[No. 10.] Tuesday, December 11, 1908. STATEMENT OF REAR-ADMIRAL ALBERT ROSS, COMMANDANT NAVAL TRAINING STATION, GREAT LAKES. The CHAIRMAN. The first item is "Naval training station, Great Lakes." I notice that you strike out the words "maintenance of naval training station." We keep that in in connection with every naval training station. What is the necessity for that change? Admiral Ross. I do not know who struck that out. The CHAIRMAN. You did not strike it out? Admiral Ross. No, sir; on consultation with the Chief of Bureau of Navigation I find that there was no intention to cut it out and it was an error to do so. The CHAIRMAN. There has also been inserted in this paragraph: Providing that the sum to be paid out of this appropriation under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy for clerical, drafting, inspection, and messenger service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1910, shall not exceed $48,139.36. Admiral Ross. That was done at the Navy Department. The idea was to get that business all under one head. That has been done, I think, at all the naval stations. The CHAIRMAN. Can you furnish the committee with a statement showing what is being paid to-day? Admiral Ross. Yes, sir. $48,139.36. The CHAIRMAN. I wish you would furnish the committee with a statement showing just how that amount is arrived at Admiral Ross. Made up as follows: Pay, watchmen, etc__ Inspections, etc-- The CHAIRMAN. That makes a total of $102,769.36? $26, 951. 60 6, 940.00 14, 247.76 48, 139. 36 Admiral Ross. There is an increase in the $54,630 item for maintenance of $24,770 over the maintenance of 1909, due to the cost of coal, oil, and supplies for power and heating plant, which power and heating plant is new, and supplies for same new items. The CHAIRMAN. What is the amount of maintenance at the naval station? Admiral Ross. $54,630. Mr. PADGETT. If there is an item of maintenance, why should the words, "Maintenance of Naval Training Station," be stricken out at the beginning of the paragraph? Admiral Ross. They have cut that out in order to lump the whole business into the sum of $102.769.36, which sum was fixed by the Bureau of Navigation. Mr. PADGETT. I understood you to say that the $54,630 was not included in the $102,769.36. Admiral Ross. No, sir; the $54,630 is included in the $102,769.36, made up as follows: Maintenance, labor, and material_ Pay watchmen, etc.-- Inspection, etc____ Total The CHAIRMAN. What is the next item? $54, 630.00 26, 951.60 6,940.00 14, 247.76 102, 769. 36 Admiral Ross. $26,951.60. That includes watchmen, engineers, etc. The CHAIRMAN. What is the next item? Admiral Ross. For classified-service employees in the office of the commandant, $5,840. Mr. BUTLER. How many? Admiral Ross. One electrician, $1,400, which has been stricken from my estimate by the department, one draftsman, one subinspector, and one foreman of laborers. Mr. HOBSON. Please also give the amounts paid under the item of $26,951.60, Great Lakes Training Station report, etc. (See pages 6 and 7, Pay of watchmen, mechanics, and others.) How many in each of the branches of the service? Admiral Ross. One captain of the watch and weigher, second captain of the watch and 9 watchmen, chief engineer of the power plant, assistant engineer, 3 dynamo tenders, 2 pump and refrigerator-plant tenders, 4 firemen, 1 plumber, 1 steam fitter, 1 electrical machinist, 1 painter, 1 carpenter, and 3 laborers. They are all per diem men. Mr. BUTLER. How far has the work progressed? Admiral Ross. We have 25 buildings under roof. I can give you a statement of exactly what has been done and the amount that has been done on each building. Pages 1-5, inclusive, of Report on Great Lakes Training Station. The CHAIRMAN. Please put that in the hearing. Mr. DAWSON. Do you expect to occupy the station during the coming fiscal year? Admiral Ross. We can not, because the hospital is not completed, and we have 11 more buildings to be placed under contract, which we hope to have done about the 1st of February. Mr. ROBERTS. How many buildings will there be when the plant is officially completed? Admiral Ross. Thirty-nine. Mr. ROBERTS. Do you know how many buildings they have at Newport? Admiral Ross. No, sir; I do not know. Mr. DAWSON. It will not be occupied before July 1, 1910? Admiral Ross. If we have good luck and you gentlemen pass the appropriation that I am asking for now, $113.000 to complete the work, and make it "immediately available," so that we will have the whole summer to work, because it is all outside work, then we should be able to have the station completed by January, 1910. That is what we are striving in every way to do. Mr. DAWSON. Is it necessary to make the appropriation "immediately available," because the law will become effective by the 4th of March? Mr. BUTLER. No; on the 1st of July.. Admiral Ross. Then, you see, after the appropriation is made available we have to make the plans and specifications, and we lose the whole summer. The CHAIRMAN. Can not you get the plans and specifications ready in advance? Admiral Ross. We are endeavoring to have them ready by the 1st of March, but we have only 2 draftsmen, and we are all working overtime, every blessed soul on that station, and when you see the work that we will have to do you will appreciate how hard it will be for us to do it. (Pages 21-24, inclusive.) Mr. ROBERTS. What is the necessity for 9 watchmen at the station? Admiral Ross. There are 182 acres of land to watch and we have to have three shifts. Mr. ROBERTS. How many watchmen have they at the Naval Academy, 4 or 5? Admiral Ross. I guess they have about 26. Mr. ROBERTS. Do you intend to have the 9 watchmen as a permanent force? Admiral Ross. Yes, sir. Mr. BUTLER. Could not some of the marines be detailed to watch the buildings the same as they do other government property? Admiral Ross. They could. Mr. ROBERTS. There will be a marine detail at this station, will there not? Admiral Ross. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. We will now take up the items on page 88. The first item is " roads." How much do you contemplate expending for roads? Admiral Ross. $50,500 for roads (p. 14). The CHAIRMAN. How much for sidewalks? Admiral Ross. $28,500 for sidewalks (p. 15). The CHAIRMAN. Please read off the amounts of these items. Admiral Ross. Inner basin sea wall, $54,000; entrance piers and dredging, $82,700; arch bridge, $36,000; wagon bridge to power house, $6,500; walls and fences, $35,300; garbage crematory, $6,500; grading, $14,000, making a total of $314,000 (pp. 14 to 20, inclusive). The CHAIRMAN. Railroad scales, scale house, and spur? Admiral Ross. $9,200. Electric fixtures, interior and exterior arcs, and incandescent lamps, $33,500; cooking equipment, disinfecting equipment, and cold-storage installation, $10,000; fire apparatus, $4,150; elevators and dumb-waiters, $6,450; storage balconies and trolleys in boathouse, $11,500; tower clock, electric clocks, and wiring. $1.600; furniture, filing apparatus, shelving, cupboards, fittings, lockers, and interior equipment for buildings, $23,000 (p. 9). The CHAIRMAN. Will the $113,400 complete the plant? Admiral Ross. Yes, sir; as far as the Bureau of Navigation is concerned. The Bureau of Medicine and Surgery comes in with regard to their hospital and buildings. The CHAIRMAN. Is not the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts to have something? Admiral Ross. Fitting up of the general storehouse and refrigerating plant underneath the galley. Mr. HOBSON. Then we can put in at the head of the paragraph "To complete?" The CHAIRMAN. At the bottom make it read "in all to complete." Admiral Ross. There is only one thing left, and that is a little magazine. We will dig a hole in the bank and cement it all around. I can build that by day's work. The CHAIRMAN. After "railroad scales" you give the amount for each item, but you lump "roads, sidewalks, etc.?" Admiral Ross. Because it is almost impossible to make absolute estimates. If you strike quicksand in the ground you have to eradicate it, and with the general appropriation we will be able to get through with the whole work. The CHAIRMAN. Will you need $50,500 for roads? Admiral Ross. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. What kind of roads are you going to build? The CHAIRMAN. Will you need $28,500 for sidewalks? Admiral Ross. There are 15,118 feet of roads and there are 311,446 square feet, at 10 cents a square foot, which is a very small figure, indeed. You will find that $10,000 a mile is usually figured for good roads. Mr. DAWSON. That would only be 3 miles? Admiral Ross. Then we have the hillside roads, with no gutters, and then we have 30,000 feet of curbing and 10,000 feet of gravel roads. Mr. THOMAS. How wide are the roads? Admiral Ross. The main roads are 30 feet wide. We have 1,313 feet of main road, 30 feet wide; 4,537 feet, 24 feet wide; 3,670 feet, 20 feet wide; 5,598 feet, 16 feet wide; and the others are 12 feet wide. The States count on $8,000 to $10,000 a mile for the best roads. That will give you a road 10 inches at the center and 8 inches at the gutter, with no curbing. The CHAIRMAN. What is the estimate for the inner basin sea wall? Admiral Ross. Fifty-four thousand dollars. The CHAIRMAN. How many feet? Admiral Ross. Two thousand feet of wall. That will cost $23 a foot. You have to drive piles and you have considerable excavation around the edge, as you will see by the pictures. Then you have to dredge on the inside and throw the dirt back of the sea wall to protect it. The inside of the sea wall be a basin 100 to 300 by 800, and is for the handling of the boats of that institution. Around the whole sea wall boat davits will be fitted so that boats can be hoisted up in the summer, and in the winter those boats will all be taken out and stored in the boathouse for repairs and painting for the next season. The CHAIRMAN. The next item is: "arch bridge?" Admiral Ross. If you will look at the plans, between the receiving group and the main plant, you will see the necessity for a bridge for communication between the receiving group and the main group. That bridge will also carry the steam and hot-water mains, sewage, and also the roadway and sidewalks. The CHAIRMAN. How large a bridge is that; how long is it? The CHAIRMAN. The next item is: "wagon bridge to power house?" Admiral Ross. We have a railroad bridge there, but that, of course, is an ordinary railroad trestle. The wagon bridge is a necessity to get to the top of the power house, which is on a level with the top of the plateau. All the material that goes to the power house, and communication, will be over this bridge. The ice machine is there and all the ice for the institution will be manufactured at that place and will have to be transferred by wagon to the different sections of the station. The CHAIRMAN. The next item is: "entrance piers and dredging." How many piers are there? Admiral Ross. Two, 550 feet long, with a crib at an angle of 45 degrees, which contracts the entrance to 150 feet. The CHAIRMAN. How much will those two cost? Admiral Ross. The entrance piers and dredging $82,700. The CHAIRMAN. How much of it is for dredging? Admiral Ross. Twenty thousand cubic yards inside and 20,000 cubic yards outside. It will all be sand-sucker work. The CHAIRMAN. How much per cubic yard? Admiral Ross. Twenty-five cents-a very low figure. Admiral Ross. Four hundred feet. Mr. HOBSON. That means 250 feet of cribbing? Admiral Ross. The plans that we have under way are about 550 feet, and the distance between the two will be 400 feet. Mr. HOBSON. That is reduced to 150 feet? Admiral Ross. Yes, sir; at the entrance. Mr. HOBSON. What is the object of that? Admiral Ross. On the lakes they used to put in straight cribs perpendicular to the line of beach. They found that those will protect on the north side at times, and the other side it rushes back here (indicating) and cuts out behind, and also invades the back part of the crib. We have broken that up, as you will see in the picture, by T's on the outer ends of the groins. That breaks the current. At the entrance of harbors on the lakes they have tried all sorts of methods by which to break the current at the entrance. They started out with the idea that they would protect the entrance with a crib on the end, but they found that the method used at Manitowoc Harbor will give a circular motion to the harbor. The waves come in and strike the back part of the harbor, and these two currents coming in together form a circular motion which leads right out of the harbor again and keeps the entrance clear. That has worked better than anything else on the Great Lakes. The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "Walls and fences." What are you going to put up as walls and fences? Admiral Ross. We are going to have along the railroad an iron fence 8 feet high, and along the northern side a concrete fence 8 feet |