The sun., 1872-07-05

'oN as Secretary of the Navy is one of
about S2l,0O0 to certain engineers who, on
their own suggestion and upon their own
proposal TO " "chccrJuliU gire the necessary
time and attention." had been employed
by Secretary WELLEs in making certain
experiments upon steam boilers. About
four months before Mr.. WELLEs went out
OF office these gentlemen presented claim
Tor compensation for these services, and in
reply Mr.. WELLEs sent them n letter, of
which the following is copy:
NAVY DEPARTMENT Dec 4. 1Sis
SiRi Your letter Of the 2Ith of November.
together with the report Of the Board OF Engi-
ncers app United In 1853 to determine the COM
parnttyc efficiency Of the horizontal and tubular
boilers, &c., was duly received. The report Is
accompanied by bills for the personal services
Of the members OF the board from March. 1905
70 Nov "a, less, RANGING from fGSO for sixty-eight
days services to Stigl for 40 days services, and
amounting in the aggregate to S2D,1GJ,5. The
board was originally convened in January. 1S6J
ana variety Of points was from time to time
submitted for examination, and upon which
several reports were received. In their report OF
the IAN OF March, lsb3 the board suggest the
mcnts, and add
"should this suggestion be adopted. the mem-
bcrs ut thls board Will Chccrfully give the neCes-
siry time and attention to superintend and CON
duct the experiments in such manner n they
and reliable information to the department. and
by which the question Of the b,st boiler for the
1T viii be seen that the experiments for the
supervision OF which bills are now rendered
were originated upon suggestions from the
board and were authorized upon their explicit
statement that the members Of the board will
mt,VWy gre tho necessary time and attention
To supetiutCHd the m.
Neither the members Of the board nor the
department could have contemplated a charge
The bills arc therefore disalowed. In ex-
amining this matter Il is found that on the eth
OF November, lSt3, bills OF members Of the
board ranging from $50 to 500 for personal
services Were paid and although il is not So ex-
pressed In tho bills, IL is not doubted that the
charge was for services rendered upon the call
OF OF tbe tbe M ana pTior TO the agreement
time to sLperintend series of boiler expert
me mshss; SG, ihstti,HIed upon their sussesion ON
S from .C N to s3@ @ for t5a I' XsT n9d r9g an M
machinery Of the Pensacola.
1T appears al,o that the Bureau Of Steam
Engineering, on the 18th December lSGl paid
90 Messrs Everett, Copeland, toycll, and Brom-
ley one thousand dollars cash for services
connection with boiler eNpcrments.' As the
board were to 'cheerfuly give their services in
payment was authorized, and the bureau will
be directed TO call upon the members Of the
e IL to may 5S'ad H6 be bee mprape 10 a e &
object Of the department In authorizing the cx-
periment- appears not to have been reached.
The board was organized during the recent war
when large amount Of steam machinery WAS
being constructed under direction of the Bureau
OF steam Englneefing' and when in the public
prints and ON the nuur Of Congress the depart
ment was violently assailed for the character uf
the machinery placed In our vessels Of war. IL
was for the purpose Of determining whether
ths machinery wn- in any way inferior to other
machinery III use Tor the same purpose and un-
der the same conditions that the board was
organized and 1t was upon their suggestion
that II allowed 70 conduct "A series Of boiler ex-
periments In a manner indicated 10y them they
would furnish valuable and reliable iniorma-
tion TO the depart ment, and by which the ques-
tion oi the bsst boiler for the naval service may
be definitely settled that the series II expert
ments-prolOnged beyond the time whe44 the
results could he of practical Xalup I'm no Nyur
then In progress-was authorized,
Not alone In the tlh!e required for this duty
t.ons Of the department. If the tables accom-
panyng the report are valuable, the 'conclu-
so as to be "a complete record, enabling others L.
Judge Of the propriety Of the one and the sound
the Department ~ the 2sth Of March, 1854, do
not eppear to M be given. Very respectfully,
"GIDE0N WELLRs; Secretary of the Navy
Experts, &C., New York" '''"l1 -
This board was first convened in Janu-
Ary, 1863, for certain specific pU,in,-,.-.
For its services upon the subjects submit
ted to them from time TO time bv the
Navy Department its members were
duly paid; but on March Il, 1863,
they proposed TO Secretary WELLEs e.
make experiments which they deemed
important, not only to the Govern
ment but TO the engineering profession
generally, Offering that if two boilers were
constructed by ine Government, and the
other expenses paid, they would "cheer-
fllU giro the necessary time and attention
10 sqcriHtcnd and conduct the erpei-
ments" This proposition was accepted by
the Secretary, and the department pro
cured the boilers, furnished the coal
and stationery, and, in short, defray-
ed all the expenses attending the
proceeding for which the board could
furnish vouchers. 1t was supposed that
the knowledge to be attained would
be Of immense value to the Government
aud to the science OF steam engineering
and as the board offered to give their SER
vices gratuitously no restrictions or orders
were imposed upon them. They consulted
their own convenience, gave their time
when and rs often ms they pleased and if
during the period they were requested 10
perform any other duty, they were duly
paid therefor. About four months before
MI WEILEs went out Of office, and duC ytdrS
ana a hdt after their proposition had been
made and accepted by him, the board sent
10 the department II claim for compensa-
ton As the Secretary was party TO the
original Arrangements and knew all the
circumstances, he did not hesitate TO dis
allow the claim. lie produced their
voluntary proposition, quoted to them
their own offer TO "cheerfully give the
necessary time and attention." ana re-
minded them that they were remunerated
in the knowledge which they acquired by
these experiments made at the cost Of the
Government.
More than two years after Secretary
WEILEs had explicitly disallOwed thia
claim, and more than two years after he
had left the department, Secretary RoBE.
sos ordered a board of three engineers
with Chief Engineer SHOCK as its Chair.