The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1914-06-15
Charges Made on Government for.
Powder, Armor and Ammunition
Have Been Outrageous.
TAXPAYERS SAVED MILLIONS
Same Companies in Bidding on Sim
liar Forgings Lower Bids Forty
Four Per Cent in Four Months.

congress rs gun & u 10 Lake Cu0 pTOllI
out of war and preparation for war.
When the people learn Of the out
rageous manner in which the pow
der, armor and ammunition trusts
have overcharged and cheated Uncle
Sam they will insist that the govern
ment manufacture its own munitions
of war.
The purpose in this effort to have
! the government manufacture all its
munitions of war is not merely to
save the government the amount Of
these extortionate profits, but to take
( the profit out of war and preparation
! for war.
Many gentlemen want a large
number of battleships in order that
private manufacturers may make
hugh profits in building them. When
the government manufactures all
munitions of war we will be able to
decide upon the number of battle
ships needed on the merits of that
question Then the amounts to he
;,carried in the army and navy bills
will not be dictated by the greed of
1.-The armor, powder and shipbuilding
trusts, but by the needs of the coun-
try from a strictly military view
point Mr. Carnegie, who was one
of the first to go into the armor-
tplate business, boasts of having
made millionaires out of 43 men. So
there must be huge profits in the
/ armor-plate business, and now that
the government has generously per
mitted a considerable colony of steel
manufacturers to lay up sufficient
millions to keep the wolf from their
doors through the remainder Of their
days, as reward for their thrift
and genius and hard work, congress
should, instead of creating fresh
colony of steel magnates at the ex-
pense of the people, seriously begin
to think of saving some Of these y
lions to the taxpayers. -
Government Has Been Overcharged
The extent to which the armor,
ammunition and powder trusts have
been overcharging the government
is almost unbelievable. There has
seldom been honest competitive bid
ding between the manufacturers.
lSecretary of the Navy Daniels dis
}covered this condition as soon as he
entered office, and as result of his
activity in getting new Independent
bidders to enter the field he has
saved the government more than
|$2,OOO,OOO and has been in office lit
tie more than year.
Here are two sample illustrations
out of multitude which could be
cited showing what happens under
real competitive bidding. Realizing
the government was being over
charged for turbine rotary drums
the secretary invited an English firm
to submit bid for the drums to be
Installed in the new battleship, No
80, now building in the New York
navy yard The Midvale Steel com.
lpany and the Bethlehem Steel com.
\ pany, two of the three concerns com.
lposing the armor ring, bid $16O,272
and $169,56S, respectively, while the
English firm, acting for the Cyclops
)Steel & Iron Works, of Sheffield
/ England offered to furnish the drums
for $57,436, a saving to the govern.
ment over the lowest bid of the ar.
NOR ring of SCOOPS.
Then, recently the secretary
awarded a contract for building 10(
torpedo TASKS, including heads
There was competition; new con
TRACTORS entered the field previousl,
monopolized by the ring, and tn,
secretary of the navy was able t.
purchase 100 TASKS for $58,246
which under former conditions would
have cost $115,075.
!, The bids of the Bethlehem Stee
company and the Midyale Steel com
pany under honest competitive bid
ding showed a re duction of a. pc
.si.cent as compared with bids for sim
) iilar forgings submitted by thes
companies only four months previous