Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-18
THREE FIRMS LEAD
IN NAVY BUILDING
Function of Constructing US
Ships Passes Out of Gov
ernment'S Hands.
BY JOHN F. SINCLAIR.
epecial Dispatch to The Star.

BY JOHN F. SINCLAIR.
Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, September 18.-Ray-
| naond L. Buell., vigorous research d.
rector of the Foreign Policy Associa-
ton Of New York, says there are only
three companies in the United States
equipped to build Navy craft. Bethle-
hem bodybuilding Corporation, Brown
Boveri Electric Corporation and the
Newport News Shipbuilding Corpora
ton.
And they are the concerns which
William B. Shearer Is suing for 500,
900. Shearer says he has received
CSC, 900 already from these corporations
| for propagandizing for big Navy.
IN the early history OF the country,
naval construction was regarded as q
| function Of the Government. Only In
recent years has q change taken place.
Congress, to check this new tendency
Of awarding to private companies con-
tracts for building naval ships, mserted
q provision In the act Of December 10,
loa4. that naval construction should De
done in Government yards, when, In
the opinion Of the Secretary OF the
Navy, there would be no appreciate
''The 1924 act provided for the build
ing of eight cruisers" says Mr.. Buell..
give of these were awarded to private
yards, although In some cases the navy
yard bids were about 100000 less
than private bids"
These Ave cruisers are being con-
structed by the three corporations men
toned.
When DR.. Charles K. Leith, noted
professor of geology at the University
of wisconsin. discussed at the VIII
Jamestown Institute of Politics the
problem Of minerals. he brought out
that IN the last as years the world has
consumed more Of its mineral resources
than In all history.
Concentration has been placed upon
the large sources Of supply. A dozen
copper deposits may supply 80 to 80
per cent of the copper needs OF the
world. Three or four manganese de-
| posts, a few nickel deposits and few
| immense iron ore deposits supply the
world demand.
The mineral resources of the world
are punched In q few places" The
| North Atlantic basin Is the principal
center Of our mineral resources, and
the United States and Great Britain
virtually control the mineral deposits
| of the world.
perhaps 80 per cent Of the total
mineral resources Of the world Is con-
trolled by these two groups" DR.. Leith
says.
Canada, however, has a large poten-
tial area yet unexplored. Even now the
Dominion is first in the production OF
asbestos, second in the production OF
cobalt, third in gold and silver, fourth
| in lead and copper and sixth in zinc.
The international implications assume
importance, for the ever old and ever
new question arises-the naturalization
OF natural resources as against the in
corporation Of resources into great prl-
Yate companies Of international scope.
! Throughout the world, however, there
Is o new awakening in the potential
o. well aS strategic value OF mineral
resources.
When great properties which have
been In direct control OF individual
| families for more than so years sell
out to larger units, then 1t can be said
| that the merger movement Is reaching
| far down and changing the very toun-
dationS Of the business structure.
It Is reported that Bloomingdale
Bros, New York department store, has
passed out of the active control OF
| the Bloomingdale family, which found
| ed the store in 1872.
The report is that Bloomingdale
joined the same merger which, an
nounced last March, included Abraham
g. Straus of Brooklyn. with annual
sales of $25,0o0.000; william Ftlene's
Sons Co. Of Boston. which controls the
R. H. White Co. of Boston, with COM
bined annual sales of $4,000, 900, and
the r. r. Lazarus Co. department store
of Columbus, Ohio, with annual sales
| of $4,000, 900. The Bloomingdale
Bros annual sales are $23.O00,00o.
Lehman Bros, investment bankers,
are said TO have negotiated this rumor-
| ed latest merger. They handled the
negotiations by which L. Bamberger
g. Co.. big department. store in New
Macy g. Co. Of New York, combining
sales annually of $125,000,000.
Another step could tie up two de-
partment store chains with annual sales
Of 1921 ,00O, 900.
So far department stores throughout
the country have been slow in joining
huge merger movements. They are
large employers Of labor.
One merchant in New York said to
me this week that there were more
executives in his store drawing salaries
OF $1,000 a year or more than there
were in the largest bank in New York
The problem Of personnel Is extremely
That is probably one reason the
merger movement has not advanced so
far in this field.
It must have surprised many people
to hear Secretary of Commerce Lamont
say that as q creditor nation the United
States sis no such giant as is often
supposed"
foreign credits of not less than $l9,-
900 900 900 and possibly as much as
$40, 0O0, 900, 900, Is still ahead Of the
United States as a creditor nation.
Theodore M. Knappan says the
United States Is not, on commercial
account, more of creditor nation than
France was in 1913, and not more than
one-third as great a lender as the
United Kingdom was in that year. SO
the "smug assumption" that the United
States is the financial lord Of the world
Is O little strong.
True, the United States has been
investing O great sum abroad in tie
last 10 years-$6, 900, 900 900. But
foreign countries have invested about
one.third as much here. So Americas
net gain is only $4,000, 000, 900.
Again American investments abroad
are largely in bonds yielding rather
low rate, while foreign investments In
the United States are chiefly in stocks.
And stocks have gone up very much
more in the last flve years than bonds.
Europe is not SO slow.
The United States Department OF
Commerce says It Is calculated that
foreigners participated last year In
A-n1innn iiuidnndc IN %ha avfank nf