Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1915-05-13
THE WAR TRUST
REAPING MILLIONS
SAYS TAVENNER
Illinois Congressman Ayers
Armor Powder Rings
Have '1Stand In
Profits in War Materials Out OF Pro.
portion to Commercial
Gains.

| Congressman Clyde H. Tavenner of
Illinois, writing for LaFollette's Mag
azine in series of articles dealing
with what he denominates "The
World Wide War Trust makes some
startling statements with regard to-
the cost of war materials and also
concerning a species of waste in gov
ernmental expenditures for the main
! tenance of the army and navy.
A Select Ring.
| Mr.. Tavener declares not thirty
members of congress, in his estima-
ton, realize the enormous waste in
war materials nor know the identity
of the select ring of patriots for profit
into whose pockets the millions of the
masses are pouring, which gentle
men have a watertight monopoly in
i this country on the traffic in war
! trading, and who have drawn every
| penny of $50,000,000 in excessive and
/ extortionate profits from the govern
ment by direct virtue of their in
fuential friends in the army, the
4 navy, and in congress"
Some Definite figures.
/ aWhy has the war department
been paying the ring s17.50 for a 3.S-
inch common shrapnel when it can
manufacture and Is manufacturing.
| the identical article at Frankford for
4 $7.94? Seventeen dollars and fifty
cents is more than twice $7.94. The
,government could manufacture two
shrapnel for the price it has been
paying the private manufacturers for
{ one and have $1.62 remaining to the
4 peoples credit on each transaction.
lis it any wonder we do not have as
much ammunition as we should have
for the money that has been expend-
j ed? It is the public funds that are
being sent here, and the people have
a right to have these questions ans
wered.
Illustrations Not Exceptional. 81
These illustration are not excep-
tional, as / viii endeavor to show
| by the fact that on a contract given
to Frankford arsenal for ammunition
valued at $1,9O0,064 we are saving
$979,s40; or, in other words, we are
saving approximately $1,000,000 on a
! So, 100000 order as compared with
what it would have cost had that con
tract been awarded the ammunition
| ring Does not a showing such as
/ this warrant a policy Of turning the
really big orders over to Government
manufacture instead of allowing the
war trafickers to charge us practi-
cally any price they may agree upon
1 between themselves?
History Long Scandal.
at would require several volumes
| to cover all the transactions desery-
ing publicity concerning arInor. Let
it be sufficient in passing to say tnat
| the government purchase of armor
has been a scandal from start to
/ finish. The conduct Of the armor
ring in dealing with the government
averages throughout at least so per
cent rotten. Il.
! There have been nine official esti-
mates as to the actual cost Of the
manufacture of ton of armor plate
! The average estimate is Sz47s17 per
ton. Yet since 1887 we have pur-
chased 217,379 tons of arMor, paying
| the armor ring an average of s440.0 .04
per ton, or a total Of $95.656.240.
A Big Saving.
| believe am we'll within the
D0uHQS OF cCHSeFYaClSm WHenl y say
| that II all this armor had been manu-
factured in government plant att
least $35, ,000, 900 would have been
lsaved to the American taxpayers, and
armor is only one OF the things being
purchased by the army and navy un-
der similar conditions.
Take powder. We have purchased
SIS, 900. 600 worth Of powder from the|
trust since 1905. paying for It all the
way from 53 cents to 80 cents per-
pound We are manufacturing pow
der in government plants now for 36|
cents per pound and the officers I'M
charge state that the more we manu-
facture, the cheaper we can produced
it,
Build Arrnor Plant.
There is little doubt but that from
eight to ten million dollars OF the
tHentyyfve million dollars paid theI
powder trust could have been saved
by government manufacture. SeGre-i
tary Daniels has asked congress forl
an appropriation for q goyernmeat|
arlnOr4plate factory. but tsf7is fqr con-i
ryresea 17na rk fused him y 4