Joseph McKenna

“ The government was undoubtedly urgent, made so by its serious situation and tremendous responsibilities, but such was not the situation of the contractor. Time to perform its contract was all that was necessary to it and but for the Armistice it would have had time. If the Armistice could have been foreseen the relative situations might have been different. Expedition would not then have been exigent to the government's purposes, but would then have been necessary to the contractor, if profits were to be realized from the production of the motors. ”

“ By another agreement, dated January 4, 1918, the type of motor was changed, and a motor called the Bugatti motor was substituted, and there were other agreements.
From this general statement it will be seen that the contract and agreements are determining elements in the claims sued upon. A full recital of them, however, would extend this opinion to an embarrassing length. We shall confine ourselves, therefore, to those which we regard of determining pertinence.
Upon demurrer of the United States the Court of Claims decided the contractor entitled to no relief and dismissed its petition. ”

“ On the contrary, it is alleged that there was a belief upon the part of the government officers by whom and under whom the supplemental agreement was made that there were in existence complete specifications of the articles which needed only to be obtained from France; that the motors had passed the experimental stage and were ready for production. It is, however, alleged that the statements in the contract operated as a representation to the contractor that such was the fact, and that production in quantity could begin at or shortly after the entry into the agreement. ”