THE ROLL CALL
The Roll Call ON MEN AND MEASURES War Preparations Area Matter of Profit To The Armor Ring Uncle Sam Has Been Scandalously Overcharged By CONGRESSMAN CLYDE H. TAVENNER IN PREVIOUS letters...
...I hardly expect the reader to fall out of his chair in amazement when I report that the Navy League has not accepted my suggestion...
...A Letter and a Prophecy I PUT the question directly to the league in a * letter addressed to A. H. dadmun, its Secretary, on January 16 last, of which the following is an excerpt: "I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 13th instant, together with inclosures as to why a powerful Navy is needed...
...Let us now take up the Navy League of the United States, that busy little lobby of the War Trust...
...morgan...
...Many gentlemen want a large number of battleships simply in order that private manufacturers may make huge profits in building them...
...Pass the Seaman's Bill!—The Public...
...He is also the head—being chairman of the board of the International Nickel Co., and holds the honorable post of president of the New York Metal Exchange, and other directors - are similarly connected...
...There was competition...
...The bids of the Bethlehem Steel Company and the Midvale Steel Company under honest competitive bidding showed a reduction of 44 per cent, as compared with bids for similar forgings submitted by these companies only four months previous...
...Have done with your everlasting palaver...
...The Midvale Steel Company and the Bethlehem Steel Company, two of the three concerns composing the armor ring, bid $160,272 and $169,-568, respectively, while the English firm, acting for the Cyclops Steel & Iron Works, of Sheffield, England, offered to furnish the drums for $57,-436, a saving to the Government over the lowest bid of the armor ring of $102,836...
...He is an eminent financier of the Morgan group...
...So there must be huge profits in the armor-plate business, and now that the Government has generously permitted a considerable colony of steel manufacturers to lay up sufficient millions to keep the wolf from their doors through the remainder of their days, as a reward for their thrift and genius and hard work, Congress should, instead of creating a fresh colony of steel magnates at the expense of the people, seriously begin to think of saving some of these millions to the taxpayers...
...He is president of the Riggs National Bank, which is closer to Wall Street than any other bank in Washington...
...herbert L. satterlee, general counsel for the league, is a son-in-law and heir of Mr...
...How long will you continue to vex the people ? How long must you talk and shift and shuffle, while the ocean takes its toll...
...Carnegie, who was one of the first to go into the armor-plate business, boasts of having made millionaires out of forty-three men...
...When the people learn of the outrageous manner in which the powder, armor and ammunition trusts have overcharged and cheated Uncle Sam they will insist that the Government manufacture its own munitions of war...
...charles g. glover is treasurer of the league...
...Ever since I have been a member of Congress the Navy League has been reminding me that the Navy should be more powerful, and more powerful and still more powerful...
...Secretary of the Navy daniels discovered this condition as soon as he entered office, and as a result of his activity in getting new independent bidders to enter the field he has saved the Government more than $2,000,000 and has been in office little more than a year...
...por MONTHS the air has been filled with war talk...
...He was for many years an officer of the Pullman Co., a morgan corporation...
...You have had your Titanic, you have had your Empress of Ireland...
...new contractors entered the field previously monopolized by the ring, and the Secretary of the Navy was able to purchase 100 flasks' for $58,246, which under former conditions would have cost $115,075...
...Gen...
...It occurred to me one day it would bo interesting to know whether the Navy League had any particular preference as between "a more powerful navy'' to be built by the government at actual cost in a government shipyard with armor made in a government armor factory, and "a more powerful navy"- to be built by private' contractors with huge profits to the armor, ammunition and shipbuilding trusts...
...tavenner presents aspects of this "hold up" that every citizen should be informed of.—editor's note...
...Safety At Sea Demands Attention Congress r\ MEN of many words and little deeds...
...Some day Congress will order that all munitions of war shall be manufactured by the government itself, and thus take away this element of private profits...
...horace porter is president of the league...
...When the Government manufactures all munitions of war we will be able to decide upoit the number of battleships needed on the merits of that question...
...Then, recently the Secretary awarded a contract for building 100 torpedo flasks, including heads...
...Congressman tavenner of Illinois is making an able fight against the ring that has been mulcting Uncle Sam...
...ERE LONG Congress is going to take the profit out of war and preparation for war...
...It is well to direct our attention again toward those who profit out of war and preparations for war...
...The purpose in this effort to have the Government manufacture all its munitions of war is not merely to save the Government the amount of these extortionate profits, but to TAKE THE PROFIT OUT OF WAR AND PREPARATION FOR WAR...
...how many thousands more must be added to these ere their cries surmount the pleas of Privilege...
...How long will you give your time to non-essentials and deny our seamen common justice...
...I desire now to present some information as to who is behind the Navy League: J. pierpont morgan was until his death one of the directors, and a liberal contributor...
...But if you do not advocate the Government manufacture of all munitions of war, including battleships, you cannot successfully deny that you are carrying on a propaganda which means millions and millions of dollars of extortionate profits to the above-mentioned interests...
...39, now building in the New York Navy Yard...
...And this week's papers flare forth the tense situation in Europe—where at any moment a general war may be precipitated...
...1 Remove Incentive for Profit...
...You who are swift to serve the House of Have, but slow to help the House of Want...
...The Roll Call ON MEN AND MEASURES War Preparations Area Matter of Profit To The Armor Ring Uncle Sam Has Been Scandalously Overcharged By CONGRESSMAN CLYDE H. TAVENNER IN PREVIOUS letters published in la fol-lette's I described the soft snaps being enjoyed by the armor ring, the ammunition ring and the shipbuilding trust, in gathering in at outrageously excessive prices the fat government contracts for munitions of war, running into the millions annually...
...Then the amounts to be carried in the Army and Navy bills will not be dictated by the greed of the Armor, Powder, and Shipbuilding Trusts, but by the needs of the country from a strictly military viewpoint...
...Assuming that you are in good faith in this agit* tion and really desire the largest possible Navy for patriotic reasons, I am going to take the liberty of suggesting to you that if you will inaugurate a movement for the Government manufacture of all munitions of war, including all battleships, your campaign will strike a much more responsive chord with both Members of Congress and the people...
...How Government Has Been Overcharged THE EXTENT to which the armor, ammuni-* tion, and powder trusts have been overcharging the Government is almost unbelievable...
...Should the Government adopt the policy of manufacturing all its munitions of war, / predict that the Navy League would not only loch the doors of its elegantly appointed suite in the National Capitol, but that the same rich patriots who are noio clamoring for a bigger and bigger Navy, in the certain knowledge that if their agitation is successful they will clraiv down contracts worth millions, will be the loudest in their protestations against an annual war expenditure of $250,000,-000 in time of peace...
...There has seldom been honest competitive bidding between the manufacturers...
...On this page Mr...
...Here are two sample illustrations out of a multitude which could be cited showing what hapv, pens under real competitive bidding: Realizing the Government was being overcharged for turbine rotary drums, the Secretary invited an English firm to submit a bid for the drums to be installed in the new battleship, No...
...robert L. thompson is chairman of the executive committee of the league...
...He has proven how the powder, armor and ammunition trusts have outrageously overcharged the United States...
...In other words, if the Government is to do all of the manufacturing of munitions of war, including battleships, the point can not then be successfully raised that the agitation is for the benefit of the armor ring, the ammunition ring, and the Shipbuilding Trust...
...Col...
Vol. 6 • August 1914 • No. 31
