The CHAIRMAN. How many magazine buildings have they already at the station?

Admiral STANFORD. There are four small magazine buildings and one under construction.

The CHAIRMAN. What is this one to be used for?

Admiral STANFORD. For smokeless powder.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "Naval torpedo station, Newport, R. I.: Repairs to old machine shop, $8,000." Please explain that item, Admiral.

Admiral STANFORD. I was told by the Bureau of Ordnance that that item might be eliminated. They expect to make repairs, using funds from one of their general appropriations.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "Seamen gunners' quarters, $60,000." Please explain that item, Admiral.

Admiral STANFORD. At the present time a temporary frame building is used for housing seame of the enlisted force. This structure is inadequate in size and dangerous as a fire hazard. It is proposed to construct a building suitable for use as barracks, so arranged as to provide for future extensions as funds may be provided to meet the growing needs of the service.

Mr. ROBERTS. How many seamen gunners is it proposed to house in the quarters indicated here?

Admiral STANFORD. From 80 to 120 under instruction.

Mr. ROBERTS. These quarters are supposed to take care of all at the station now?

Admiral STANFORD. That is my understanding.

The CHAIRMAN. You stated a moment ago, with reference to the naval magazine at Puget Sound, that you thought it was contemplated to send a commissioned officer to the magazine to take care of it, etc. The department, is claiming all along that we are very short of officers and that a good many of the ships are placed in reserve with an insufficient allotment of officers. Is there any reason why civilians could not be placed in charge of these magazines and storehouses at the different places, and the commissioned officers put on board ships?

Admiral STANFORD. That is a question which affects the administration of the magazine stations, which is under the direct cognizance of the Bureau of Ordnance and the Navy Department. It is a matter which is not under the cognizance of the Bureau of Yards and Docks in any way.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "Railroad, Rose Island, $20,000.” Please explain that item, Admiral.

Admiral STANFORD. This item is required to permit the construction of a railroad track and a wharf for handling heavy weights, the wharf to be located with reference to suitable depth of water and protection from prevailing winds. This island being used exclusively for the storage of explosives used in connection with torpedoes, it is necessary that the wharf should be substantial and should be accessible for landing in all weathers.

The CHAIRMAN. Where is Rose Island?

Admiral STANFORD. Just across from the torpedo station. The title of the item should be modified to read "wharf and railroad." The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "Improvement water front, $10,000." Is that the same place?

Admiral STANFORD. No, sir; that is at the torpedo station proper. Mr. ROBERTS. The torpedo station is on an island?

Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir.

Mr. ROBERTS. Coasters Island?
Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir.

Mr. ROBERTS. Rose Island is adjacent?

Admiral STANFORD. Just to the westward of Coasters Island. The CHAIRMAN. What improvements are needed at this water front?

Admiral STANFORD. A portion of the sea wall is in such an unstable condition as to make its failure imminent at any time, which would not only carry away a portion of the land but probably also two buildings.

Thereupon the committee adjourned, to meet on Monday, December 16, 1912, at 10.30 o'clock a. m.

THE COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS,

Monday, December 16, 1912. The committee this day met, Hon. Lemuel P. Padgett (chairman) presiding.

STATEMENTS OF REAR ADMIRAL N. C. TWINING, CHIEF BUREAU OF ORDNANCE, AND REAR ADMIRAL H. R. STANFORD, CHIEF BUREAU OF YARDS AND DOCKS.

The CHAIRMAN. Gentlemen, we have with us this morning Admiral Twining, Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, and also Admiral Stanford, Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks.

Admiral Twining, Saturday we considered with Admiral Stanford matters relating to the naval stations under the Bureau of Ordnance, and we passed over some of them. "Naval Proving Ground, Indianhead, Md.: Addition to facilities, $29,000." What is that, Ádmiral? Admiral TWINING. That is intended to cover certain additional facilities for the naval powder factory which is legally a part of the naval proving grounds.

The CHAIRMAN. Can you specify what those additional facilities are, Admiral?

Admiral TWINING. Specifically, the things we have in mind now are extension of the press house, about 30 feet, extension of the cotton-picking house, extension of the sulphur storehouse, and extension of the cotton storehouse; the construction of a diphenylamine-mixing house, for which the foundations already exist, and the construction of a powder magazine for storage of smokeless powder. The CHAIRMAN. All of that is necessary in connection with an enlarged output of the manufacture of powder?

Admiral TWINING. A better-balanced output, perhaps; not very much of an increase, but to permit the work being carried on more economically by being well balanced all along the line of manufacture and storage.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "Storehouse for nitrate of soda, $15,000." Please explain that item, Admiral?

Admiral TWINING. The last appropriation bill authorized the Secretary of the Navy to dispose of a quantity of potassium nitrate which has been stored at Malden, Mass., and to receive in exchange sodium nitrate for use in the manufacture of smokeless powder. Ås we have no room to store this at Indianhead, we made arrangements with the Army to store it temporarily at Picatinny Arsenal, where they have a smokeless-powder factory.

The CHAIRMAN. Why could you not store it in the place where you had the potassium?

Admiral TWINING. It could have been stored there, but the Secretary wished to get it away from Malden because that was the only reason to maintain that station up there. I think it is his idea to later recommend the disposal of that station, although I am not officially informed in regard to that, and then we wish to have the sodium nitrate stored at the powder factory where it would be at the place of manufacture.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you contemplate using that in the future, or is it a reserve?

Admiral TWINING. It is a reserve.

The CHAIRMAN. Will you have any use for the Malden station if this is taken away?

Admiral TWINING. As far as the Bureau of Ordnance is concerned there will be no use for that station. I do not know what the department intends to do, but I have understood that they thought there was no use maintaining it.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "Purchase of additional land, $200,000." Please explain that item, Admiral.

Admiral TWINING. The purpose of that is to enlarge the proving ground itself, and to make it possible to carry on all of our experimental and test work there in perfect safety and with the minimum of delay.

The CHAIRMAN. How much land do you contemplate purchasing? Admiral TWINING. It contemplates purchasing a total of about 3,800 acres, of which 1,300 are immediately adjoining the present proving grounds and known as the Indianhead Peninsula. The remainder is in Charles County, Md., and is a continuation of the present proving grounds. I have a map here which shows that. The present proving grounds and powder factory are shown in blue. The Government also owns this section in green, which is known as Stump Neck Reservation. That was bought some years ago on account of the protests of private property owners. The section in yellow is the Indianhead Peninsula and is not now the property of the Government. That contains the 1,250 acres which we wish to buy. The area shown in red is in Charles County, Md., and comprises approximately 2,500 acres that we wish to buy. Instead of firing down the Potomac River, as we have to do now, it is our intention to own our own property and fire over it exclusively.

The CHAIRMAN. What is the linear distance from your firing point to where you are to terminate?

Admiral TWINING. About 18,000 yards, between 9 and 10 miles. The CHAIRMAN. This would give you ample ground for the range of your guns?

Admiral TWINING. Yes, sir; it might be that on rare occasions it would be found necessary to extend the range of fire over the water,

in which case we would be no worse off than we are now. Such occasions, however, would arise very infrequently.

The CHAIRMAN. This would give you 9 or 10 miles?

Admiral TWINING. Yes; over land. That would run up to 26,000 yards, 13 sea miles, or 15 statute miles.

The CHAIRMAN. What is the character of this land?

Admiral TWINING. This is farm land of a fair quality, which sells, ordinarily, for anywhere from $10 to $30 an acre, including the improvements.

The CHAIRMAN. What will it cost us when we go to buy it? Will that be an extraordinary occasion?

Admiral TWINING. This estimate of $200,000, of course, is more than I should imagine we would have to pay for the land at the outside. At $40 an acre the land would cost us $152,000. I have seen real estate circulars offering land in that vicinity for $10 an acre, including improvements, not of a very high class, farmhouse and stable and barn, and some as high as $30 an acre. I have not known of any land being sold at a higher price than $30 an acre. The CHAIRMAN. Will you have to condemn the land, or can it be purchased?

Admiral TWINING. I think some of the owners would sell, and other parts would have to be condemned. I would like, if the committee thinks it proper to make that appropriation, if they give the whole sum, to make it cover improvements, so that we can utilize any balance over what we would have to pay for the land in going ahead and establishing the new firing battery we have to put in.

The CHAIRMAN. Can you specify what improvements there would be and what they would cost, a general statement, so that we may see what the whole enterprise will ultimately cost us?

Admiral TWINING. We propose to construct a new firing and velocity battery at a point just to the southward of the point which now marks the southern limit of the proving ground property. We want to put in there a modern proving-ground apparatus, with tracks and turntables for mounting the guns, utilizing as far as possible the observation stations already existing and the bomb proof at the old proving grounds where the instruments are located. It has been estimated that the total cost of the improvements in addition to the cost of the land would be about $425,000, and that the expenditure of the money would extend over a period of two or three fiscal years. The CHAIRMAN. $425,000, in addition to the cost of the land? Admiral TWINING. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. That would make it somewhere in the neighborhood of $650,000?

Admiral TWINING. If we have to pay as much as $250,000 for the land, which I can not believe we will have to do; it seems to me that at the outside the land should not cost us over $152,000. Of course, that is a thing you can never tell until you actually make the bargain. The CHAIRMAN. What is the extent of the embarrassment you now suffer at the proving ground?

Admiral TWINING. We are limited as to the ranges at which we can fire on account of not being able to see down the range, to see when the river is clear. We have to have observers at various points down the river, some on our own property and some on private property. So far as we can establish telephone communication with these

observers, we can of course tell at the firing point just what the condition down the range is, but for long-range firing we can not do that, and we have to depend on occasionally sending down a vessel or tug to see what the condition is on the range. Of course, having no rights on the river over the traffic when the range is not clear, we have to wait until the commercial barges and schooners using the river get out of the way. Accidents have occurred. We have incurred claims for damages in mooring barges out of the line of fire-barges waiting to load with ties.

There is a place below the proving ground, an outlet for a small timber country, where they get a good many railroad ties, and the barges anchor in the line of fire and stay three or four or five days. We can not do anything in the meantime on the long range. We usually send and ask them if they are willing to be towed out of the line of fire, provided we bring them back. Sometimes they agree and sometimes they do not. Of course, we have no rights in the matter; we must simply depend on their good will. There have been cases arising, not very long ago, when owing to some short-range firing which we had to do, firing at some targets erected on Stump Neck, on Government property, the projectiles struck there and ricocheted across the river and struck over at Quantico, Va., and of course caused some consternation over there and real danger to the country. That would not have occurred if we had been able to fire farther inward, where the shells would have landed on our own property. In general our work is hampered by the conditions under which we are obliged to carry it out, firing down the river, and not having sufficient control over the range which we would have if it were over land.

Mr. WITHERSPOON. In regard to the purchase of this land, if you had the authority to make the contract to buy and then reported the contract before you got the money appropriated, do you not think that would enable you to get the land at a more reasonable price? Admiral TWINING. Something in the nature of an option? Mr. WITHERSPOON. Yes, sir.

Admiral TWINING. I am hardly enough of a business man to give you a definite answer, but I should say that if the Government would do as private parties do, buy an option or get a percentage option, they would get better terms.

Mr. WITHERSPOON. If they find out we have appropriated $200,000, they will be very apt to charge that much?

Admiral TWINING. If you insert the words "purchase and improvement of additional land," then nobody will know how much you expect to pay for the land and how much for the improvements. It was my original intention to have the item cover purchase and improvements.

Mr. TALBOTT. Is this the one piece of property available; are you confined to one special piece of property?

Admiral TWINING. No, sir; but it is a question of getting land adjoining the present property or else moving entirely.

Mr. TALBOTT. If you are confined to one piece of property, you should have the right to condemn as well as purchase.

The CHAIRMAN. It embraces a number of pieces, but they are all contiguous. It covers a distance of 9 miles down the river.