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Show Awards Contracts for the Construction of Two Dozen U-Boat Destroyers. Council of Defense Forms War Plans in Line With General Military Budget to Be Laid Before Be-fore Congress. Washington Having taken virtually every defense measure possible before be-fore the asembling of congress, President Presi-dent Wilson and his advisers In the executive branch of the -government are concentrating their efforts to prepare pre-pare for the more sweeping steps for which congressional authority will be sought. The details of the steps to be recommended rec-ommended are held in closest confidence, confi-dence, but officals let it be known on Saturday that, among the rest a general gen-eral military budget, co-ordinating many items of expense deemed imperative, im-perative, will be laid before the house and senate when the extra session begins a week from Monday. During the day the Council of National Na-tional Defense held a long conference with its advisory committee of seven industrial leaders, who mapped out -mobilization resources; the navy department de-partment awarded contracts for twenty-four destroyers, and called a conference of steel and other material companies for next week to consider means of speeding naval construction; the war department . announced that failure of the army appropriation bill at the last session of congress would not be permitted to handicap the army's preparations; and regulations were promulgated to guide the country's coun-try's newspapers in a voluntary censorship cen-sorship preventing publication of details de-tails which might embarrass the government. gov-ernment. In making the awards on destroyers on Saturday, Secretary Daniels accepted ac-cepted the maximum estimate of each of the three companies submitting figures. fig-ures. Of the twenty-four ordered, nine will be built under the emergency emerg-ency fund, congress having specifically specifical-ly authorized only fifteen. A considerable consid-erable number of other builders were in conference with officials, however, and indications are that the order will be doubled or even trebled if facilities facili-ties for construction of the vessels can be found. |