Evening star., 1915-10-16
BRITAIN CONTROLS
WAR PURCHASES
Expenditures for the Allies
Munitions Must Have Gov
ernment Sanction.
MATTER IN THE HANDS
OF GENERAL COMMITTEE
Step Taken, It Is Said, to Prevent
Competitive Bidding for Need
ed Supplies.

ed Supplies.
NEW YORK, October 16-Of the
millions of dollars spent daily In this
country by the allies for war supplies
not dollar, it Is learned authorita-
lively, can be spent without first OBJ
tanning the official sanction of the
British government
This sanction is obtained from a
committee sitting in London and hold
ing frequent sessions. Although the
committee has been in operation for
many months. its existence has not
heretofore been generally known out
side of governmental circles.
The personnel Uf- this committee has
never will be. 1t consists, however, OF
never will be. 1t consists however, OF
representatives of each of the allied
nations from Great Britain to Monte
negro; controls absolutely the purchase
of all war supplies in whatever sectlon
of the world they may be bought: acts
as a financial check and supervisor
over all the war chests of all the allies.
and seeks to eliminate positively com
petitive bidding on the part OF the al
lies for war supplies in the few open
markets of the world-frst OF all. IN
the United States.
over purchases made in the home
market by the various nations the
committee holds no supervision. It's
sphere is limited strictly to purchases
outside the boundary lines of the ma
tions at war and their colonies.
Committees Designation.
The committee is designated by a
French title. the English translation OF
which is 'the international war sup
plies committee" Under its guidance
Great Britain, France. Russia and
Italy. in seeking munitions of war in
the United States, and other supplies,
refrain from. competition In bidding.
Such competition. if permitted the
committee realized early in It's career.
would result in sending prices of NUM-
tions and other supplies to prohibitive
levels and would consequently swell
the cost of conducting the war propor-
tionately. Instead of coming into the
American market when supplies are
needed and waging financial contest
for supremacy in obtaining the sup
plies, the allies have adopted system
of placing one big order at a time in
this country. When the contract for
this order is signed the next allied ma
tions needs are taken up and another
contract is placed. This system Is
maintained until all the allied nations
purcha sing supplies here are cared for.
purchase not only of ammunition and
firearms, but to all supplies needed for
allied armies in the field and the al
lied navies which are incapable OF
being supplied in Europe. Grain, -four,
clothing meats blankets, boots, shoes
and the long list of minor articles used
by the allied armies are embraced in
the purchases over which jurisdiction
is exercised.
England Serves as Banker.
Great Britain, as banker for the al
lies, dominates this committee. British
purchases, where convenient. are made
in this country without consulting the
committee. Only in the most perfume
tory way does the committee keep
track of the British supplies bought
here Another department of the gov
eminent attends to this.
One of the chief functions of the
British members of the committee is
to act as mouthpiece of the British
treasury in allotting to the other allied
nations the amounts advanced by Great
Britain to them for the purchase of
war supplies in this country. Each
country is financed to a certain extent
in the case of Russia. almost wholly
by Great Britain. The British mem
bers of the committee advise the rep
rasentatives of other nations thereon
just how much Great Britain will per-
nit them to spend at stated intervals.
how much they will be permitted to
contract for in the United States with
the British guarantee of pay, and how
the money shall be spent.
The only time the committees plan
failed of operation was about six
months ago, and the effects of the fail
ure have not yet been eradicated This
was in connection with purchases by
Russia In the United States.
Russia Exceeds Allowance.
| Russia has been notified by the Brit
| ish members of the committee that she
might spend a certain sum of money
| for war supplies in this country. The
| sum is believed to have been between
! $500, 900, GOO and s30O,000,000. Whether
| the allotment was fully understood by
the Russian government is not known,
| but what Russia did was to spend the
sum allotted and, in addition. make
| huge commitments in this country for
further supplies.
| These commitments, covering many
months, were said to run into the hun
dreds of millions of dollars--a sum in
excess of the amour. allotted her by the
| British government.
In making these contracts Russia ap-
tee When the contracts came due. in
part. Russia had insufficient funds to
meet them, and the committee. not hav-
ing authorized the making of the con-
! tracts. had to devise quickly some
method of paying the bills. This was
! extremely difficult. and the demo-aliza- :
tion of the foreign exchange markets
| in this country recently WIS attributed
| in no small measure to THIS cause.
| Since that time Russia has adhered
strictly to the wishes of the commit
! tee.
Morgan & Co. Disbursing Agency.
! A single financial house,. p Nor
| gan q Co.-acts as the disbursing
| agency of the British government in
| this country. Its disbursements are
understood to cover payments of all
| goods purchased for the allies here.
The $500, 100000 Anglo-French credit
| loan just negotiated, it is said, will
provide payment for a large quantity
of goods purchased here for Russia.
|