From the Richmond Times-Dispatch, 10/4/1914, p. 7, c. 1

WANT LOCAL CONCERN TO MANUFACTURE SHELLS
Tredegar Iron Works, However, Declines All Orders From North for War Materials.

Government contracts are keeping the Tredegar Iron Works operating almost at its full capacity, and, although numerous offers have been received, the local plant has declined to accept orders for shells, shrapnel and other war materials designed for the use of European armies now engaged in battle. These offers have been received several times from large banking interests in the North, but all proposals have been rejected.

The Tredegar Company is one of the oldest concerns of its kind in the United States. It was established nearly eighty years ago. Long before the Civil War it was engaged in the building of locomotives, engines and boilers for United States frigates and guns for national fortifications. During the war it was the chief plant for the manufacture of arms and ammunition for the Confederate government, and since that time has done much work for the United States government.

At the present time the company is busily engaged in filling a large order for shells for the government, and is operating night and day.

An officer of the company said yesterday that the concern had rejected liberal proposals, as it now has enough work to run for a considerable time.

“We were forced to decline on that account,” he said. “Then again, there was a possible chance of getting entangled with the neutrality laws, and we do not intend to violate them, even in spirit. We have all we can handle, and are content to keep clear from entangling alliances.”

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