The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-07-25

N~fNOt~~-'<
 due to chance meeting in Washington
 Frank A. Scott that one of the situa-
 ticns which had occasioned the war de-
 partment and especially the intuition
 branch great concern was relieved.
 Only one thing now remains to be done
 in order to perfect a contract entered
 into in behalf of their respective govern
 ments by these two men and that Is the
 appropriation by Congress of $9, 0oo A
 bill calling for that appropriation is now
 before Congress and the government has
 no doubt that the appropriation is now be-
 fore Congress and the government has
 no doubt that the appropriation will be authorized. When the payment is made 1 Great Britain will transfer to the United States the contracts her representatives made two or three years ago with three
 plants occupied with the manufacture of rifles.
 Sir Hardman Lever has lived In the
 United States 20 years but has not taken
 out naturalization papers. He has rep resented Great Britain in several very important transactions, some of them or
 financial character, and 1t was be- cause of highly satisfactory service of this kind that King George, some
 months ago, knighted him.
 Frank A. Scott Is the chairman of the general munitions board at Washington
 and the service he has performed In
 that capacity has beens of great value to the government, explaining in some +k. hot able so rapidly to make adequate prepa- rations for providing our army with mu- nitions.
 MT. Scott discovered immediately after the United States joined the belligerents that we were woefullys shy of capacity for manufacturing rifles. He was per- suaded that at least 100000 rifles should be manufactured as soon as possible, but
 wondered how this was to be done. The government arsenal at Springfield, Mass, is not large enough to permit the
 manufacture in a reasonably shoi. tims of that number of rifles. Congress, though a year or two ago appealed to for an appropriation whereby the ar senal at Rock Island could be greatly | enlarged, did not heed that appeal. The | wonder was then how. where and when | the government could secure the 100000 rifles needed for the equipment CT tne American army.
 1 It was at "a time when Mfr. Scott was giving earnest thought to this matter 1 that he met Sir Hardman Lever infor- mally and almost by accident. The two men were friends and of course, occa- l sionally met each having the highest | regard for the other, but upon the occa- sion now referred to one or the other of them spoke almost by chance of the l contracts which Great Britain some | two years ago entered into with the pro- prietors of the three great intuition | making plants, one of which Is known as the Eddyston plant, near Philadel- l phia; another is the plant of the Win i chester Arms company at New Haven. 1 Conn, and the third the plant of the l Remington Arms company near Utica. | Sir Hardman intimated that Great Brit air was now so abundantly qualified | through her own munition plants to
 manufacture rifles for her army that it l was no longer needful that she rely upon l these American contracts for the manu- l fracture of these arms.
 TAKING OVER THE CONTRACTS I MT. Scott instantly saw the opportu- nifty thus suddenly offered for meeting I the emergency which had so greatly l concerned him. He found on inquiry
 tha: Sir Hardman was DOT rsuaded that Great Britain would gladly turn over these contracts and all that they in volve to the United States. Whereas, | upon the other hand, he was told by MT. Scott that there was no doubt that the government would as willingly take over 1 these contracts as Great Britain would willingly part with them.
 | So far the minds of these two men
 met, but the next question was how to determine what Great Britain's contracts represented in money to her, so that a basis for making a bargain could l thereby be established. The munitions board brought into it's service one of
 the highly authoritative auditing cor porations of the United States. This l company was commissioned to take an inventory of each of the plants, cover | ing. of course. only those departments | Of the rams which represented the Eng | fish contracts. It was work propor- | donate in the magnitude of it's details
 to some of the other great undertak- l ings which are now under way whereby | the government can be in all ways thor ! oughly prepared oscarry on the war.