t this assistance the Allies cannot
continue and complete an aggressive campaign, driving the Kaiser's
armies out of Belgium and France.

_In_ THE NEW YORK TIMES _of June 9, 1915, appeared the following
statement of counter-negotiations to checkmate the German operators in
America:_

Negotiations for the purchase of arms and ammunition manufactories in
this country have been under way for some little time, it is asserted,
but so quietly have they been conducted that no hint of them became
public until yesterday. Yet, coincident with their disclosure, came
yesterday, also, announcement of a contract for the manufacture for
the Allies of shrapnel and high explosive shells on the greatest scale
yet undertaken by an American corporation, which revealed as could
nothing else how carefully these supposedly secret dealings had been
discovered, watched, and checkmated by the Allies.

This contract, all but the smallest details of which are said to be
settled, is to be taken by the General Electric Company, directors of
which admitted that the total involved would be at least $100,000,000
and might run far in excess of this figure. In fact, the order was
spoken of as limited more by the capacity of the General Electric's
plants than by any restricting order of the Allies.

The significance of this contract does not lie wholly, or even
chiefly, in its size, for the American Locomotive Company recently
closed a $65,000,000 contract with the Allies for shells. What is
considered of especial note is that less than a week ago an official
of the General Electric stated emphatically that his company had not
taken any orders and was not negotiating for any despite the fact that
for some time a proposal to specialize in war orders had been under
consideration. Less than a week ago the company had reached a negative
decision and less than a week ago there was no reason to suppose that
it would rescind this decision.

J.P. Morgan & Co., fiscal agents for Great Britain and France in the
matter of war supplies, then entered the field. Charles Steele, a
partner in the banking house, is a Director of the General Electric
Company and negotiations went forward rapidly. These were conducted
with a secrecy which exceeded that even of the German interests with
the other arms and ammunition companies, but there are several factors
which, it is known, were of prime importance in effecting the General
Electric's change of policy.

In the past