Had Congress accepted this suggestion there would have been an actual
saving of $180 a ton over the price made on the original contracts.
Congress was not, however, satisfied with this. If the Company could
make the iron and come out clear at $250 a ton, it was thought that a
profit of $150 a ton was too much to allow, and therefore Congress voted
that the Government price for armor-plate in future should be $300 per
ton.
They offered at this price to make a contract for twenty new
battleships, which would keep the armor works busy for the next ten
years.
The Carnegie and Bethlehem companies were indignant at this offer, and
refused it absolutely.
They insisted that they could not begin to supply armor for less than
$442 a ton, and that then they would be making little profit on their
work.
They reminded Congress that they had added costly machinery to their
plants to oblige the Government, and that the country ought to be
willing to pay them enough money for their work to reimburse them for
the sums they had laid out.
Congress would not listen to this argument. It declared that the
armor-plate people had formed a trust by which they hoped to force the
Treasury to pay them any price they chose to ask, and finally declared
that if armor-plate could be made at an actual cost of $197.
Pages:
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29