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Show !SCHWAB EXPLAINS SHELL COITIIICT New York, Jan. 5. Charles M. Schwab, chairman of the Bothlehem Steel corporation, in a statement horo tonight relative to the underbidding of American manufacturers by I lad-fields lad-fields Limited of England, for the making of. Hindi and lG-inch shells for the American navy, said in part: "The Hadfield Did is for a specific j 16-inch --hell, samples of which are i being forwarded to be tested by the United States government. Of ihe J details and specifications under which those shells are made, we are not aware ' W e do not know that at Bethlehem we have spent large sums of money trying to meet government specifications specifica-tions on 14-inch shells, and so far only at a considerable- loss, for the reason that thetests have been so severe that we have not yet been able to meet them, although a portion por-tion of our plant which is equipped for making such shells has been devoted de-voted entirely to the effort to meet the requirements for the United States government. In that department depart-ment of our work we have done no European business whatever. "We believe it would be dangerous for this country to be dependent upon tenal of any kind. We believe the American government and American manufacturers should co-operate to the end thai facilities for the manufacture manu-facture of the maximum amount of ammunitions of all kinds should be available in the United States. ' We have developed at Bethlehem the largest ordnance plant in the world. We regard that plant, our forces and our engineers, as a great national asset and I am perfectly satisfied to have the government consider con-sider our whole works as available in case of need to be used by the government as it may see fit and upon such terms as the government itself may determine to be fair." oo |