Since the prime contractors’ subcontract settlements were acknowledged costs which the Government was bound to pay in the prime settlements, it was vitally important that the Ordnance Department intervene to obtain for the prime contractors the most favorable terms possible in the settlement of their subcontracts. Every subcontractor, of course, had the legal right to insist upon the full performance of his contract, and he was not to be coerced by the bogey of the Court of Claims and its long-drawn-out procedure. He could go into the state courts and enforce his rights within reasonable time. Therefore, it is indicative of the spirit of war industry that the ordnance district claims boards found little difficulty in settling with the subcontractors on favorable terms. The prime contractors had no such interest in these terms as did the Government, since, whatever the subcontract settlement costs might be, the Government would have to pay them. The agents of the district boards readily persuaded the subcontractors, as a sporting proposition, to surrender their prospective profits voluntarily and accept the profit of 10 per cent on work actually done, even as the prime contractors, who had assumed the chief risk in the first place, had been willing to do. The efforts of the ordnance field agents in this direction saved the Government many millions. The first complete claim received by the Ordnance Claims Board came from the Detroit district on January 10, 1919. The first claim to go through to final settlement by the Ordnance Claims Board was passed on February 20. The district claims boards sent the bulky and valuable settlement papers to Washington by courier rather than entrust them to the mails. When the system settled into its routine the Ordnance Claims Board passed upon the average claim within a week after its arrival in Washington. On the average the Government paid in the settlement of ordnance contractors’ claims an amount equal to about 12 per cent of the face value of the uncompleted portions of the contracts. The average ordnance contract entailed a government obligation somewhere between $100,000 and $250,000 in amount, but many were much larger. The Marlin-Rockwell Corporation of New Haven, Connecticut, one of the chief producers of machine guns and small arms, presented a claim for nearly $14,000,000. One of the largest war contracts was that with the American Car & Foundry Company, of a face value of over $100,000,000. In contrast, the New York Ordnance District Claims Board, which settled that contract, settled another (a subcontract) for $1.50. The claim of the DuPont Powder Company against the Ordnance Department was for about $3,280,000--this in settlement of contracts with a value of $50,000,000. The New York Air Brake Company presented to the Rochester Ordnance Claims Board claims aggregating $9,000,000. The New York District board settled 206 claims for $1.00