The people's voice., 1942-12-25

native under the Washington order.
A similar order came through for
Bendix in August for several thousand
ordnance items costing $4,000.
Bendix replied that ait would be nee
essary to quote deliveries In Novem-
ber, 1o43," and so it did not want the
contract, because 1--WE realize it is too
late for your requirements"
Definite Instructions
The New York office passed the
word along to Washington, asking if
it was necessary for the order to go
to Bendix, in view of a previous ruling
tha tall contracts specifying deliv-
cries beyond July 1, 1943, are subject
to cancellation"
The Washington office replied
abruptly:
Request contract be executed, even
though delivery will not commence
until 1943."
A memorandum to the committee
investigators signed by Tomkins said:
"This instruction left the New York
Ordnance District no choice in the
matter"
"Of course" the memo added 1--WE
have the circumstance that Eclipse
(Bendix) was being further loaded
with this type of production over it's
own protest, virtually This circum-
stance alone would appear to have
justified, if not required, that the al
tentative procedure of breaking the
contract down should have been ex-
plored."
The evidence showed the contract
went to Bendix for delivery late in
43, although the Army considered the
order urgent and requested the New
York office, in a letter during the
negotiations, to try to get delivery of
25 per cent of the order by October,
1912.
Also during these negotiations be-
tween the two ordnance offices, the
New York office sent to Washington
handle such work, but the Washing
ton office ignored the alternative and
insisted on the contract going to Ben
dix.
One of these companies was the
Eisemann Magnetic Corp, which was
recommended for the prime contract
on the understanding that it would
sub-contract much of the work
In October an order for another ord
nance item finally came through for
Eisemann, but the directive said the
prime contract should be given to the
Delco-Remy Division of General Mo
tors, with Eisemann as a sub-contrac-
tor.
The New York office protested that
Delco-Remy did not have suitable IA
cilities for this item Finally, author
ization was given for the contract to
go to Eisemann Magnetic. But even
then the order was for only 10000 |
of the items, although the New York |
said they had complete con
that Eisemann could produce |
5000 a month.
'Mr. Ed Chapman
The Tomkins memo to committee
said that during these
with Eisemann, a "Mr.
Ed Chapman" from the Office of
Chief of Ordnance overruled the pro-
posal to give a bigger contract to
Eisemann, without indicating why or
where he proposed to place the addi-
Lional orders.
Questioning of TOmkins developed
that the contract to the Bendix Corp.
resulted in no sub-contracting to small
while the contract to Else
mann involved sub-contracts to SO
small firms.
The committee also disclosed an
other instance of the same kind. In
July Washington ordered 1000 met
a-Iined boxes for smokeIess powder.
This was the kind of order that could
De divided readily among many COM
oanes; but the directive said 2750oo
Of the boxes, costing almost $3,000,-
700, should be awarded to the STAN
gard -Dickerson Co., of Newark, and
10000 to U. S. Plywood.
Cases Were Typical
The New York office reported to
that U. S. Plywood was
unwilling to bid, because it did not
specialize in this kind of work, and