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Show YANKEE ENTERPRISE AGAIN TRIUMPHANT Case of "Carrying Coals to Newcastle" Is "Witnessed at Birmingham on Kail Contract. LONDON, May 10. (By the Associated , press. )-rVankee enterprise . triumphed i when tho oily uf BJi mingham, planning to! 1 replace ita street car rails invited bidfs tor J material. An American obtained the con- j ! tract, although two British firms auked j for it, and protests have been so numer-ous numer-ous that the municipal government issued i an official statement. ! One of the British bidders, it was ex- : plained, agreed to begin delivering fifty tons a week in April, but would not con- . sent to a penalty clause for nondelivery; ! 1 the other promised U'OG tons within twen-: twen-: ty weeks. The firm in the United States agreed to complete delivery by the end of IS lay and quoted a lower price than either of the British manufacturers. The price ; and tho fact that tiie authorities were 1 anxious to complete the work this year ; were the influencing factors in favor of i the American bidder. Sending American steel rails to Birmingham Birming-ham is like carrying coals to Newcastle, with the possible exception that the p arena ar-ena sc by the city corporation of street railway "rails made in the United States was because Birmingham thus got bener rails than if the British product had been used. Councilman Bee. called upon in the city council to explain the purchase, said rails recently supplied by British manufacturers had not been equal to the committee's standard, the life of such rails bin.ff five years instead of the normal life of fifteen years. Alderman Bcwlay declared this statement state-ment reflect id on the British steel t rade industry, and another member recalled that a rule of the council forbade the placing of an order with a foreign concern when the valuf was moru than $.Vi00. The controversy endd when a resolution resolu-tion was adopted approving the purchase of American rails, but reminding the committee com-mittee of the existence of the rule regarding re-garding foreign good? nnd urderlng its enforcement en-forcement in the future. |