xt70rx937t9n_525 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt70rx937t9n/data/mets.xml https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt70rx937t9n/data/46m4.dao.xml unknown 13.63 Cubic Feet 34 boxes, 2 folders, 3 items In safe - drawer 3 archival material 46m4 English University of Kentucky The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.  Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Laura Clay papers Temperance. Women -- Political activity -- Kentucky. Women's rights -- Kentucky. Women's rights -- United States -- History. Women -- Suffrage -- Kentucky. Women -- Suffrage -- United States. Peace movement pamphlets and leaflets text Peace movement pamphlets and leaflets 2020 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt70rx937t9n/data/46m4/Box_34/Folder_5/Multipage25521.pdf 1915-1916, undated 1916 1915-1916, undated section false xt70rx937t9n_525 xt70rx937t9n THE WORLD WIDE WAR TRUST

FOUR FIRMS CONSTITUTING THE WAR TRUST HAVE RE-
CEIVED ARMY AND NAVY CONTRACTS AGGREGATING
$175,000,000. .

ARMY AND NAVY OFFICIALS HAVE GENEROUSLY PAID
THE WAR TRUST FROM 20 TO 60 PER CENT MORE
THAN THE SAME SUPPLIES COULD HAVE BEEN MANU-
FACTURED FOR IN GOVERNMENT ARSENALS.

THE PRESENT CHIEF OF ORDNANCE WAS FORMERLY IN
PARTNERSHIP \VITH THE BETHLEHEM COMPANY, ONE
OF THE WAR TRUST FIRMS.

POWDER TRUST REPRESENTED IN WASHINGTON BY HIGH
EX-ARMY OFFICIAL AND EX-MEMBER OF CONGRESS.

 

 

 

 

RE MARKS

OF

HON. CLYDE H. TAVENNER

011‘ ILLINOIS

IN THE

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

. FEBRUARY 15, 1915

WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

1915 .\_
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REMARKS

OF

HON. CLYDE H. TAVENNER,

OF ILLINOIS.

Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. Speaker, I sat recently in the House
of Representatives and heard the Hon. AUGUSTUS GARDNER, of
Massachusetts, make the statement upon his responsibility as a
Member of the American Cengress that——

If «var were to break out today, it would be found that our coast
del’enses have not snflicient ammunition for an hour‘s fight!

Whether or not Mr. GARDNER'S statement is correct I can not.
say, because I do not know; but this I do know, that we do not
have the ammunition and armament that we have paid for and
should have in return for the countless millions of dollars of
the American people‘s money that have been expended from the
Public Treasury.

:I mean to say that those Army and Navy officers who do the
purchasing of war munitions and who are paid a salary by the
people and are trusted by the people to see that the Government
receives a dollar’s worth of material for every dollar-expended
have permitted a ring of ammunition manufacturers to out-
rageously evercharge Uncle Sam for armor, gun's, powder, and
munitions in general.‘

For instance, the War Department in 1913 purchased seven
thousand 4.7-inch shrapnel from the ammunition ring, paying
$25.26 each therefor. At the same time precisely the same
shrapnel was being manufactured in the Govermnent~owned
‘Frankford Arsenal for $15. 5, all overhead charges included.

Mr. Average Citizen, are you willing that the public officials
in the War Department who are spending your money should
pay $25.23 for an article that they could have manufactured in
Government plants for $15.45?

This instance is not the exception; it is the rule. The Army
and Navy oflicers in 20 years have purchased $175,000,000 worth
of armor. armament, and munitions from four firms which have
a monopoly in this country on the manufacture of such sup-
plies and have paid this grasping war trust from 20 to 00 per
cent more than the same articles could have been manufactured
for ianovernment plants. .

wmu: BECOMES on THE $250,000,000 mummy?

As the result Of frequently repeated statements similar to
that made by Mr. GARDNER, the average citizen is at last begin-
ning to ask: _“ What becomes of the $250,000,000 that is being

 

spent annually on our Army and Navy? Who, pray, is getting

the money? ”.

And it is time the people are beginning to show anxiety,
because their money has been squandered like water, and unless
Mr... Average Citizen wakes up and removes the wool from his
eyes it is going to continue to be squandered.

The Americanpeople have never been let into the secret of
who the profit makers are in the trafiic of war and preparation
for war, in this country, and the methods by which they help
themselves at the public trough. I will go further and venture
the assertion that not 30 Members of Congress know the iden-
2 86366—14711

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tity of the select ring; of patriots for profit into whose pockets
the millions of the masses are pouring, which gentlemen have
a water—tight. monopoly in this country on the traffic of war
trading, and who have drawn down every penny of 5550000000
in exces ive and extortiouate profits from the Government by
direct virtue of their influential friends in the Army, the Navy,
and in Congress. Lest any gentlemen in high places should
resent the implication of being friends of the \Var Trust, I
hasten at the outset to concede their contentions that they are
patriots; yes. all of them.

Congress can investigate the war trust until it is black in
the. face. and it will act nowhere. The Secretary of the Navy
can try as he will to get some one to underbid the armor ring.
either in this country or abroad. and he will not be able to
escape the net; he has tried and has not been able to escape it.

Armor. armament, and ammunition contractors are not big
enough feels to cut each other‘s throats. .Their business is to
supply for a gigantic profit the wherewithal for the peoples of
the earth to enjoy a monopoly of throat cutting and the pulling
of limb from limb. As for themselves. they do not indulge in
price—cutting warfare. 'l‘heir game is purely profit making.
They start the ball rolling by making nations distrustfnl of
one another, and then in inducingr them to overprepare for war.
Does anyone doubt that if the European nations had not been
so overprepared for war they would have been so willing to
have entered into it? i '

GOVERNMENT MANUFACTURE ALONE WILL PROTECT TAXPAYERS.

Is there no way whatever, it may be asked, by which the. people
can protect themselves from the greed of the war trust mag-
nates? Yes; just one way. That is by the Government taking
the profit out of war and preparation for war by manufacturing
all of its own munitions, armor, cannon. and battleships. Both
Washington and Lincoln advocated the nationalization of the
manufacture of war munitions as sound public policy. Govern-
ment manufacture as a policy need have no bearing whatever
on the question of whether we shall have a large or small
Navy. Those who advocate Government manufacture of all
war equipment are not so much concerned for the present
whether we build one or more battleships a year. so long as the
1overnmeut does the manufacturing, because, then. for every
dollar Congress apln'opriates for battleships the people will
receive a dollar’s worth of battleship.

If the Government will manufacture all of its own war mate-
rials. millions of dollars will be saved annually to the tax—
payers as a result of the already demonstrated ability of Uncle
Sam to manufacture at a cost much below the prices of the
war trust, as I shall show. Government manufacture will
mean that the workmen who perform the labor of actually
making the munitions will receive higher wages and better
Working conditions than the employees of the ring of private
contractors receive, as these firms number among them the
most bitter enemies of organized labor in the United States,
working 51 per cent of their employees 12 hours a day, accord-
ing to a report of the United States Bureau of Labor made just
after an investigation in 1910.

Fortunate indeed would it be for this Nation to-day if the

QGovermuent had a monopoly of the manufacture of all muni-

 

tions of war. It is not the average American, the man who

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'will be required to do the fighting and pay the bills if we be-

come embroiled in the European conilict. who is jeopardizing

our peace. The average American is remainingr at home. at— ’

tending to his business. It is the ring of war-trafficking private
arms and ammunition firms who are endangering the peace and
welfare of 100000.000 people in order that they may satisfy
their greed for profit. If we go to war, it will not be on ac-
count of anything the average American has done. but because
as a Nation we have neglected to safeguard our peace by taking
the profit out of war and preparation for war.
‘ \VIIO THE “EU: TRADERS ARE.

Because I believe it is my duty to do so, I desire new to take
the responsibility of directingr the attention of the American
people to the fact that their money appropriated for the Army
and Navy is being wasted by the millions, and to take the re-
sponsibility of identifying the war trailickers, so that the tax-
payers may know where the millions upon millions of their
money that has been dumped into the bottomless pit of mili-
tarism have being going, are going, and will continue to go
unless public opinion shall arise in its might and demand that
further waste of public funds shall cease. ,

To begin with, who and what is the armor ring, ifthere really
is such an animal? Is the term “ armor ring ” a mere figure of
speech, something invisible, or is it possible definitely to place
our finger upon it? Answer: It is possible. ,

The armor ring is the Bethlehem Steel Co., the Midvale Steel
Co., and the Carnegie Steel Co. These three firms, exclusive of
their subsidiary war—trailicking auxiliaries, have drawn down
since 1887 from the Navy Department alone for the single
item of armor plate contracts aggregating $95,023.912, divided
as follows: Bethlehem, $42,321,237; Carnegie, $32,954,377; Mid—
vale. $20,353.208.

I have just stated that the armor ring is composed of the
Bethlehem, Midvale, and Carnegie companies. Remember the
names! .

Now, the armament ring is composed of Midvale, Bethlehem,
and Carnegie. Ammunition ring, Carnegie, Midvale. and Beth-
lehem. We will add to the ammunition ring, for good measure,
the Du Pont Powder Trust, which has no competitors in the
sale of smokeless powder to the Government for reasons that
will appear most remarkable when explained. The Powder
Trust has obtained contracts aggregating about $25,000,000 since
1905. ' '

SOME DEFINITE {NFORMATION ‘AS TO THE WASTING OF, PUBLIC FUNDS.

' Why has the War Department been paying the ring $17.50 for
a 3.8-inch common shrapnel when it can manufacture and is
manufacturing the identical article at Frankford for $7.04?
Seventeen dollars and fifty cents is more than twice $7.94. The
Government could manufacture two sh 'apnel for the price it
has been paying the private mamifacturers for one and have
$1.62 remaining to the people’s credit on each transaction. Is it
any wonder we do not have as much ammunition as we should
have for the money that has been expended? It is the public
funds that are being spent here, and the people have a right to
have these questions answered.

We are manufacturing a ‘31-second combination fuse in the
Government arsenal for $2.92 for Which we have been paying"
the ringr $7. ’ '
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These illustrations are not exceptional, as I will endeavor to
show by the fact that on a contract given to Frankford Arsenal
f0 ‘ ammunition valued at $1.900.064 we are saving $970840; 01',
in other words, we are saving approximately 951000.000 on a
552000.000 order as compared with what'it would have cost had
that contract been awarded the ammunition ring.

In a recent speech before Congress PresidentWilson stated
that “like good stewards, we should so account for every dollar
of our appropriations as to make it perfectly evident what it
was spent for and in what way it was spent." Surely no such
thought was in the minds of the Army and Navy otlicials who
have been doing the purchasing for those departments.

Realizing the Government was being overcharged for turbine
rotary drums, Secretary of the Navy Danielswxvho, with one
exception, is the only Secretary of the Navy that I can find any
trace of who has ever made a real fight to escape the extortions
of the armor and ammunition rings-induced an independent
English firm to submit a bid. The Bethlehem and Midvale com-
panies bid $169568 and $160,272, respectively, while the Englis
iirm offered to furnish the drums for $57,436. a saving of $102,-
830 to the Government over the lowest bid of the ring. I am not
referring new to armor, because the Secretary has not been able
to obtain armor abroad.

Recently the Secretary awarded a contract for building 100
torpedo flasks, including heads. He induced a new firm to slip
in with a bid, and was able to purchase for $58246 materials
which under normal conditions would have cost $115075. The
bids of the Bethlehem and Midvale companies, under real com-
petitive bidding. showed a reduction of 44 per cent as compared
with bids for similar forgings submitted by these companies
only four months previous.

Personally. I believe that these officers who. in the expenditure
of the people‘s money, have been pay'ng $115,075 for supplies
which could have been obtained for $58246, should, somewhere
or in some manner, be required to make a public accounting for
their acts. The thing that riles the blood concerning the manner
in which the millions have been squandered by our Army and
Navy oiiiccrs is that this money did not come from the pockets
of the rich, but that it has been wrung from the poorest of the
poor. All of these wasted millions have been collected by a
tax on the things that the people eat. wear. and use. none of it
having been collected by direct taxation, but every cent of it
having come through the customhouses and internal-revenue
offices. which means that the people have been paying the cost
of militarism in the form of increased cost of living.

HISTORY OF ARMOR IS ONE LONG SCANDAL.

 

 

It would require several volumes to cover all the transactions
deserving publicity concerning armor. Let it be sufficient in
passing to say that the Government purchase of armor has been
a scandal from start to finish. The conduct of the armor ring
in dealing with the Government ave ‘ages throughout at least
80 per cent rotten. 7

There have been nine official estimates as to the actualcoSt
of the manufacture of a ton of armor plate. The average esti~
mate is $247.17 per ton. Yet since 1887 we have purchased
217,379 tons of armor, paying the armor ring an average of
$440.04 per ton, or a total of $95,656.240. I believe I am well
within the bounds of conservatism when I say that if all this
86366—14711

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armor had been manufactured in a Government plant at least

5335000000 would have been saved to the American taxpayers,

and armor is only one of the things being purchased by the

Army and Navy under similar conditions.

Secretary Daniels has asked Congress for an appropriation for
a Government armor-plate factory, but thus far Congress has
refused him.

If the Government builds an armor plant and a padlock is
placed on its doors as soon as it is completed, and it is never
used, it will, in the opinion of Secretary Daniels, pay for itself
simply by enabling him to Obtain fair treatment from the armor
mainifacturcrs.

TO DEFEND UPON PRIVATE CONTRACTORS FOR MUNITIONS IN TIME OF WAR
IS TO PLACE THE GOVERNMENT AT THE MERCY OF PROVE)! EXTOR-
TIONISTS.

Army and Navy officers generally are opposed to complete
Government manufacture of munitions of war, taking the posi-
tion that it is the part of wisdom for the Government to en-
courage private manufacturers to operate plants so that they
may be available in time of war. , Experience has shown. how-
ever, that instead of patriotically coming to the relief of the
Government in time of war, the war traders take advantage of
the necessities of the Government, which is at their mercy. and
boost their prices. For instance, when war with Spain was i111—
minent the armor manufacturers practically issued an ulti-
matum to the Government that they'would not manufacture a
single piece of armor plate unless the Government should agree
to pay them $100 a ten more than the price fixed by Congress
after an investigation as a fair price. And it is also worthy of
notice that their patriotism did not prevent them from selling
armor to Russia for $249 a ton, while they were asking their
own Government $616 a ton.

ARMOR PLATE PATRIOTISM IS WORLDJVIDE.

There appears to be no real competition between the armor
manufacturers of the various countries. Once, in 1893, the
American armor ring made a noise like competition, when it
sold armor to Russia for $249, While charging the United States
$616, and for a time gre eat consternation prevailed in the ranks
of the war trusts of the various nations.

But during this period the armor manufacturers of the world
met in Paris. and since then there has been little or no competi-
tion worthy of the name. The armor manufacturels asked
themselves why they should cut each others’ throats and why it
would not be to their advantage to receive $500 or $600 a ton
instead of $200 or $300.

In the naval hearings for 1914, page 621, the present Secre~
tary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, used the following lan«
guage in referring to an advertisement for bids for armor plate
for the (headnaught Pennsylvania:

When we came to the a1mor we iciccted all the bids and were then
absolutely in a situation final which it appeared there was no 1elief.
Though you can not establish it in black and white, there is no doubt of
an Armor Plate Trust all over the weild. That is to say, the people

abroad who make 2111:1101 plate will not come l1c1e and submit bids,-

beeause they knew it they do 0111 manufactuiers will go ab1oad and
submit bids. They have divided the w01',ld like Gaul, into three parts.
For more definite evidence of- the tremendous syndication and
wide sympathies of armor— plate patriotism, an examination of
the Harvey United Steel (30., of London, is instructive and
entertaining.
86366—14711

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The Harvey I'nited Steel Go. (see British 'Stock Exchange
Yearbook. 1012, p. 1211)—
v.'as rrqislorcd July 10'. 1001, to amalgamate or control four other
companies holding the rights of the Harvey patents for treating steel,
including’ the llarvcy Steel Co. of Great Britain (Ltd), and the
Harvey Continental Steel Co, (Ltd).

They were also liceusors for the Krupp and Charpy processes
of hardening armor plate.

The Harvey Co. in a few months effected a world-wide or—
ganization for preparation for war which surpasses anything in
the nature of an international alliance for peace that all of the
peace societies of the world have been able to accomplish in a
century of labor. Although paying handsome dividends, it_is
claimed that this company has been voluntarily wound up dun
ing the last year, after the decisions of two extraordinary gen-
eral meetings held on July 15 and 31, 1912, but it is very ditficult
to feel sure that this international association of patriots for
profit is really dead and that it has not been resurrected in
some less discoverable form. ,

These are the firms which, banded together, were known as
the Harvey Steel Co.:

GREAT BRITAIN.

Vickers, (Ltd). Albert Vickers, chairman of the great
English war trafficking firm that bears his name, not‘only held
2.607 shares in the Harvey Steel Co., but was its managing
director, and was one of the two persons intrusted with its
alleged winding up.

'Wm. Beardmore & Co. (Ltd) William Beardmore, chairman
of this company, was a director of the Harvey Co.

W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. (Ltd). J, M. Falkner, a
director of this firm, was also on the board of the Harvey Co. ,

John Brown & Co. (Ltd), the Coventry Ordnance Co. (Ltd),
and Thos. Firth & Co. (Ltd) were all represented by C. E.
Ellis, with a holding of 7,438 shares.

The Fairfield Shipbuilding Co. (Ltd), and Messrs. Cammell,
Laird & Co. (Ltd), are, of course, largely interested in the
Coventry Ordnance Co. (Ltd), and are both in alliance with
John Brown & Co. (Ltd), with the last of whom are connected
also the Projectile Co. (Ltd). Messrs. Palmer’s Shipbuilding &
Iron C0., and the Hadfield Foundry Co. (Ltd).

' UNITED STATES.

rl‘he Bethlehem Steel Co. (Ltd) held 4,301 shares in the
Harvey Co. With the Bethlehem Co. was at this time joined
Harlan & Hollingsworth, of Wilmington; Union Iron Works,
of San Francisco: and Samuel L. Moore & Son, at Elizabeth.

Mr. Schvab. the power behind the Bethlehem corporation, had,

also a $10,000,000 subcontract for armor and gun mountings
of two Argentine dreadnaughts building by the Fore River Ship-
building 00., which he has acquired, and by the New York
Shipbuilding Co. ‘

ransom.

Schneider & C0; held 9.862 shares in the Harvey 00., while
La Cie des Forges et Acieries de la Marine et d’Homeconrt held
another 150. The Harvey Steel 00. had four French directors,
two of whom held 2,000 shares each.

' ITALY. >

Societa degli Aiti ,Forni Fondiere ed Acciaiene di Terni held
8.000 shares, and Was represented by Raifaele Bettim‘. This
firm is in alliance with Vickers (Ltd) as Vickers-Ter'ni, with
86366—14711

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a gigantic arsenal, and Vickers are also allied with Messrs.
Odero and Messrs. Orlando.

Messrs. Armstrong, Whitwerth & Co. hold the shares of Arm-
strong-Poznuoli (Ltd), whose arsenal is “the chief supply of
war material to the Italian navy,” and Ansaldo-Armstrong &
Co. (Ltd.), of Genoa, is in the same group.

GERMANY.

Actien Gesellschaft der Dillinger Huttinwirke. In alliance
with the patriot firms of England and France this company
held no fewer than 2,731 shares, and was represented on the
board by Fritz Saeftel, of Dillingen, Saad, Germany.

Friedrich Krupp, of the famous Krupp factories, held 4.731
shares. and was represented by Heinrish Vielhaber and Emil
Ehrensberger.

Krupps are related to the Skoda (30., of Austria; Schneider
& 00., who make the Creusot gun, have inter s in Russia;
While the Dillinger firm is owned by Deutsche Waii‘en & Muni-
tions Fabrik, which has holdings in Belgium and in the Mauser
00., in addition to its huge munition factory in Germany.

METHODS OF THE WAR TRAFFICKERS IN KEEPIXG UP BUSINESS.

There aretricks in all trades. If the peoples of the several
powers can be incited to mutual distrust. suspicion, and hatred,
for instance, it means increased dividends for the stockholders
of the war traflickers in each country; '

The several leading powers aim to increase their naval
strength in the same proportion. If one of the powers can be
induced to take on an additional superdreadnaught, it is used as
an argument as to why the other leading powers should do the
same. It works as an endless chain, with the war burden ever
and ever increasing on the backs of the taxpayers of the world.

If a new design can be worked out, that, too. means more
grist for the shipbuilders. It calls for the speedy “scrapping”
of the vessels already on hand as “obsolete.” “scrapping”
meaning throwing on the scrap heap as old junk. So the 'life
of the battleship is ever lessening.

Another trick in the trade of the war traders which is ob-
viously profitable, otherwise it would not be continued, is the
hiring of retired Army and Navy officials and ex—Meinbers of
Congress by the powder, armor, and shipbuilding concerns.
These ex~eflicials know the inner workings of the military
branches of the Government, know the personnel in an intimate

'ay. and by private conversation, by correspondence, and in
various ways are in a position to obtain much useful informa-
tion. They know how to go about things for results. Through
these ex-ofiicials the War Trust has become thoroughly at home
in Washington.

There seems to be no limit to the extremes to which the war
traders are willing to go for business.

‘Although scarcely believable, it is the proven fact that British
and German war trusts many years ago actually set about to
represent to their respective home Governments that their rivals
were planning to build and building great armadas of giant

  
  

lighting craft, which have since been proven absolutely to have

been figments of the imagination pure and simple. The same
character of campaigns has been going on between France and
Germany, between the countries in the triple alliance and the
triple entonte, and it is yet to be established whether the United
States of America has not also been the victim of a similar
86366—14711 / . .

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brand of commercialism, in which patriotism is the means and
profit the end.

Misrepresentation as to the building programs of Great Brit-
ain and Germany were carried on to such an extent that the
papers became full of it. and the suspicion of the people toward
each other grew and grew. It was inevitable that there could
be but one end to such proceedings, and that end war.

Specific information, replete with details, is available to show
just how the work was carried on.

iriefly. this is the story: Beginning in 1906, Mr. H. H. Mul-
liner. managing director of the Coventry Ordnance Co.. of Eng-
land. one of the great British war trafficking concerns, gave
himself to the work of propagating the myth of a gigantic ex-
pansion of Krupp’s works in particular and German military
acceleration in general.

it was an underground campaign, but subsequent letters and
speeches (Mulliner’s communications to London Times, Aug. 2
and 10. Sept. 21, Dec. 14 and 17, 1909; Jan. 1, 3. 6, 7, 8. 12,
15, and 18, 1910, etc.) indicate that Mr. Mulliner’s “informa-
tion.” sent first to the war otiice in May, 1900, was “passed
on to the Admiralty.” “ was discussed by them with several
outsiders,” and then “passed from hand to hand so that hun-
dreds have read it.” '

Of this “ information ” it need only be added that as soon
as it berame public it was contradictedlw Messrs. Krupp,
through Hon. John Leyiand. member of Parliament, in Eng-
land, and other correspondents, After some years i'; was prac-
ticaliy admitted by the British Government to have been false.
Time has proved that it never had any real basis.

lint the " information " had its effect. the effect that Manag-
inc; Director Mulliner, of the Coventry Ordnance (30., desired
that it should have. The “information," becoming public,
swept Great Britain off its feet. The people took up and re-
peated the war traders’ slogan: “ We want eight, and we won’t
wait." meaning battleships.

Ten days after Mr. Mullincr presented his “information” to
the supreme governing body of the British Empire the statement
explanatory of the navy estimates was made. It showed a total

»of $170,793,522 for 1909—10. an increase of $13.720.752: new

construction accounting for an increase of 326512.400.

As a result of the “ tip ” furnished by the managing director
of the war munition firm. the British Government foretold that
Germany would have 17 dreadnaucht battleships by March,
1912. and Leader Balfour. still more impressed by the fake
“ Scare," declaredGermany would have 25, or, in any case, 21
dreadnauahts in March. 1912. a

On almost the same day the predicting was going on in Eng-
land, the German admiral. Von Tirpitz. told the budget com-
mittee of the German Reichstag that the Germany Navy would
have only 1!; drcadnaughts in the autumn of 1912.

Germany had. in fact, according to the British Naval Annual,
only 9 dreadnaught battleships and cruisers on March 31, 1912,
and only 14 on March 31, 1913.

GERMANY AND FRANCE EXPLOITED BY ARMAMENT FIRMS.

Germany, ,too, has had its scandal on account of the war—trust
octopus. In his speech. in the Reichs’tag on April 18, 1913. Herr
Liebknecht made exposures and revelations which created a
86360—14711

 

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profound Sensation throughout the world. I will call attention
briefly‘to the remarkable conditions of affairs revealed by him:

The German Arms and Ammunition Factory, one of the
greatest ordnance establishments in the, world, employing an
agent—Brandt by name—whose special duty it was to corrupt
and keep in his pay officials of the military departments of the
German Government.

Government documents of the most confidential nature find~
ing their 115* by mysterious channels into the safes of Her]:
von Dewitz. one of the managers of Krupp Works.

A great illustrated journal of Leipzig preparing, with the
open cooperation of the Government and the armament firms, a
special number designed to 'smooth the passage of the military
and naval appropriations.

Herr von Gontard, director of the German Arms and Ain-
munition Factory. inspiring in the Pan-German organ—Die
Post—the most violent diatrihes against France; giving orders
to have a French newspaper publish articles representing that
the French war department was increasing its number of ma-
chine guns when it was doing nothing of the kind; first excit-

ing French opinion by provocative matter in the German press, '

and then instigating a' German demand for armaments by
means of bellicose utterances in. the French press.

Here is a letter published in Vorwarts, a German newspaper,
which affords an inside glance of the business methods of a.
war~trafiicking firm:

' PERSONAL DOCUMENTS.
_ (Sheet 15.)
Mr. ————- ———, Parts:

(G. No. 8236. Gehcim~registratur, i. e., number in register or secret
documents.) ' 1

We have just Wired you: “ Please await in Paris our letter sent to-
dar." w

The reason tor this message was that we should be glad, for you to
get an article into one of the most widely-read French newspapers—the
Figaro. if possible—to the following effect:

“The French ministry of war has decided to accelerate considerably
the provision of new-pattern machine guns and to order double the
quantity at first intended.“

Please do your utmost to secure the acceptance of an article on these
lines.

Yours, faithfully, VON GONTARD, Posegnrtm,
(For the German Arms and Ammunition Factory).

To explain this missive—if, indeed. any explanation is neces-
sary—it may be suggested that the Wattenfabljk, a German am-
munition firm, desiring to obtain an order for machine guns,
which the Reichstag did not seem disposed to agree to, sought
to obtain the insertion of a news item in the Figaro. one of the
great dailies of Paris. to the effect that France was doubling the
quantity of its. machine guns. alt can readily be conceived how
such a clipping from a leading Paris newspaper would be an
effective exhibit to accompany a request to the Reichstag for an
order for more machine guns for Germany. Such is armor-
plate patriotism“ .

JAPAN HAS RECENTLY HAD BIG NAVAL SCANDALS.

The war trust does not confine its operations to the Christian
nations, but gathers the pagan governments into its net aswvell.
The arm of the war trust is long. It has reached across the
Pacific and laid hold of Japan. In the last year and a half
Japan has had army and naval scandals that have shaken it
to the core. There have been arrests. courts-martial; convic—
tions, imprisonments, and attempted suicides of high military,

86366—14711 '

 

     

   
  
  
   
 

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officers, all due to the fact that profit has not been taken out
of var and preparation for war.
I’OVVDl-II‘. ’l‘ltthJL‘ X0 BETTER THAN ARMOR TRUST.

The history of the transactions between the United States
Government and the Du Pent Powder Trust average with the
history of the dealings between the Government andthe armor
makers. The aggregate of the sums paid