Montana labor news., 1944-01-13
ANACONDA WIRE and CABLE co. is
CHARGED WITH OBSTRs ~'''"'''14 , %s'.R
EFFORT in RHODE ISLAND COUkr,

Trial of the Anaconda Wire and Cable
Corporation at Pawtucket, Rhode Island,
and several of its officials on charges
of d~efrauding the government of more
than $1,000, 900, and Constructing the
prosecution of the war" by manufacture
ing and delivering faulty Army field
wire in the period from November, 1910
to September, 1912, has been in progress
in federal court before Judge Thomas
]. Hastigan for the past three weeks.
Together with the corporation, the fol-
lowing are named in the action: Will
liam H. Morley, former manager Of the
Powtucket plant and now assistant man
ager of the firm; Jacob Engleson, for
mer plant superintendent, Lowell K.
Morrow. chief inspector Of The Paw
tucket mill; William Eagleson, superin-
tendent of the electric testing room and
Robert L. Wright, chief engineer who
has pleaded guilty.
Evidence given by Inspector Morrow
indicates that the Anaconda officials
knew in advance that the company
lacked the equipment to produce the
wire under the stringent government
specifications, which called for wire for
use in front line communications and
designed to be used in all varieties of
terrain and under temperatures varying
from 40 below zero to 1870 in the shade.
Morris testified that he had told the
officials that the plant could not pro-
duce the wire required but apparently
all the officials were interested in was
to get the contract and were prepared
to deliberately get the wire past U. S
inspection by any and all means.
Engineer Wright who has pleaded
guilty confessed to designing on intri-
cate vacuum-tube device which was hid
den in an adjoining room and connected
with concealed wiring to the testing ma
chinery, and that this gadget operated
so as to make faulty insulation appear
effective.
However, easier methods Of getting
defective wire past inspection were
found by the officials according to the
government charges. All testing was
done by Anaconda with the U. S. inspec-
tors merely watching, which was accord
ing to the terms of the contract. one
method used, according to the charges
was to remove the red tags from defec-
tive reels and substituting yellow OK
tags. Another method was to plant good
wire in the testing room when the gov
eminent inspectors were expected.
A former employee, now a sergeant in
the Army, in his testimony described
another system used in getting wire past
inspection, by winding 1000 feet Of good
wire on a reel %concealing about 1000
feet Of defective material.
A number of samples were introduced
as evidence in the trial a week ago by
Cyrus M. Ship, field supervisor of wire
and cable for the U. S.. Signal Corps in
the Chicago area. Shipp stated that
these samples were taken from reels of
wire at the San Bernardino general sup
ply depot, the California shipping point
for supplies to the U. S.. forces in the
South Pacific. OF 10 reels of wire ex-
amined there during November, "a were
found to have been spliced at n Or
more points although the inspection
tags attached to them stated that the
half mile reels contained no spices.
1t was not pleasant for the Pawtuckett
officials to neal Ship testify that he
had spark tested Sc other reels made by
Anaconda in its Marion, Ind, plant. The
officials of that plant, indicted on
charges similar to those against the
Pawtucket plant, escaped with the small
fines of $4,000 in the federal court
there.