Mr. LOUDENSLAGER. The President ordered the increase of pay, did he not?

Admiral CowLES. Yes, sir.

Mr. PADGETT. He ordered an increase of pay of the per diem men. He could not increase the pay of the men in the civil establishment? Admiral CowLES. No, sir.

Mr. PADGETT. Is it contemplated in the estimates you submit to increase the pay of the civil establishment men?

Admiral CowLES. About 10 per cent.

Mr. LOUDENSLAGER. This language gives the department authority to do it?

Admiral CowLES. Only to the extent of 10 per cent.

Mr. LOUDENSLAGER. Why not? It says here 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 at the several navy-yards, etc., shall not exceed $186,500. That would seem to me to permit him to fix any price he wanted so he did not exceed that amount?

Admiral CowLES. As the amount allowed for these salaries is fixed, that is, must not exceed $186,500, no one can get an increase of more than 10 per cent unless some of the present employees are dropped, as the money will not be available.

The CHAIRMAN. Very well.

Last year the Bureau of Equipment made a report of all the classified employees under the bureau at the various navy-yards and naval stations paid from lump appropriations, and it amounted to $182,870, and this year they are required to make a report also, which they have done.

The next item is "Coal and transportation," and the estimate is $5,000,000, the same as the appropriation last year?

Admiral CowLES. Yes, sir; the same as last year.

The CHAIRMAN. Can we reduce that amount this year?

Admiral CowLES. I think not, unless you run the risk of another deficiency.

The CHAIRMAN. Did you have a deficiency last year?

Admiral CoWLES. One million seven hundred thousand dollars, sir. I had to ask for it, but this $5,000,000 will be sufficient. I do not think we can reduce the amount this year; and if you do, I am afraid there will be another deficiency.

Mr. LOUDENSLAGER. How much do you estimate was the increased expense of coal and transportation on this cruise?

Admiral CowLES. One million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

Mr. BUTLER. When is that cruise likely to end?

Admiral CowLES. The 22d of February.

Mr. BUTLER. The 22d of February, 1909?

Admiral CowLES. Yes, sir; of course we will go on using coal. Mr. BUTLER. But you will not have these large strains on the coal pile?

Admiral CowLES. No, sir; nor will we have to pay so much transportation unless we start another fleet abroad somewhere.

Mr. BUTLER. You had $5,000,000 last year?

Admiral CowLES. Yes, sir; and I am asking for $5,000,000 this year. I do not think we can get on with less. The coal piles are

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considerably depleted. For example, we generally expect to keep about 150,000 tons of coal at Manila. The General Board recommended 200,000 tons be constantly kept in store at that place. The fleet has just left there, leaving only about 60,000 tons.

Mr. BUTLER. Sixty thousand tons will supply the needs for some time if we do not have another big fleet to turn in on it?

Admiral CowLES. It will not be used up so rapidly. The Atlantic Fleet took nearly 80,000 tons in two months, and the squadron now on the station will use several thousand tons per month. Besides, it is extremely important to have a reserve for emergencies. For example, if the Pacific Fleet should be unexpectedly ordered to Manila, we should have to coal there. We had a small pile at the station at Yokohama; some 8,000 tons, I think. It was not intended for the fleet to take this coal, but they had bad weather going up the coasta typhoon and they burned more coal than they thought they would, so they had to fall back on the coal in store at Yokohama. Then at Honolulu they have about 30,000 tons left. The coal pile has to be kept up, because there is a big squadron in the Pacific that might require coal at Honolulu at any moment. We have coal at California City Point, at Bremerton, and at Mare Island, and the supply at these points has to be kept up.

Mr. BUTLER. The year before last you had a deficiency of $1,700,000? Admiral CowLES. Yes, sir.

Mr. BUTLER. What was your regular appropriation the year you had the deficiency?

Admiral CowLES. I think it was $4,150,000.

Mr. BUTLER. That gave you under this item alone $5,850,000? Admiral CoWLES. Yes, sir. Really considerably more than that, for there were a number of large bills for coal and freight that had to be held over until the present fiscal year, as the money gave out.

Mr. BUTLER. Please be kind enough to revive our recollection. What was the occasion for the deficiency that year; what was the increased demand upon your bureau that occasioned that deficiency?

Admiral CoWLES. It was due to the preparation necessary to start the fleet around the world. Large shipments of coal had to be made to the distant stations. While the fleet was on the Atlantic coast freight bills were very small, as distances were short and tonnage available, but to get the coal to such distant places as San Francisco, Bremerton, and Honolulu it was necessary to pay much larger rates, $6 to $6.50 for foreign bottoms, and $8 and even more was paid for American ships.

Mr. BUTLER. By the way, let me ask in that connection what was the result of the experiment they made with the coal discovered in the Philippine Islands?

Admiral CoWLES. Some tests were made on small naval vessels, but it proved unsatisfactory for steaming purposes. It is of about the same grade as average Japanese or Australian coal. They have used it in their intrainsular service, but we have never been able to use it.

Mr. THOMAS. Where does it come from in the Philippines?

Admiral CowLES. From the Bataan Islands in the northern part of the archipelago.

Mr. LOUD. Have you given it a trial?
Admiral CowLES. Yes, sir.

Mr. THOMAS. Do they use it on the battle ships?

Admiral CoWLES. No. All the coal that has been used for this cruise, with the exception of a little bought in Australia, has been our own coal.

Mr. WATKINS. What was the price of the coal purchased in Australia?

Admiral CowLES. About $6 per ton.

Mr. BUTLER. On the ground?

Admiral CowLES. Delivered to the ships?

Mr. BUTLER. Six dollars delivered at Manila?

Admiral CowLES. We are speaking of Australian coal.

Mr. WATKINS. I thought you said you bought some coal in Australia?

Admiral CowLES. Yes, sir; about 13,500 tons.

Mr. WATKINS. What did that coal cost?

Admiral CowLES. A trifle over $6 per ton; about $6.08.

Mr. HOBSON. Speaking of the coal piles, what is the regular supply kept at Honolulu?

Admiral CowLES. Generally, we keep about 40,000 tons of coal there. We did that before this trip, and then we ran it up to 60,000 and 70,000 tons.

Mr. LOUD. Is there any deterioration in the efficiency of the coal when it is stored in open piles in a tropical climate?

Admiral CoWLES. Somewhat, a little, but we use it so fast that it does not get a chance to deteriorate very much.

Mr. LOUD. Is there any cover for the coal at Cavite?

Admiral CoWLES. At Čavite a part of the coal is under cover, but the most of it is outside.

Mr. LOUD. The largest part of it was outside when Mr. Foss and I were there.

Admiral CowLES. Yes, sir; spread out.

Mr. DAWSON. Can you tell us whether any progress has been made in the direction of burning oil on battle ships?

Admiral CowLES. They are commencing to make experiments with a ship on the Pacific coast. All the latest types are fitted for burning oil, but we have not burned any oil on board ship yet.

Mr. DAWSON. What bureau is conducting the experiments?

Admiral CowLES. The Bureau of Steam Engineering.

Mr. THOMAS. Have you ever tried any Chinese coal?
Admiral CowLES. Yes, sir.

Mr. THOMAS. Do you not find that up to the standard?

Admiral CowLES. No, sir. It was not at all suitable for our ships. Mr. THOMAS. I got my information from mining engineers who had been there.

Admiral CowLES. They came here and told me the same story. They said that they had a big source of supply out there in the Gulf of Pechili, representing the quality to be admirable. I immediately wrote to the Admiral on the station making inquiry concerning it, and he replied that he knew about the coal, but that it was not good enough to use in his ships. Of course he would have used the coal if it had been good; he would certainly have been glad to get it, because it would have been cheaper.

Mr. ROBERTS. The coal you bought in Australia and for which you paid $7; was it Australian coal or some coal brought there?

Admiral CoWLES. It was Australian coal, and, as stated, cost $6.08 per ton. It was not good steaming coal.

Mr. ROBERTS. That cost you $1 a ton more than our own coal at that point?

Admiral CowLES. It cost a little less than our own coal delivered in Australia.

Mr. BUTLER. I understood that the freight was $6 on our coal. Admiral CoWLES. It cost us $6.29 to Albany, Australia, and $6.52 to Auckland, New Zealand, and this included the cost of the coal and shipping.

Mr. LOUD. Is it possible to obtain Japanese coal as good as the Japanese navy uses?

Admiral CowLES. No, sir; I suppose they would give it to you as an accommodation, but we could not rely upon the supply. I mean, generally speaking, if we were over there and ran short of coal they would probably give it to us, but they would not sell it to us in any quantity.

Mr. LOUD. Our passenger steamers coal at Nagasaki?

Admiral CowLES. Yes, sir; that is the ordinary Japanese coal. We have a great deal of coal just like it in this country, but we never use it in the ship's boilers here. We would not use it.

Mr. BUTLER. Is that coal too sulphurous?

Admiral CowLES. It contains too great a proportion of hydrocarbon. Mr. LOUD. On the average, a merchant vessel's boilers last as long as the navy's boilers?

Admiral CoWLES. Perhaps longer. But the conditions of service are such that no comparison would be of any value.

Mr. BUTLER. You use smokeless coal?

Admiral COWLES. A coal that is as near smokeless as possible to obtain semibituminous coal, a free-burning coal. We do not like to burn coal that is black.

Mr. ROBERTS. You spoke of the points on the Pacific coast where we had coal stored. You did not mention San Diego?

Admiral CoWLES. The plant there is not completed. The wharf is just being completed and we are going to commence on the plant later on.

Mr. ROBERTS. You have not started the plant?

Admiral CowLES. No, sir.

Mr. PADGETT. I think it was two years ago, or perhaps three years ago, that we had a measure before Congress, and I think it became a law, authorizing the purchase of some land between some coal field that the Government owned in the Philippine Islands and the sea, so that it could be mined, and it was represented to us that it was fine coal and that the Government would save vast amounts of money, besides having the coal on the islands.

The CHAIRMAN. That was on the island of Bataan.

Admiral CowLES. Yes, sir.

Mr. PADGETT. Has that coal field been developed in any way? Admiral CowLES. Not by the navy. I do not know what the insular government is doing. General Edwards could tell you all about that.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is "Contingent, Bureau of Equipment," $11,821. You say there is a little deficiency in this item?

Admiral CowLES. Yes, sir. That was on account of expressing a great many things to the fleet in the Pacific.

The CHAIRMAN. We are leaving out furniture for the Bureau of Equipment in the navy-yards and stations?

Admiral CowWLES. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Omitting that item, will not this appropriation be sufficient?

Admiral CoWLES. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is "Ocean and Lake Surveys," $75,000. That is the same as last year?

Admiral CowLES. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Can not we reduce that amount this year?
Admiral CoWLES. I would not like to have you reduce it.
The CHAIRMAN. Are you using all of the appropriation?

Admiral CowLES. Yes, sir. The following will show the necessity for the full amount requested. From this it will be seen that the estimate represents only the needs of the bureau for carrying on work started some time ago:

"Hydrographic surveys."

(a) Under this clause provision has been made for some years for such marine surveys as were found necessary from time to time and carried on under the Navy Department. In active operation, at the present time, are the surveys on the south coast of Cuba and on the west and south coasts of Haiti. The unexplored condition of these waters is such as to render hazardous the crusing which our naval vessels are constantly obliged to perform in those regions. The service at this moment being performed by our vessels in Haiti illustrates the need of more accurate knowledge of the coast of that island than we now possess. The gunboat Eagle is conducting the necessary

survey.

(b) A large amount of surveying has already been done on the south coast of Cuba. To be of value it must be pushed to completion without interruption. The gunboat Hist has been detailed for the survey from Cape Cruz to Casilda, and the work will proceed more rapidly during the coming year than hitherto. A small party is surveying to the eastward of the Guantanamo naval station.

(c) The demands of the fleet for officers and men have prevented the detail of any more than those on the gunboats named; therefore the bureau has been obliged to employ salaried civilian hydrographic surveyors, draftsmen, recorders, and others.

(d) It is intended to complete the hydrographic survey of American Samoa during this coming year.

(e) The cost of the instruments, materials, and supplies requisite for the work is defrayed from this appropriation.

"And for the purchase of nautical books, charts, and sailing directions.”

(a) Only about one-half of the charts furnished to the vessels are American made; the other half are British and must be purchased. About 39,000 British charts were bought last year. Large numbers of sailing directions are also bought. The necessity for this purchase