniels. who became
| convinced soon after he went into Of
| flee that the United States would save
a large amount of money yearly were
it to make it's own armor plate. Mr..
Daniels became convinced that in the
past high prices have been paid to
the "armor plate trust" and that the
best way to curb the alleged trust
was to have Uncle Sam go into COM
petition with it. The Daniels sug-
gestion was taken up in congress and
sentiment finally crystallized to the
extent that section was inserted in
the annual naval budget providing for
try-out Of the plan.
This provision of the naval budget
was recently agreed to by the house
and senate conferees in charge of the
naval appropriation bill and was also
approved by the two houses them
selves. The committee is duly Great
ed, therefore, and probably will get
down to work in a few weeks to carry
out the work imposed upon it. The
section creating the committee reads:
"a committee is hereby appointed
to consist of the chairman of the
committee on naval affairs of the
senate and the chairman of the COM
mittee on naval affairs of the house of
representatives and one naval officer
to be selected by the secretary of the
navy, to investigate and report, at the
next regular session Of congress, up
on the cost Of erection of an armor
plant~to enable the United States to
manufacture it's own a1mOr plate and
special treatment steel capable of
standing all ballistic and other neces-
sary tests required for use in the YES
sells of the navy at the lowest possible
cost to the government, taking into
consideration all Of the elements nee
essary for the economical and sue
cessful use of such a plant"
"Said report shall contain the esti-
mated cost of a plant and site suffi
cient to accommodate plant having
an annual output capacity of 10000
put capacity of 10000 tons, and also
an itemiZed statement of the estimat-
ed cost Of the necessary buildings,
machinery and accessories for each,
and the estimated annual cost of the
maintenance of each, and the estimat-
ed cost of the finished product.
"Said committee is authorized to sit
during the recess of congress, to send
for persons and papers and to admin
listers oaths. The sum of $4,000 is
hereby appropriated, out of any mon
ey in the treasury not otherwise APP
propriated, to pay the expenses of
said committee"
Under the provisions of this section
of the naval bill two members of the
investigating committee will be Sena-
tor Benjamin r. Tillman, of South
Carolina, and Representative Lemuel
P. Padgett of Tennessee, chairmen
respectively of the senate and house
naval affairs communities.
The third member of the select COM
mittee is yet to be named by the sec
rotary of the navy.
One of the important duties OF the
committee will be to probe the avail
ability of various. sites proposed for
the location of the plant. There is a
rivalry among a number of commune
ties which believe they should have
, the government factory and more
than score of bills already have
been introduced proposing sites for
the enterprise.
Among the towns and cities pro-
posed for the location of the plant
/; are Baltimore, Camden, N. J.,; Hunt
ington, West Virginia; McKeesport
Pa; Paducah, KY; Philadelphia and
Scranton, Pa; Savannah, Ca; New
London, Conn.,; Wheeling, w. Va;
Alexandria, Virginia; Parkersburg
Moundsville, West Virginia; Tusca-
loosa, Alabama, and Richmond, Vir-
ginia. There are also proposals that
the plant be located on the Great
Lakes, near Hampton Roads in Fay
cite county, Pennsylvania, and in the
Steubenville mining district.
/