New Britain herald., 1917-04-07
SAVES SlS,0OO,OOO
 ON STEEL ORDER
United States Also Secures Tor
 pedoeS at Less Than Bid

Washington. D. C.. April "A say ing of $18,00O.000 in the navy's bill for steel during 1917. and more than $2,00O,OO0 in a single order for tor pcdoes. is represented in price agree ments effected with the manufac- turers by Secretary Daniels.
 The schedule of prices for the years supply of steel agreed on at a confer ence between the secretary and J. A. Farrell. president of the United States Steel Corporation, is the same the navy paid for it's 1916 consignment, and considerably below the current market. Details of the amount or exact prices were not made public.
 Tn the case of the torpedo order. MT. Daniels brought the manufactur- ing concern-the E. W. Bliss company of Rrooklyn-to terms by invoking several days ago for the first time the new law authorizing the government to set . reasonable price for navy ma- terial and compel private plants to abide by that price.
 Mir. Farrell acted In the steel price negotiations as vice chairman of the special committee of the American Iron and Steel Institute, recently ap- pointed by the Council of National Defense to facilitate the obtaining of construction material.
 Secrctary's Statement.
 After the. conference Secretary n~s ment:
 "An agreement was reached with respect to prices for material for the shipbuildnig program of the navy and additions to the naval stations. This agreement provides that there Is to be no increase in prices over those paid for material used in the 1916 naval program. These prices are substan-, tially lower than current market prices, and 1t Is estimated that they involve a saving of approximately $1S.00O.000 on the tonnage required for 1917 over the prevailing prices.',,
 Through voluntary agreements pre- viously effected with copper. brass, munitions, shipbuilding and other concerns,stae department already has saved n1essy times the amount repre- sented in yesterdays steel and torpedo agreements. Except in cases of necessity. Secretary Daniels will not invoke the new law permitting seizure of plants not offering to turn out sup- plies at reasonable price.
 Although officials permitted 1t to become known several days ago that the government had exerted its new authority to prevent exorbitant war profits. it was not announced then N~ -t-I taken.
 Navy Sets Price.
 The department first asked. it was said. that the Bliss company reduce it torpedo bids, and when 1t was found that reduction of $500 a tor pedo was the best that could be ob- tained by negotiation. Mir. Daniels ordered the Ordnance Bureau to de- termine the cost of production and add q reasonable profit, thus fixing a fair price. The Bureau fixed a price of $1.67S a torpedo under the original bid submitted. and the secretary in- formed the Bliss company that it would be reduired to fill the order promptly at the now figure. Tho rep resentatives of the company informed the secretary that they would gladly accept tho order on the new basis and would sreod the manufacture.
 The result of invoking this new provision of the naval bill." Mir. Daniels said. has saved the depart mcnt @4.1s3.696 on one order. We expect all intuition makers to furnish the government what it needs at prices which investigation shows to be reasonable, so that it will not be- saoCeNHa rv fo ta ko rvov. a nv u1o wfa