could get the additional storage space needed now cheaper by extending the two buildings.

The CHAIRMAN. How much extension will you add to them?
Admiral TWINING. I have not the figures with me.

The CHAIRMAN. Please put that in the hearing.

Admiral TWINING. Yes, sir. The plan is to extend each building

54 feet, making them 50 feet by 154 feet.

The CHAIRMAN. Is the extension required because of a shortage of space?

Admiral TWINING. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. To store the powder you have at that magazine? Admiral TWINING. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Is that necessity brought about by the enlargement of the fleet?

Admiral TWINING. It is brought about by the enlargement of the fleet and the increased demand on the magazine for the preparation of ammunition and storage and while awaiting delivery to the vessels and also storing powder in bulk ready to be assembled into charges. The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "Fire protection system, extensions, $2,500." Please explain that item, Admiral.

Admiral TWINING. That estimate is to extend the fire protection to buildings for which appropriation was made in the last year's naval bill, that item and the next one for the railroad system.

The CHAIRMAN. What did you build last year?

Admiral TWINING. We built two new magazine buildings and a magazine for the storage of high explosives; three buildings under construction now.

The CHAIRMAN. They were provided for in the last naval act and you wish to have this additional money to extend the fire protection to these new buildings?

Admiral TWINING. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. They are located beyond the present range of the system?

Admiral TWINING. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "Railroad system, extensions, $4,000." That is for the same purpose, to reach the new buildings beyond the extension of the tracks?

Admiral TwINING. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "Shed for repairing damaged powder panks, $2,000." Please explain that item, Admiral.

Admiral TWINING. I do not care for that appropriation. That item was included in the estimates through a mistake. I do not wish to have it.

Mr. TALBOTT. How near fireproof are you making all the Government buildings?

Admiral TWINING. I think I should like to have Admiral Stanford answer that question. He is in the business of putting up the buildings.

Admiral STANFORD. All new constructions are fireproof in character. Mr. TALBOTT. As near as you can make them so?

Admiral STANFORD. Yes, sir. The constructions are not always permanent in character, but an effort is always made to make them fireproof.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "Naval Magazine, Mare Island, Cal.: One magazine building, $15,000." Please explain that item, Admiral.

Admiral TWINING. That building is needed to increase the capacity of the magazine for storing smokeless powder.

The CHAIRMAN. What have you there now in the way of magazine buildings?

Admiral TWINING. We have about six buildings that are suitable for the storage of smokeless powder.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there any increase in the fleet there that necessitates at this time a new building?

Admiral TWINING. They are always getting more powder than they can store, and the balance has to be stored in tents; we do not put our best smokeless powder out in the open, but any powder that is segregated, awaiting return to Indianhead to be reworked, we have to put outdoors and cover with canvas. Of course, that is not a very good thing to do. It is not unsafe. The magazines are necessarily stored with a great deal more powder in them than we think they ought to have for proper inspection and surveillance.

The CHAIRMAN. They are overcrowded?

Admiral TWINING. Yes, sir; and constantly getting more so. With the establishment of the reserve fleet, putting a lot of vessels in reserve, it is necessary to carry ammunition for them until it can be put aboard ships in order to carry out the idea of having the vessels ready for service, and it takes a great deal more space to store it when assembled than when it is in bulk. For that reason the storage capacity has been taxed during the past year.

The CHAIRMAN. What is the comparative or relative deterioration of powder when assembled in bulk and assembled in charges? Admiral TWINING. There is no differerce in that respect, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. It keeps as well in bulk as in charges or as well in charges as in bulk?

Admiral TWINING. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. When it is in charges and you have to rework it, does not that cost more to put it back into shape and rework it?

Admiral TWINING. Yes, sir. We lose, of course, all the money that has been spent in putting it in charges and in breaking the charges down again, but that is one of the incidental expenses that seems to be unavoidable if we are going to keep ourselves ready for service.

The CHAIRMAN. You have to keep a certain amount, a reasonable proportion to the fleet, for that purpose?

Admiral TWINING. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. You had an appropriation of $20,000 for a magazine last year. Has that been built?

Admiral TWINING. No, sir. I included that in the statement that we had six. That one is not yet finished, but it will be before the end of the year.

The CHAIRMAN. When that magazine is finished will it not relieve the situation, or will you still be short?

Admiral TWINING. We will still be short. The particular building which will probably be put up, if this money is appropriated, is a magazine building near the water front where ammunition from ships can be taken in and stored temporarily until it can be distributed to

the other magazines or broken down, or to await such disposition as the conditions seem to require, and also where ammunition prepared for ships can be put for quick delivery to the vessels; and instead of having to go all over the magazine grounds to collect ammunition when a ship arrives for it the ammunition will be all together, prepared. It is a sort of a ready magazine.

The CHAIRMAN. A sort of clearing house?
Admiral TWINING. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "Two filling houses, $2,400." Please explain that item, Admiral.

Admiral TWINING. Those filling houses are needed for additional facilities in the preparation of ammunition. They are used for the assembling of powder charges and preparing them for issue to the vessels.

The CHAIRMAN. How many filling houses have you at the present time?

Admiral TWINING. There are two at present, with three or four other buildings which were not built for smokeless-powder filling houses, but which are occasionally used for that purpose in emergency work. It is not very satisfactory, and the arrangements are not such as to make it entirely safe.

The CHAIRMAN. That is, you have two filling houses and a make

shift?

Admiral TWINING. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. These two houses are needed?

Admiral TWINING. Yes, sir. When we were trying to assemble ammunition for some ship that had been ordered to South America or the Orient we found it very difficult to carry on the work with the facilities we now have.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "Extension of sea wall, $2,500." Please explain that item, Admiral.

Admiral TWINING. That is an extension of the sea wall to prevent the scouring away of the face of the island that this magazine is located on. It has been going on some time and is gradually eating into the property.

The CHAIRMAN. There is no sea wall there at present?

Admiral TWINING. Over this particular part there is no wall.
The CHAIRMAN. What is the linear distance along the sea?

Admiral TWINING. I do not seem to have that; I will insert it. It is 606 feet.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "For naval magazine, navy yard, Puget Sound, Wash.: One building for storehouse and cartridge-bag factory, $15,000." How much of this amount is for the storehouse and how much is for the cartridge-bag factory?

Admiral TWINING. The whole sum is to put up one building, a relatively small part of which will be deyoted to the cartridge-bag factory. It does not take a room any larger than this committee room for the actual work. The rest of the building would be devoted to storehouse purposes.

The CHAIRMAN. What would be the size of the building?

Admiral TWINING. 150 by 75 feet on the ground, two stories high. The CHAIRMAN. What character of contruction?

Admiral TWINING. What I would propose to Admiral Stanford would be a steel frame building with corrugated iron or steel sides and galvanized iron roof.

The CHAIRMAN. How long would that galvanized iron last out there? Is not that ultimatley expensive construction?

Admiral TWINING. I am told that if it is kept painted properly once a year or once every two years it will last indefinitely. Admiral Stanford is better able to tell you about that than I am.

Admiral STANFORD. Paint will preserve it.

The CHAIRMAN. What has been the experience of the department in that regard?

Admiral STANFORD. Galvanized corrugated steel is not the enduring product it was some time ago when iron plate was used as the base instead of steel plate. I recently saw at the Balboa terminal on the Isthmus of Panama some buildings or sheds covered with galvanized corrugated iron which had been in place since early in the eighties, and the material was apparently in as good condition when I examined it as when it was first placed. Effort is being made to get material which contains less impurity than the ordinary commercial product carries, which would tend to increase the life of the material very greatly.

The Chairman. Does not the life of the material depend very much upon the galvanizing that is over it?

Admiral STANFORD. In conjunction with the character of the plate upon which the galvanizing is placed. If the plate contains impurities, it is apt to lead to galvanic deterioration.

The CHAIRMAN. Admiral Twining, I would like to ask you about this cartridge bag factory. Where are we making cartridge bags?

Admiral TWINING. At each one of the magazines. The bags are for containing the smokeless powder that makes up the charge for the gun, and each bag has to be made to suit the particular weight of the charge that is to be used. They are made of silk. We cut them out by machinery and sew them on sewing machines, and they are made at the time they are needed for us.

The CHAIRMAN. Could not the bags be made in a central factory and be sent to the different yards instead of having a little factory at every naval magazine?

Admiral TWINING. No, sir. They would be like ready-made clothes-they would not fit anybody well. It is a peculiarity of smokeless powder that every lot or index of it varies enough from other lots or indexes to make it necessary to have a slightly different weight of charge in order to get the velocity and pressure that we want in the gun. For that reason for every lot of powder the bags have to be made especially. That is the reason I think it is desirable to have these small establishments at each one of the magazines to make the bags as needed, as for the storehouse purposes; that is, for storing the general stores that are used at the magazines, the silk for the bags, and any building material that may be on hand, general

stores.

The CHAIRMAN. Not for the storage of powder and explosives?

Admiral TWINING. No, sir. This building was contemplated in the original plan of the magazine which was submitted to Congress, but the money has never been asked for before, because other things were more urgently needed.

The CHAIRMAN. It was in the original plan?
Admiral TWINING. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "Clearing and grading ground, $3,000." Please explain that item, Admiral.

Admiral TWINING. Expenses of that kind are usually included in the cost of the buildings, but in this particular case, the Puget Sound magazine, the conformation of the ground is such that we have to do an unusual amount of clearing. It is built on the side of a hill, and all of the buildings are put on terraces. We have now two terraces complete, and it is necessary to start the third in order to put up some of the buildings now contemplated, and that estimate is for that clearing and grading.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "Quay wall, $15,000." Please explain that item, Admiral.

Admiral TWINING. This money is intended to construct about 550 feet of sea wall for purposes similar to those I described in the case of the Mare Island magazine, to keep the water front from washing

away.

The CHAIRMAN. Is it washing away at the present time?

Admiral TWINING. Yes, sir. I was out there this last summer and had a look at it; I could see where it is washing away. Later 350 feet more will probably have to be constructed. That did not look to me as if it were immediately necessary, and that only the 550 feet are required now.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "One filling house, $1,500." Please explain that item, Admiral.

Admiral TWINING. That is for the same purpose that I have described in connection with the Mare Island magazine.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "One set of quarters for gunner, $6,000." Please explain that item, Admiral.

Admiral TWINING. There is at present one set of quarters on the magazine grounds occupied by one of the gunners in charge. There was an appropriation made in last year's bill for a set of quarters for the inspector in charge. We are now asking for an additional set of quarters for the other gunner, there being two; the official force at most of the magazines consists of one inspector in charge.

The CHAIRMAN. An inspector of ordnance?

Admiral TWINING. Yes, sir; and usually two or three gunners. This magazine I do not think for the present will require more than two gunners. This appropriation will complete the furnishing of quarters for all the officers that we think it is necessary to have at the magazine just now.

Mr. ROBERTS. Two gunners?

Admiral TWINING. Only one on duty there now and one set of quarters. The inspector of ordnance in charge lives at the navy yard and the gunner lives on the grounds-one gunner.

The CHAIRMAN. The next item is, "One magazine building, $15,000." Please explain that item, Admiral.

Admiral TWINING. That is for adding to the facilities and for the storage of powder at the magazine.

The CHAIRMAN. How many buildings have you there now? Admiral TWINING. I think there are only three magazine_buildings. I will make a positive statement in my hearings. It is a smaller magazine than the one at Mare Island, and I can not say whether it will ever be necessary to have as big a one, but we do find need now for more space than we have. There are at this mag