The Washington times., 1915-06-11


ests have been trying to buy contral OF
the Bethlehem steel Company In order
that they might close the big Schwao
establishment against allies orders for
war material. have resulted in some
inquiries by washington officials VINO
have to deal with the enforcement or
the antitrust laws. These are or the
opinion that 1t would be a futile invest
ment of good German gold to attempt In
such fashion to shut down any Ameri-
can industry carrying on an entirely
legitimate business. s..
Making and selling munitions OF war
Is such an industry. The agitation IN
this country of proposals to embargo
such material has served at least to
bring this decision to the national au-
thorities.
Short of a new and very specific law
of Congress on the subject-and 1t Is
conceded that no law could pass-t
will be impossible to shut American fac
tories against war orders. The Ger
man war munitions industry. now SO eff
ficiently supporting the empires armies,
was builded in considerable part on the
Germany policy Of getting the widest
foreign market for these goods. At the
outset of the first Balkan war it was
proclaimed, as one of the reasons why
the Turks would win. that they had
been equipped bv Germany, while the
minor states allied against Turkey had
been supplied chiefly from France.
Given Severe Shock.
It was, therefore, a severe shock when
the experience of the the war demon.
strated that the French artillery Of the
little states was distinctly superior to
that which the Krupps had sent to Tur-
key. knowledge of this proved quality
went far to cheer the French army,
when. last August, 1t was called to
fight Germany.
The confession OF the French govern
ment that its munitions supplies have
at last begun to fail it, adds TO the i'm
portance of American supplies for the
allies. 1t has been commonly supposed
that the French were having little diff
Guilty on this account For the time
being, Italy seems to be the only one
Of the allied countries that presumably
need not worry about munitions; she
has had ten months to get equipped
and has besides great producing
capacity.
The Russians have been chief suffer-
ers because their producing capacity Is
small and also because they have been
to a large degree cut off from the out
side world. The opening of Archangel,
in May. means resumption Of imports
by the northern route, and some ces-
Siberian railroad, which during the
winter has been overtaxed.
Given Right of Way.
An American official. recently return
cd from Europe, declared that he plan
ned to travel over this road. but gave
1t up when he learned that It would
take at least six weeks for the trip;
every other kind Of traffic was being
lafr yad 70 of "a
take right-of-way. In this regard. how
ever, advices from the governments s
commercial agencies in Russia say
positively that there will not be another
such crisis as the recent one in Galicia-
The Russians are building more rail-
road facilities from Archangel south
ward, where at present the connecting
rail link is a narrow-gauge line by
which the entire receipts OF that port
must be moved to the interior. They
are also betterng the. rans,Siberian
road as fast as possible. pushing the
double-track operations as fast as possl-
BILE.
The net result of these developments
is that it Is confidently expected the
American war munitions traffic will
grow in the next few months at rate
that can hardly be imagined now. Big
contracts continue coming. and they
are all rush orders. which will be split
UP among many factories.
Particular effort has lately been made
in Washington to learn how long the
European governments expect the war
to last. These inquiries have developed
that orders have been placed here for
delivery of vast quantities of munitions
eighteen months and even two years
hence, and that these contracts have no
cancellation clauses in them. 1t has
been found necessary to omit this clause
or else pay much higher prices. and the
foreign governments have not caViled; ;
they seem to have little doubt that the
war will last long enough to need mu-
nitions delivered two years hence. If
1t does, industrial America will be we'll
nigh converted by that time into one
gigantic munitions works.
Effect of German Purpose.
All this. which it may be said In pass
ing represents a summary of high off,
cial knowledge concerning this indus
try's condition and outlook, whets the
concern about the possible effect of a
German effort to capture financial con-
troll of a great concern like Bethlehem