The Merchants of Death

CHAPTER V SECOND-HAND DEATH

“War,” says Machiavel, “ought to be the only study of a prince,” and by a prince he means every sort of state, however constituted. “He ought,” says this great political doctor, “to consider peace only as a breathing time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes ability to execute military plans.”—Burke, A Vindication of Natural Society.

THE market for second-hand guns is apparently better than that for second-hand automobiles. In fact, the used gun has a distinct advantage over the used car: it lasts much longer. Hence there is a constant call and a persistent use for old guns.

There are a great many uses for old guns besides hunting. Every great war brings back into service rifles and guns formerly discarded, some for actual fighting, others for drill purposes.

An excellent illustration of the importance and use of second-hand firearms is furnished by the American Civil War. The Northern armies were in dire need of guns and ammunition. Manufacturers worked day and night, but they were unable to keep up with the mounting demand of the Union armies. At the outbreak of the war, especially, the dearth of guns was so alarming that a search began for old weapons which were still usable or which could be made serviceable in much shorter time than required for the manufacture of new guns. Somebody thought of European stocks. Surely in Europe there must be thousands of guns lying around idle which might be remodeled and put into service. A lively trade in discarded European rifles developed, and every gun, no matter how defective or out-dated, was bought, hurriedly repaired, and sold to the government—frequently at outrageous prices.

Many of these rifles, of course, were perfectly usable and gave good service to the soldiers. However, war-time conditions then as always produced dishonest dealers in used guns and there were widespread scandals. Congressional investigations uncovered some very flagrant cases of this traffic and exposed a morass of profiteering. Lincoln was so moved by the conclusions of the investigating committees that he declared that these greedy business men “ought to have their devilish heads shot off.”

So flagrant and widespread were these abuses that there was much talk about the necessity of government arsenals to insure good arms. One expert estimated that the arms, ordnance and munitions of war bought by the government from private contractors and foreign armories since the beginning of the war cost, over and above the positive expenses of their manufacture, ten times as much as would establish and put into operation the arsenals and foundries which the government could build itself. Muskets which the contractors sold, on the average, for about $22 apiece could have been made in national workshops for one-half that price.

A few years previously the army had condemned as obsolete and dangerous some guns then in use, known as Hall’s carbines. These guns were ordered sold at auction and they were disposed of at prices ranging between $1 and $2, probably as curios. In 1861 there still remained 5,000 of these condemned guns. Suddenly on May 28, 1861, one Arthur M. Eastman appeared and offered $3 apiece for them. This high price should have made the officials suspicious, but apparently it did not. Back of Eastman was a certain Simon Stevens who was furnishing the cash for the transaction, but the real backer of the enterprise was J. P. Morgan.

After the condemned guns had been contracted for, Stevens sent a wire to General Fremont at St. Louis informing him that he had 5,000 new carbines in perfect condition. Did Frémont want them? Immediately an order (amounting to a contract) arrived from Frémont urging that the guns be sent at once. The guns were bought from the government and Morgan paid $3.50 a piece for them, a total of $17,486. These condemned carbines were now moved out of the government arsenal and sent to Frémont, and the bill presented was $22 a piece—that is, $109,912, a profit of $92,426.

When Frémont’s soldiers tried to fire these “new carbines in perfect condition,” they shot off their own thumbs. Great indignation was roused by this transaction when it became known, and the government refused to pay Morgan’s bill. Morgan promptly sued the government and his claim was referred to a special commission which was examining disputed claims and settling them.

This commission, curiously enough, did not reject the Morgan claim entirely and denounce him for his unscrupulous dealings. It allowed half of the claim and proposed to pay $13.31 a carbine, that is, $66,550.00 for the lot. This would have netted Morgan a profit of $49,000. But Morgan was not satisfied. He had a “contract” from Frémont and he was determined to collect in full.

Accordingly he sued in Stevens’ name in the Court of Claims—and the court promptly awarded him the full sum, because “a contract is sacred,” a decision that was the opening wedge for hundreds of other “deadhorse claims” which Congress had tried to block. Of this affair Marcellus Hartley, who himself had brought over from Europe huge quantities of discarded arms and had sold them to the government at exorbitant prices, declared: “I think the worst thing this government has been swindled upon has been those confounded Hall’s carbines; they have been elevated in price to $22.50, I think.”

These curious dealings, however, must not obscure the importance of the second-hand gun in the Civil War. Another indication of the extent of this traffic in a later period may be found in a notation from the Army and Navy Journal which records that, for the year 1906, $1,000,000 was paid into the United States Treasury from the sale of obsolete and condemned government stores.

The largest of these used-arms dealers is probably Francis Bannerman & Sons of New York City. This extraordinary company got its start in 1865 after the Civil War, when it bought at auction sales large quantities of military goods. Its New York office at 501 Broadway is the finest military museum in New York City. Up the Hudson near West Point it owns an island on which stands its arsenal, built like an old Scottish castle. It furnishes antiques to museums and collectors and costumes to theatrical groups, but it also solicits business from all war departments. It publishes a fascinating catalogue entitled War Weapons, Antique and Modern—Cannon, Muskets, Rifles, Saddles, Uniforms, Cartridges. This book of 364 pages with 5,000 illustrations sells at 50 cents a copy (de luxe edition, $3) and more than 25,000 copies are sold every year. It is from this catalogue, 1933 edition, that the following materials are taken.

The history and activities of the company are very interesting:

“During the sixty years in which we have been in this work, our business has grown so that the. U. S. Government now depends upon us to purchase at their sales the large quantities of obsolete and discarded goods. . . . We purchased 90 per cent of the guns, ammunition, and other military goods captured in the Spanish War . . . We have agents in foreign countries who buy and sell military goods for us. . . .

“Our reputation is known to all as the Largest Dealers in the World in Military Goods. Round the world travelers tell us that there is no other establishment in the world where is carried such a large and assorted stock as ours. Even in great London buyers would have to visit at least six different places, in order to purchase the variety of goods that could be obtained in greater assortment, and in larger quantities, in our store. . . .

“In our salesroom we have on view upwards of 1,000 different kinds of guns, from the early matchlock up to the present-day automatic. . . . We have on exhibition over a Thousand Different Kinds of Pistols, from the earliest hand cannon, fired with a fuse, up to the latest selfloading automatic. . . . In cannon we have a large and complete stock, from the ancient iron barrel, encased in a wood log, up to the present-day semi-automatic rifled cannon for battleships. . . .

“On short notice we can deliver promptly from our stock 100 high power rapid-fire guns at bargain prices.”

But not everybody can buy at Bannerman and Sons. “No firearms are ever sold in our store to any minor. We will not sell weapons to anyone who we think would endanger the public safety.”

That this arms merchant should advocate preparedness is easy to understand. The way he does it is rather unique. “The peace of the world is preserved today by the use of weapons. ‘Oh dear,’ said a reverend friend whom we met in boys’ church club work, ‘what a horrid business you are in; dealing in weapons of war.’ We answered his remark by asking him if he would tell us how many swords were reported in the company of the twelve Apostles. . . . He saw the point and answered: ‘Two, and Peter used one of them with good effect.’ Two swords in a company of twelve makes rather a good percentage in favor of weapons. . . .”

In paging through this fascinating Catalogue one’s eye is caught by interesting items which can be appreciated only by personal examination of the volume. A short list is here appended with the purpose of whetting the appetite of the curious:

The model of a primitive machine gun from 1718 with the legend:

Surely, if anyone is going shopping for bargains in guns or cannons and ammunition, or if some “backward” country wants the best and largest selection of second-hand arms, Bannerman and Sons is the place to visit.

The Catalogue also contains some unusual historical lore. One incident relates to the Civil War. Christopher M. Spencer, inventor of the Spencer Carbine, after much difficulty in getting his product before officials, finally got a hearing from Lincoln himself. An amusing incident occurred typical of both arms merchant and the famous rail-splitter. Spencer set up a shingle against a tree, fired a few shots at it and then handed the gun to the President who took aim and got results less satisfactory than did the inventor. He handed the gun back to the inventor with the remark: “When I was your age I could do better.” But Spencer had won the President and he left with an order for all the guns he could furnish.

The traffic in second-hand arms is profitable. In times of peace the smaller countries can be depended on as regular customers and in times of war even the great powers make use of old serviceable arms, at least for drill purposes. In times of peace, however, the great powers insist on the best and most modern armaments and they demand these from their arms makers. This governmental drive for constantly more destructive death machines did much to develop the armament industry. This fact becomes ever more evident as the story of the European arms makers unfolds.