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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1916)
i-mrm- jb y"i ',T"TTHr'W" j' ry f m i. o 28 The Commoner VOL. 16, NO. 5 Amazing Profits Charged for U. S. Munitions (Qilflon Gardner, in Now Orleans Daily Statoa.) Public sorvico or private graft? That is the question which has come to the front in connection with tho administration's preparedness program. Aro tho millions to bo spent really for dofonso or aro they to be distrib uted as enormous profits to tho steel trust, tho powder trust, tho ship building trust, and other American Krupps? Shall tho government spond tho money and got a dollar's worth of proparodness for eve?y dollar spent, or shall tho govommont lot tho pri vate corporation tako from 20 to 60 por cent, in private profit for do ing It? This Is tho very real and practical question confronting congress. It can not bo dodged. A group of determined congress men will force tho Issue during tho Wholo time tho proparodness program both army and navy is on tho floor of congross. These mon will not oppose proparodness :but they will opposo private-profit prcpared- noss. Tho question will bo emphasized, too, by tho attitude of Secretary of Navy Daniols, who charges- openly that shlp-bulldera aro a trust; -that tholr bids aro collusive, and that their profits are extortionate Tho question will bo forced from another anglo by tho charges and counter charges between the navy league and Representative Clyde Tavennor, tho league threatening li bel suits and Tavonnoirthreatoning a congressional inquiry to determine whether tho league is supported by men who profit by private munitions manufacture. A hint as to what has in tho past become of tho staggering sums, ap propriated for preparedness is to be found in tho fact that four firms have recolved since 1887 orders aggregat ing $175,000,000, and have been paid from 20 to 60 per cent more than the same could have been man ufactured for in government arsenals and navy yards. It is possible to obtain, some doflnite and specific information as to tho economy of government man ufacture In tho itom of armor plato, for instance, ten official esti mates as to tho actual cost of a ton of armor plato give au average es timate of $238.64 a ton. ' Since 1887, however, the navy de partment has purchased 217,379 tons of armor, paying the armor rinr? an avorace of $440.04 a ton, or a total of $95,850,240. If all this armor had been maufactured in government plants, at least $35, 000,000 would havo been saved to tho taxpayers. Other items of preparedness show tho same discrepancies. Tho war department, in 1913, for instance, purchased 7,000 4.7-inch shrapnel from privato manufacturers. It paia $25.20 for each shell. At tho sarao time tho exact article was being manufactured In tho government plant at Philadelphia at a cost of $15.45. For a 3. 8-inch shrapnel, the de partment paid $17.50; the govern ment cost of tho identical article is $7.94. At tho government plant at Rock Island, 111., the war department man ufactures caissons for gun carriages at a cost of $1,128.67 each. Private manufacturers have been paid $1,744.10 for the same article, which is 54.6 per cent greater than tho government cost. Tho same is true in government purchases of powder. The govern ment has bought about $25,000,000 worth of powder from the powder trust since 1905, paying all the way from 53 cents up to 80 cents a pound for it. Tho government plant at Indian Plead is manufacturing the identical powder to day at 34 cents a pound, and the faster the plant ca pacity is increased the lower the cost will be. Secretary of the Navy Daniels has stated officially in his annual report that the navy department can manu facture every single item from paint to superdreadnaughts cheaper than the same articles can be purchased from privato manufacturers. This is true in spite of the fact that government employees are gen erally better treated, have shorter hours of labor, more holidays and bettor pay than is the rule in private plants. These government arsenal costs also include 15 per cent for overhead charges, depreciation of plant and similar items. All these facts aro going to be pointed out with greater emphasis on tho floor of congress. A rich lobby is to be on hand for tho American Krupps. The rich lobby is to be assisted by another rich lobby of social influ ence. Congress is easier than you may think! It's not going to be hard for the lobby of privilege to make con gress vote their way, unless But that isn't going to bo enough! Tho American public wakes up right now right now quick and 11n nnnrrrnaa flint This nation will not stand for any body to profit in gold and silver from the blood shed by its army and navy! RESPONSIBILITY FOR WAR Springfield, 111., May 3. Editor of tho Chicago Tribune. Your clear, forceful editorials for the most part leave nothing to be de sired. You are doing a great work for our nation. We, the common people, are with you. We even be lieve in your and Decatur's motto, and when the war with Germany is on will turn in and fight for these rabid Anglo-maniacs who have forced it upon us, against the Ger mans. But we beg of you not to desert us in the hour of sorest need. Don't be sentimental over your motto. It will be time enough to sustain the President when the war has begun. Why not sustain to the utmost the handful of patriotic congressmen who are striving to keen us out of war? Perhaps congress will have an op portunity to exerc'se the discretion imposed in it by the constitution, even after diplomatic relations are broken off with Germany. It may become the duty of con gress to assume the responsibility placed upon it and decide not to go to war. If you are going to deny congress the right to veto the Pres ident in this, wherein will the mak ing of war by our republic differ from the initiation of a war by an autocracy? Don't desert us until the die is irretrievably cast. Robert Perry. Speeches of m William Jennings BDiyan Revised and Arranged by Himself In Five Uniform Volumes, Thin !2mo Ornamental Boards Daintv Stvle FOLLOWING ARE THE TITLES i THE PEOPLE'S LAW A Discussion of State Consti tutions and what they should contain. THE PRICE OF A SOUL THE VALUE OF AN IDEAL THE PRINCE OF PEACE MAN Roprlntod in this form Volume II of Mr. Bryan's Speeches Eioh of these four addresses has been delivered before many largo audi en?e? These five volumes make a most attractive series. Price of Each, 80 Cents, Net Postage, 5 Cents TWO OTHER NOTABLE SPEECHES: m W rIGNS F E TIMES; To which is added Faith." The most important address by Mr. Brvan since his o volumes of "Selected Speeches" were compiled, with one of the best of those added. One 16mo Volume, In Flexible Leather, with Gilt-Top. 75c net, Postage 5c Address FUNK WAQNAI.LS CO., Publisher, 354-380 Pourtfc Ave. N. Y. THE AMERICAN MERCHANT MA RINE (Continued from Page 9) and it will take some shins to hanriiA it. Perhaps that trade will not be as large as it was. I do not know, but if it is not, there are not as many ships to carry it as there were. Nei ther Great Britain nor France are doing as large a foreign trade as they did, and when the war ends they will seek to redeem it and will need ships for it, and it is possible there will not be as many ships as there were even if the trade should not be as large as it was. In our own traffic certain fairly good customers have not been buying of late. We sold Austria, Germany and Belgium over $429,000,000 in iyid and nearly 430,000,000 in 1914, and it took ships to move it I assume it will take some of them after the war is over and our cus tomers commence to buy again. Fur thermore, we are told on good French authority that they, and per haps others, will need to buy largely in menuu ior re-establishing indus tries, and this will take ships. We have made some use and are makinrr better use all the time of our oppor tunities during tho war, and should Great Britain or Germany require their ships for their own restored trade when the war ends, we shall need American ships to do the larger business we are finding with neutral countries unless we are content again to lie down and do this business as of old at the will of others and for such a time and in such a wav as they wish us to do it. I take it. how ever, that the United States has got ten a larger vision than if wi w years ago, and that by the extension trade, it is reaching out more than it ever did into the greater world t think this process will not be denied and can not be stopped and that we shall insist upon doing it where we please and as we please and for our own benefit though with due regard to the rights of others, and thia means that we shall think it neces sary to do it in ships which, if there wore difficulty anywhere will be con cerned to do things our way. I have not touched yet upon an other serious factor in this matter. Great Britain is using something like 3,000 ships as attendants upon her great war fleet. These are of many kinds but they are all merchant ves sels, yet without them the war fleet would be helpless. When we sent one fleet of battleships around the world some years ago, we had to hire foreign vessels to keep them in coal and supplies. When we indulged in a trifling war a few years since, we bought auxiliary vessels suitable and unsuitable where we could get them at almost any price, and sold them at a mighty loss. What should we do today if we had to use our navy on the sea? We do not make the navv to keep it in ports but we have not the means, to be candid, to keep it long at sea. It would require about 900 ships of all kinds from the mer chant service to keep it well supplied at sea, and we have nnt. t.hnA niiino We have about 500 and that is not enough, and so our navy would have to leave the job and come home to get coal and supplies at the time when it was mosf needed at sea. That is, it would do this unless we get more ships. We need 400 more at least, and we ought to have them as soon as possible, and there ought to be no doubt about it. Observe that if we took all the. vessels ' estimated to be available for this purpose, we should still be short 400. One may hope that foresight is get ting a dent made in the American mind for its reception. We have heretofore looked at the immediate and considered whether it was cheap. So we are worrying over dyestuffs be cause we do not make them fa3t enough. We were content for cheap ness sake to depend on a foreign source. The same was true of manv other things. A small portion of what that weakness has cost us would have saved the losses we have en dured. It is a lot cheaper to pro vide peace ships soon, useful both in peace and war, than to have war ships leave the'r job when it is go ing on in order to become coal car riers for their own engines because we have not provided merchant ships to do that work. I think Americans are getting over a certain stage of pride in our bigness and power com bined with unwillingness to pay the bills and that we are taking things more soberly. We need then ships not alone for the present emergency, much as they are needed there, but for tho main tenance of our commercial independ ence on the sea and for the support of our navy should it be required for our defense. How shall we get them? It is not a job to be delayed for time is of its very essence, yet every pri vate yard is full for about two years to .coiue. They may be, I trust thev will be, extended or multiplied, but it will be necessary to have some as surance of business sufficient to war rant the investment in so doing. Wo have a few government vessels can able of carrying coal or cargoes NEVADA MINING NEWS Freo for Three Months TmiuPl?,,1,ca,'or Is,cdltl hy experts, Is aW.' u e'v t'.'n-'c minin.? cclJen ,?J aHt,'rty on all nilnei. mtnlnjr c inrs d Son.h uTsOMiTVil'ft,fe w'1' ho mailed to vc. for three v in m , 2LU7EI'Y K,,EE "rn lequet. 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