Page images
PDF
EPUB

which is mixed to some extent with artesian water secured on the yard, although as a general thing Philadelphia water alone is now being furnished in this system. The water for this latter system is being furnished through pipe which was orginally installed for the distribution of artesian water only, and at a time when the demand was comparatively small. Now that the demand is much greater it sometimes occurs that when two ships are drawing water at the same time the pressure is insufficient to force water to the second stories of the buildings. It is considered necessary to relay some of the mains with larger pipe and install larger pumps in the pump house where water is taken from the city main and forced into the elevated tank. It is proposed under the appropriation to lay a main connecting with the city main on Broad Street along the north side of the reserve basin of sufficient capacity to supply eight battleships under the city pressure of about 22 pounds per square inch and to lay larger mains from the high-pressure tank at Broad Street and Cushing Avenue to the extent which funds will permit for the better distribution of water to the ships located on the south side of the reserve basin and on the Delaware water front.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is "Sewer system, extensions, $5,000."

Admiral STANFORD. The amount is desired principally for the extension of the sewer system for the service of the reserve basin. The CHAIRMAN. On account of the reserve fleet?

Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir. The vessels of the reserve fleet will not be permitted to discharge their organic refuse into the basin, because there is no circulation of water in the basin, and the continued discharge would lead to pollution and insanitary conditions. The sewer system must be extended to serve toilet buildings located on the bank for the use of men stationed aboard reserve vessels.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "Gasoline storage plant, $10,000." Please explain that.

Admiral STANFORD. This appropriation will provide for a building about 50 feet by 60 feet, one story high, in which gasoline and highly inflammable combustibles can be stored separately from the less highly inflammable combustibles, and will add greatly to the safety of Government property.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you have gasoline-consuming boats there?

Admiral STANFORD. Some launches use gasoline, and other vessels use gasoline for certain purposes; gasoline is also used in navy-yard operations. The building is to contain the gasoline which is held by the general storekeeper for such purposes.

The CHAIRMAN. What will be the capacity?

Admiral STANFORD. A building 50 feet by 60 feet, one story high, will provide 3,000 square feet upon which gasoline cans will probably be piled to a height of 4 or 5 feet.

The CHAIRMAN. What will be the construction?

Admiral STANFORD. Fireproof, brick or concrete.

The CHAIRMAN. Something of that character?

Admiral STANFORD. Some material of incombustible character. The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "Paving, to continue, $10,000." We discussed the other day the cost of paving. How much paving have you to do?

Admiral STANFORD. There is being constructed a piece of sea wall approximately 700 feet long in the western part of the reserve basin. This item is for the purpose of paving adjacent to this new sea wall. The CHAIRMAN. Seven hundred feet long?

Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir. There is also a piece of wall 350 feet long west of Pier C which at present crosses the site which has been indicated for the new dry dock and back of which there is no paving.

This item will also cover the paving of that area and would enable teams and the mechanics to readily reach the new sea wall.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you have present use for the 350 feet paving until the dry dock is built? Suppose the dry dock is not authorized? Admiral STANFORD. Then there would be use for this length of 350 feet of wall and paving back of the wall would be required to reach areas adjacent to the 700 feet of new construction above mentioned.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there any need for that?

Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir. This item provides sufficiently for the purpose.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you need the 350 feet if you do not get the dry dock?

Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. You would still need it?

Admiral STANFORD. It would be used because it is a wall of considerable length and sufficient for some of the smaller boats of the Navy.

Mr. BUCHANAN. Is that work done by contract?

Admiral STANFORD. The paving?

Mr. BUCHANAN. Yes, sir.

Admiral STANFORD. It has been done recently at the Philadelphia Navy Yard by yard labor.

Mr. BUCHANAN. Do you find that advantageous?

Admiral STANFORD. That is my experience.

Mr. BUCHANAN. When did you come to that happy conclusion? Admiral STANFORD. I have always favored that method when practicable.

Mr. BUCHANAN. Do you not get better work, as a rule?

Admiral STANFORD. With efficient supervision you should get equally good work either by contract or by yard labor, but good results are more certain by the latter method.

Mr. BUCHANAN. What is the expense compared with contract work?

Admiral STANFORD. Works constructed with yard labor as compared with the same works constructed by contract show in general three principal savings. First, in estimating on new construction there is always an item included to cover contingencies; officers and forces working at a navy yard because of their continuous employment at that place become familiar with the local ground conditions and therefore know just exactly how to estimate on troubles which would result from water in an excavation or from caving banks or from hidden obstructions. On the contrary, contractors do not have that absolute knowledge and will include in their bids a figure which may be very greatly excessive to cover that item.

The second item is on account of plant. A navy yard is equipped with locomotives, cranes, cars, piledrivers, and concrete mixers, and various other appliances generally required for public-work construction and general yard service. It is impractical in preparing specifications to provide that these appliances shall be rendered available for use by a contractor because the contractor would then have the right to demand them at such time as he might want them, whereas they might not be available because of the use which the yard was putting them to at that particular time. Therefore, the plant is not

available for the use of the contractor. On the other hand, there are times when this plant is not required for general yard use, and can be used in conjunction with public-work construction. For instance, in doing the paving at Philadelphia we were able to assemble railroad service, cranes, mixers, etc., which were disproportionate in number and value to the work which was being accomplished, but as a result of which the work was completed at a very low cost. A contractor would not have been justified in assembling as complete a plant for a comparatively small contract. There is a very great saving resulting from this condition. Third, contractors always include an item for profit. There is no item included for profit in work that is done with. yard labor. These three items combined make the difference in favor of yard employment as compared with contract work.

Mr. TALBOTT. And if you want to change the plants you can change them at will?

Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir; and all probability of loss or trouble due to legal complications is avoided. It frequently happens that a contractor can not proceed with his work continuously because of necessary obstruction caused by the Government. For instance, at New York, when the New York was launched last October, there was some damage done to work which was being performed by the New York State Construction Co. on the construction of two piers, causing delay in their operations, as a result of which a claim for damages has been submitted. On the other hand, if it had been yard-labor work, there would have been no such claim and no such complications.

Mr. BUCHANAN. What about the inspection force?

Admiral STANFORD. The inspection may be considered almost identical, except that the inspector would probably act in the capacity of foreman if the work is done by yard labor.

Mr. BUCHANAN. What is the need of an inspector? There is no inducement for slighting the work?

Admiral STANFORD. No, sir. There is no inspector assigned, as a rule, to that kind of work.

Mr. BUCHANAN. The inspection, then, is less costly?

Admiral STANFORD. It results in a saving, generally speaking.

The CHAIRMAN. You said that there were two pieces of work, one about 700 feet in length and one about 350 feet in length. Is there any other paving which would come under this item?

Admiral STANFORD. This item did not contemplate any other paving.

The CHAIRMAN. If that is true, that is 1,050 feet, about one-fifth of a mile, and $10,000 for a fifth of a mile would be at the rate of $50,000 a mile for paving. Is not that pretty expensive paving? Admiral STANFORD. The paving adjacent to the sea wall is about 42 feet wide.

The CHAIRMAN. Building a road 40 feet wide does not cost $50,000 a mile?

Admiral STANFORD. Forty-two feet is 14 yards. A thousand feet would be 333 yards; 333 times 14 would be nearly 5,000 yards; $10,000 would be at the rate of about $2 per square yard.

The CHAIRMAN. You can build a railroad for less than $50,000 a mile. This is at the rate of $50,000 a mile for construction.

Mr. TALBOTT. It depends on where you are going to build the road. The CHAIRMAN. That is what I am getting at.

Admiral STANFORD. $2 is a low figure for first-class brick paving. Mr. LEE. It may be done for less than that amount?

Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir. If so, the money would not be wasted.

Mr. LEE. You figure on $2 a yard?

Admiral STANFORD. That is the estimate for this paving.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is "Railroad system, extensions and equipment, $5,000." Please explain that, Admiral.

Admiral STANFORD. Small extensions should be made at many places in the yard to provide for the more expeditious and more economical handling of the material which is being loaded or unloaded from cars by locomotive cranes, and track should be provided for loading and unloading cars at storehouses without blocking the main tracks of the yard. A part of this appropriation should be used for new ties and track material. This item is a comparatively small one to provide for the minor extensions that are required in order to better accommodate the service and the operations of the yard.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is "Dredging plant, to build, $40,000." Please explain that, Admiral.

Admiral STANFORD. This plant is necessary to keep the Delaware front in proper condition for the handling of ships of the fleet for which this is the home station. Under certain conditions shoals form quickly in the neighborhood of the piers and at the entrances of the dry docks, which interfere with the handling of vessels but are not of sufficient volume to offer an inducement to a dredging company to send a dredge promptly to the yard for the removal of such small quantities, and the Government with such a dredging plant as now proposed would be able quickly and economically to remove these small shoals and keep the water front in useful condition. It is considered that a small dredge of this kind is one of the most necessary additions which can be made to the plant of the yard. Periodic dredging is especially required along the Delaware front. There is a tendency toward rapid silting or shoaling over certain areas along this front, and particularly in front of the two dry docks.

The CHAIRMAN. What plant have you there now for dredging purposes?

Admiral STANFORD. None at all.

The CHAIRMAN. What have you been doing in the past?

Admiral STANFORD. Dependence has been placed upon contractors. The CHAIRMAN. What have been the annual expenditures through a series of years; for instance, what has been the cost of dredging? Admiral STANFORD. The last three or four years the yard has been operating under an appropriation of $430,000, which was made for dredging the reserve basin and the Delaware front. The contractor for the Delaware River work, because of insufficient plant, made very poor headway; the result has been that his operations have continued over a period much longer than first contemplated, which has worked to his hardship rather than the Government's, because the contractor has been responsible for sedimentation during that period. For the last three or four years expenditures for removal of local sedimentation along the water front have been very little, but I am unable to give you the amount.

Mr. BROWNING. Who is the contractor?

Admiral STANFORD. The Atlantic Dredging Co. has the Delaware work and the American Dredging Co. the reserve basin work. The Atlantic Dredging Co., I believe, got into financial difficulties, and were unable to arrange for the dredging plant they had in mind using when they entered into the contract.

The CHAIRMAN. Assuming that the dredging company was competent to perform and did perform its contract each year promptly and efficiently, what would be the cost to do this work by contract?

Admiral STANFORD. I suppose $5,000 or $10,000 for the removal of sedimentation from the Delaware water front.

The CHAIRMAN. Would the appropriation of $40,000 complete the construction of the dredging plant?

Admiral STANFORD. That would provide either a clamshell dredge of the type which would be desirable for the Delaware River work, or a small outfit of the hydraulic type.

The CHAIRMAN. That is, $40,000. What would be the cost to keep up that dredge, and what would be the life of the dredge, and what would it cost to operate it? The interest upon the cost of the dredge at 3 per cent would be $1,200?

Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir; $100 a month.

The CHAIRMAN. And it would cost $100 a month to operate it? Admiral STANFORD. It would cost more than that. It would require an engineer and a dredge captain or lever man, and several other helpers, also scows for the removal of the dredged material, if it should be decided to use a dredge of the clamshell type.

Mr. BUTLER. And a tugboat?

Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir. The yard tugboat could probably be used. I suppose it would cost $40 or $50 a day for labor and fuel to operate the plant.

The CHAIRMAN. And how many days in the year?

Admiral STANFORD. Probably two or three months to maintain deep water, and longer if new areas should be dredged to improve or increase yard facilities.

The CHAIRMAN. I am trying to ascertain what it would cost if you had no contract. How many days in the year?

Admiral STANFORD. Two or three months in order to keep the Delaware front in proper condition, not in operation continuously, but from time to time as necessary. Also such periods as required for new or development work.

The CHAIRMAN. Then you would just pay for the time you had the men employed?

Admiral STANFORD. There would be no charge incident to the dredging plant when the plant was not in operation. Such a plant would be laid up without any watchman or constant attendant.

The CHAIRMAN. I was trying to ascertain whether or not as a business proposition after an expenditure of $40,000 for the plant, the operation of the dredge would cost you more than $5,000 a year? Admiral STANFORD. The principal argument for the plant is that a facility would be provided which could remove small deposits from time to time as desired for the efficient use of the water front, and the volume of which would not warrant a contractor in assembling a plant unless allowed an excessive unit price for the work.

The CHAIRMAN. They include that in the $5,000 a year cost?

85873-13-10

« PreviousContinue »