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Show ifsiLiir r; STEELHA1L BIDS Director Proposes Competitive Com-petitive Figures for 200,-000 200,-000 Tons of Material. Announcement Made in New York Following Conference There. NKW YORK, May S. Walker D. Ilincs, direct' i r g(-nrnal of railroads, announced litre tonight tiiat the railroad administration administra-tion will ;i:-k irnnif:diat..-Iy for competitive bkln f-jr 2'),)')i) ton:! of steel rails. Mr. I fines' h announcement was made ofti he had b.-cn informed by his rep-re:f':n(ativeH rep-re:f':n(ativeH tiiat Ihcy had been unable to Induce ropreseutaU ves of the large manu-IftiM manu-IftiM iircfd at a conference here today to tigroft on a reduction of the schedule of f;h:--l prices approved by the industrial board of the department of comhierce. M"r. ' Jtiuvn declared It was his settled purpose to buy steel matt-rials on the competitive bidding basis as rapidly as they are needed. need-ed. Ho issued tiie following statement: "In accordance with tiie suggestions from Seocrctary Redficld and Chairman Teek of the Industrial board, the railroad administration representatives, Messrs. Henry B. Spencer and T. C. Powell, had a conference today with representatives of the siei.d interests. Mceasrs. Spencer and j J'owoll oft'tu-ed specific criticism of the Fitcel prices hretoforo proposed and susr-Kc.sted susr-Kc.sted maximum prices which the railroad administration would feel justified in paying pay-ing for tin; various ste.-l articles which the railroads use in ImportnL Industries, including in-cluding steel rails. Steel Interests Unwilling. .'. was made dear that the railroad 'administration did not wish to obtain rrferential prices compared with the gen-:ral gen-:ral public. The steel interests were un--"willing to make miv change in the prices announced in March. The conferences on this subject are at an end and the railroad administration will, in accordance with its settled purpose, proceed as rapidly as it needs steel materials of any kind to ask for competitive bids and purchase accordingly. ac-cordingly. The railroad administration .vriil at once, in accordance with this policy, pol-icy, ask for bids for 00,01)0 tons of steel rails. "Ely way r.f comment on the prices pro-. pro-. 'posed in March, as well as in support of ' t ho prices suggested by the ra 11 road ad- ministration, the following views were . sltp; gust ud ijy Messr s. Spencer and Pow-I Pow-I eM: Views Are Cited. i -"The reduction since the war in a sin-plc sin-plc element of cost is no great as to make the prices proposed by the. steel interests and industrial boa rd practically as profitable prof-itable tn tho steel interests as wero the higher prices that prevailed during the ' war, on the ba.'ds of which the sf-el in-l in-l (-;!:-; n.ahe ecu; n:''.s j.:o:it.-. ') :.:s il'.-.u :i ci,--,). a t.u j,:...; , i !i.-a ter : v. a 1 1 i:- U.,l a t-f.u-.r.:.. .1 - . a iod . Ly. h'lt 11..- piix- "i wi.i.'h liiciuat--: a 'c:i.u.,' to r.-:;i.; ar.d d-!::and and v.i.k h. I course, cisn i: and is u.-.:d very l.i.i;e.y in t..e n.akm of st-.d pt-Mdia-is. T! f'ill in t).t pri'.-e of s'Tap material from p.-r ton to abo-Jt i cr tn ..;:s le.-ti ,wj -r.;ar t;.al. t;;e r-.-hUi. d-uie.-.e in tie -o.-t of htt-ti prodi!'-is is prii'.-tically a.i .i:':;tt as t:i; tota: ; ; ijr-i-dl red uc lion in ti.t; prii es of steel pn.uc'Ls. Represent No Concessions. "Thrrefoie, wade the riiihlie- :ias thouj-'ht the steel tht-re. is ou.j; ht tu make, arid could weli arV.nl to r:.al:e. irnpoi'tant eoo-ions eoo-ions to eiico(ir;tv;; t:; resumption o( bi.sine.-'s. r.lie fact is ti.:i.t on ac( mint of the r ed action in tiie pives a: sci ap ma -teiial aluiie I.m: pra.es j.-rot.o.S'Ml lor steel Pi oducLs ri;pi'f :.; t j;'.' coiice.iion w haL-evci- I'ifjin wai't.iKu piolits. "Th;it tiie sUj.jI interests have niade profits so iar'-:e as to n.ahe substantial co ri'-es.-ions pi a-( ica h!e nmler existing conditions wiliiout affecting tiie wa-JeS is strikingly illustrated by a rousidei ation of the jjiofits rnarlr; ,v the steei inteiests for tiie .-aiendar yea-- 1 !j 1 . "Tiie I 'ui Ur- rit;ittis Steel corporation for the year lais reports on net earnings I rem all rolled tonnage beiore deducting ineoriic tax. exees.s pror'i ts tax, etc., a profit of about per ton. "The Mid vale Steel company for tiie same period si rows a net profit of approximately ap-proximately per tori. Showings Favorable. "This statistical information for othr sLcei-prouuciri companies tor tnc year lids is not yet publislied, but their financial finan-cial statements ind Icate results which were correspond in 14 ly favorable, j "The arguments which have been pre-sen!ed pre-sen!ed in the effort to support tiie prices ' proposed by tbo steel interests and the ijulusu ial board Iiave tester I upon costs Incurred during trie war period. Even those costs show exceedingly handsome nroi'its to the low-cost producers, but it is obvious that these costs without reduction in wages on account of the termination of the war will be subject to very important impor-tant reductions in addition to the great reductiou in the cost of scrap material already referred to. Involve Heavy Increase. "The war costs appear In many Instances In-stances to involve a heavy increase in tiie royalty on the assumed value of the ore in the ground. This Increase did not represent rep-resent an actual Increase in cost sc far as the producers of the ore were concerned, con-cerned, but simply represented a heavy additional profit. Yet this increased profit prof-it in ore appears to be included in the. war cost upon which the figures have been based. The cost of coke has fallen substantially from to ?4 per ton. representing- a saving of from 3 to 55 per ton of iron. "The steel interests and the industrial board have proposed a price of $:!S.50 for steel billets and yet thoy have proposed prices for finished steel products which are wholly out of line with the price for steel billets. The differentials which the steel Interests and the industrial board propose for the finished products as compared with steel billets are so great as to make the prices for the finished products altogether unattractive and altogether unjustifiable, especially in the litrht of the- considerations considera-tions already pointed out.- Peck Is Blamed. "The uncertainty and hesitation which have been inlected into this situation would never have arisen if at the outset Chairman Peek had been willing to accept ac-cept as final the position which "the railroad rail-road administration stated before the industrial in-dustrial board made its public announcement announce-ment and whirl) it has at all times felt forced to maintain. Cha irman Peek has been so bent on justifying bis own mistaken mis-taken conception of his functions that he has been trying for weeks to get them accepted and yet he has never succeeded in getting tiie support of the president or the cabinet or the attorney general. "The plan on which the industrial board was supposed to opera te was thoroughly discussed at a special meeting of the m ej n b e rs of the cab i u c t on Fo b r u a ry 3 , and Mr. Peek stated in a speech at St. Louis that trie meeting approved the plan of having the industrial board determine prices and make them effective by author! au-thor! tive governmental announcement. In this he is in error. The meeting distinctly dis-tinctly declined to approve any plan for announcing prices at which tiie general public would buy and the only plan which was approved was a plan to bring about by voluntary action a reduced level of prices at which the railroad administration administra-tion would be justified in buying freely, and therefore the plan actually approved specifically contemplated that the hoard would act as a mediator between the producers pro-ducers and' tiie railroad administration." |