plant, practically all the equipment for the power plant is on the ground and is now in process of erection. The distilling and ice-plant apparatus has been shipped to New York and will be transferred by the Government to Guantanamo shortly. Contract for two 50-kilowatt alternating-current generators was awarded last month. These two machines will be used to furnish current for the wireless, magazines, and target range. The power for the station is direct current provided by old equipment transferred from the home yard.

The latrine for the station is completed. Material for all the other frame buildings, namely, administration building, four officers' quarters, quarters for four warrant officers, quarters for civil employees, dispensary, and sentry house, is on the ground and active construction work has been started.

Foundation for the water tank has been completed and the tank itself has been shipped from the United States. Piping to the various parts of the station will be laid as soon as the tank is installed.

The two gasoline tanks and one fuel-oil tank are now being erected. Foundations for five additional tanks are being placed and it is expected that the tanks themselves will be shipped shortly. Pipe line has been laid from the tanks to fuel-oil wharf, which is also finished. Material for the pump house is on the ground, but the pumps have not yet been delivered.

Excavation for magazine buildings, road, and railroad is in progress on the new site. This site was approved by the department November 18, 1912. Construction of the timber wharf will be commenced shortly.

Contract has been awarded for wireless towers and it is expected that material will be ready for inspection during the coming month. Samples of various possible water supplies have been shipped to the United States and are now being analyzed by the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. Readings on rain gauges placed over a possible watershed area have been continued for several months. A general report by the public-works officer on the water supply is expected shortly.

Practically all material for the work contemplated at Guantanamo is either on the ground, in transit, or has been contracted for. The bureau expects that the station will be in operation by the end of the present fiscal year. The shops are now ready for the installation of tools at any time, and the equipment which will be transferred is now being considered by the bureaus concerned.

Mr. GREGG. We have been spending vast sums of money for docks and facilities at places which will not be used in time of war, and practically neglecting Guantanamo?

Secretary MEYER. That is true. The experts are of the same opinion, but it is only fair to say this, that there was one weak point in Guantanamo until within a month. Since I have been here I have been striving to get that point settled, and we got it settled 30 days ago. A treaty has been signed ceding the hills in exchange for Bahia Honda, a small rental, and we control the situation at Guantanamo entirely now.

Mr. GREGG. Is it contemplated to have land batteries on those hills? Secretary MEYER. Yes. They have studied it from a military point of view. I can not state definitely what their plans are, but

we control the hills now, and there is no place where they can attack the naval station. It is legitimate for the committee to consider from now on the development of that station up to a certain point. We do not want to make it a great naval station for building ships, but we want to make it a station which is equipped for making repairs and for docking ships after a fleet engagement, for landing the men, drilling them, and exercising the fleet, because it is one of the finest harbors in the world.

Mr. ROBERTS. For the purposes for which we want Guantanamo we should have more than one dock?

Secretary MEYER. Yes; it would be an advantage. We have to start with one.

Mr. ROBERTS. Surely; but I understand you have in mind docking a number of ships at the same time?

Secretary MEYER. The point is this: We are now proposing to keep all the battleships in service, 21 to be active and the rest in reserve. If there should be a contest, that contest in all probability would be settled in a great battle. It is the idea that if ships were injured they would not have to go back a thousand or two thousand miles in order to get repaired, but could be repaired immediately and be sent back to the fleet and not be lost as units.

The CHAIRMAN. Would you make all of the repairs?

Secretary MEYER. We should make it a station which could make all the urgent repairs, and where we could dock a vessel and examine it and put it in such shape so it could again join the fleet with the least possible delay.

Mr. GREGG. Is that of the same importance to the Atlantic that Hawaii is to the Pacific?

Secretary MEYER. In my judgment it is.

DEPOTS FOR COAL.

An additional appropriation of $500,000 is required to complete the Pearl Harbor coaling plant and to provide additional facilities for the storage of oil at the different navy yards.

The CHAIRMAN. We appropriated $345,000 for Pearl Harbor last year?

Secretary MEYER. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. How much have you expended? You have taken some out of the general building scheme. What will be the total expenditure?

Secretary MEYER. Of the allotment of $345,000 from "Depots for coal" toward constructing coaling and fuel-oil plant at Pearl Harbor there had been spent or obligated for material under requisitions or contracts on December 1, 1912, approximately the following:

The entire installation is being constructed by yard labor. The entire cost of the fuel plants is being defrayed from appropriation "Depots for coal."

Nothing has been taken from the general building scheme for the fuel plant and its equipment.

The total estimated cost of the fuel plant and its equipment at this station will be about $1,091,000, of which $960,000 will be for the coaling plant and its equipment and $131,000 for the fuel oil and gasoline plant and its equipment.

We ought to have additional submarine tenders.

Mr. GREGG. We authorized a new one last year?

Secretary MEYER. Yes, sir.

Mr. ROBERTS. What is the ratio, one to six?

Secretary MEYER. Yes, sir; that is what we should have.

Mr. ROBERTS. What is the ratio now?

Secretary MEYER. We have makeshifts. We have one for a group of four in the Atlantic Fleet, one for a group of five in the Atlantic Fleet, two submarines in special service with no tender, one group of three in the Pacific Fleet with a tender. We should have another. There are at present 15 submarines under construction, one of which, on the west coast, will soon be commissioned and joint the group to which the Alert is attached. The remaining 14 under construction, together with one of the submarines indicated as on special service without tender, and the eight submarines authorized by the last Congress, which have just been contracted for, make a total of 23 vessels in need of tenders.

To partially meet this need, two submarine tenders have already been authorized by Congress, and as one tender can care for about six submarines, the remaining 11 must be provided for by such improvised tenders as it may be practicable to divert from other duties, although no such ships can be readily spared from their present assignment, and a thoroughly satisfactory tender can not be developed from a ship designed for other purposes without excessive expenditures.

Mr. ROBERTS. You consider the tender quite essential?
Secretary MEYER. Yes, sir.

Coal in Alaska; has that been considered?

The CHAIRMAN. We went into that with Admiral Cone.

Secretary MEYER. Then there is nothing more for me to say. We have about 850 tons that we have to bring down. That is from the Bering-River district. We also want to develop about the same amount in the Matanuska field, in order to see which is best. As long as Admiral Cone went into that, I will not do so.

Now, we are very weak on transports. We have only two, the Prairie and the Buffalo, one 20 and the other 22 years old.

Mr. ROBERTS. They were merchant ships originally?

Secretary MEYER. Yes, sir. Both of these vessels are single-bottom ships and entirely lacking in water-tight subdivision, having been originally designed as freighters and purchased in the emergency existing at the time of the Spanish War. These characteristics of the two ships prove their unsuitability for transporting large numbers of men. They further lack many characteristics absolutely necessary for the health and comfort of the officers and men on large

expeditions, and the embarkation on each of these ships of a force of only 750 men with the necessary impedimenta is attended by the most insanitary crowding.

The necessity for properly designed and equipped transports is apparent from the fact that since the close of the Spanish War various vessels improvised for this duty have been very frequently engaged in transporting men on foreign stations, expeditionary forces of marines and naval militia, and drafts of enlisted men on the home stations. Apart from the urgent military necessity of having transports ready for the despatch of expeditionary forces of marines and for use in connection with peace training in advance base work, the employment of transports frequently permits of great economy in the cost of transporting drafts of men between stations. The general board strongly urges the authorization of two transports.

Mr. ROBERTS. At what cost, Mr. Secretary?

Secretary MEYER. $2,000,000.

Mr. BATES. Will they be as fast as the battleships?

Secretary MEYER. They are for carrying the marines and would be at least 16 knots speed. With unrestricted labor they could be built for a total cost of $1,875,000, with the 8-hour day for $2,057,000, and if we build them in the navy yards we should be allowed $2,500,000.

Mr. ROBERTS. How many troops would those transports carry? Secretary MEYER. One marine regiment-from 1.200 to 1,300 men. Mr. GREGG. We build the guns down here so much cheaper in our own navy yard than private concerns can build them. Why is it that the other work in the navy yards costs so much more?

Secretary MEYER. Because we are at a disadvantage on the question of labor.

I want to say to the committee that I have sent circular letters to the Treasury Department for the Revenue-Cutter Service, to the Army for their transports, and to the Department of Commerce and Labor for the Lighthouse Service, to let us hereafter make the repairs on all Government ships, and even to build their small ships, because we claim, on account of the efficient condition of the navy yards and particularly on account of the fact that we are now on the same basis as to hours of labor, we can make repairs as cheap or cheaper than the private yard can on vessels of that character.

The CHAIRMAN. Does that apply to the big ships; can you repair a battleship as cheaply as you can get it done by contract?

Secretary MEYER. I think we can, because all those repairs have to be done on an 8-hour basis. Before we could not.

The CHAIRMAN. What about the original construction of large ships?

Secretary MEYER. We have not completed an original ship yet in comparison with the work of a private yard on the same basis of

hours.

The CHAIRMAN. All of your estimates allow about 20 per cent excess?

Secretary MEYER. We are still at a disadvantage in shipbuilding as regards sick leave and vacation.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Secretary, on the question of leave and vacations, it is claimed that certain employees in the classified service are

getting only 15 days' annual leave and that others in the classified service have 30 days annual leave. What is the distinction; what is the line that separates the two?

Secretary MEYER. The line between classified employees and per diem employes. The navy-yard order is No. 198, of September 30,

1910.

Navy Yard Order No. 198-Third revision.

LEAVE OF ABSENCE AT NAVY YARDS, NAVAL STATIONS, ETC.

NAVY DEPARTMENT, September 30, 1910.

PER DIEM LABORERS AND MECHANICS.

An act of Congress approved February 1, 1901, provides as follows: "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That each and every employee of the navy yards, gun factories, naval stations, and arsenals of the United States Government be, and is hereby, granted fifteen working days' leave of absence each year without forfeiture of pay during such leave: Provided, That it shall be lawful to allow pro rata leave only to those serving twelve consecutive months or more: And provided further, That in all cases the heads of divisions shall have discretion as to the time when the leave can best be allowed without detriment to the service, and that absence on account of sickness shall be deducted from the leave hereby granted."

1. Under the provisions of the above law commandants of navy yards and naval stations may grant per diem laborers and mechanics 15 days' leave of absence with pay each year, provided the applicant has served during a period of 12 consecutive months or more immediately preceding the date of his application.

2. Applications by per diem laborers and mechanics for leave of absence with pay must be made on S. and A. Form 206C, but the application on said form must show that the applicant has served during a period of 12 consecutive months or more immediately preceding the date of his application.

3. Under date of June 8, 1910, the comptroller rendered the following decision:

"I am in receipt of your letter of the 3d instant, which reads as follows: "The department incloses herewith copy of correspondence from the commandant of the New York Navy Yard relative to the interpretation of the comptroller's decision of December 11, 1909, modifying decision of April 24, 1909 (15 Comp. Dec., 655), relative to granting leave with pay under the act of February 1, 1901, to employees at navy yards and naval stations. The department respectfully requests a decision upon the following construction of the act of February 1, 1901, by the commandant, as set forth in his letter of May 26, 1910:

"The commandant places the following construction upon the law, being guided by the latest decision of the comptroller, in so far as it is deemed reconcilable with the law, viz:

"(c) An employee should receive no leave at all until after 12 consecutive months. He then should become entitled to 15 days' leave, which may be granted at that time or later, in the discretion of the commandant, but must be enjoyed during the second service year; otherwise the privilege lapses.

“(d). During the second service year he should be entitled, in addition to the foregoing, to pro rata leave at the rate of one and a quarter days per month, which may be allowed to accumulate, in the discretion of the commandant, to not exceeding 15 days at the end of said second service year, by which time it must be entirely consumed; otherwise to be forfeited.'"

"The decision referred to in your letter is one construing the following stat

ute:

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That each and every employee of the navy yards, gun factories, naval stations, and arsenals of the United States Government be, and is hereby, granted fifteen working days' leave of absence