Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-10-02
American Ship Building.

Ohm Roach IS not the only, though
he is the chief Amer can builder ofiron
and steel steannsilip mother firm
.iin II To lssse business is that Of VIII
liam Crarnp q Sons, one Of whose mems
sbers tells u, All i it ryiew some inter
esting facts concerning his business.
When asked il slI,e swonld saeeep IL cons
tract from the goYernnnsn after the att
}5tprney general 81 decision, he answered:
s% 81 Without the least. hest alton, but
we would not guarantee anybody's
work but orr own. BY that 4 mean
that we would not agree to secure q
certain speed on mo dels, drawing and
specifications furnished by the navy
department., II we are left free to build
a vessel according to our own plans,
we will guarantee it every time, butiwe
must beuntrammelled. For instance,
we are now building for the Southern
Express Company q steamer which is
to run between Tampa Bay and Ha-
yana In connection with the
Plant system OF railroads. It is
designated to- carry the mails
from New York to Cuba. and
beat the steamers which now take
them the entire distance by sea. Well
we guarantee that this boat shall
make fourteen and q half knots an
hour, and she will do it, ! We are re-
quired by our contract to make her
OF a certain size, but as for her shape
or construction, there. is no stipula-
ton; that is left entirely to Cur julg-
ment. 1t was the same way with Jay
Gouldsyacht Atlanta, which we built.
Our contract with MIR. Gould was not
ten lines long He left everything en-
tirely to us, and when she was launch
ed he said to us: II she is q success,
Cramp & Sons must have oil the cred
it. I had nothing to do with it, OF
course the class is designated, but
there is no restriction as to machinery
hull or model. Under any other con-
ditions we would not make any other
guarantee. whatever, and would refuse
a government contract or any other.
The decline in ship building he attri-
butes to the fact that capitalists have
preferred to put their monsy into rail-
roads rather than into ships. Com
mander Gorringe, he thinks, failed for
lack OF experience, for in no other bus
mess is it more essential that the head
Of the concern should know the bust
ness thoroughly in all its details. The
success of his own firm he ascribes to
the fact that for three generations ev-
cry male member of his family had de-
voted himself to some particular
branch oft. He insists that iron ships
can be built as cheaply in this coun.
try as in England. He says:
"We will guarantee to give quality
for quality for the same money in
this country as in England or any
where else. The Cunard Steamship
company paid So, 100000 for the two
steamers Etruria and Umbrla. We
should have been glad to have built
them for the same money. There
might not have been SO much profit
for US as there was for Elder, the
builder who did build them--for. labor
and materials are dearer here than
there-but We should have made a
nice figure on the work, and it would
have equal|ed the work done on the
other side in every respect. Why, Mr..
Gould's yacht could not be duplica ted
in England for the money we received
for it; OF that lam positive"
AS an example OF the relative cost of
English and American government
cruisers, Mr.. Cramp compared the cost
OF the Iris, an Iron vessel built for the
British government by an English
builder with the cost OF the Chicago,
one ofathe vessels which John Roach
contracted for the United States navy.
The Iris, he said, was a smaller vessel
than the Chicago, her displacement
being but 5000 tons, against about
300 for. the Chicago. She cost the
British government 81, Ola, 236. while
John Roach contracted to build the
Chicago for $3.50, 1000. Cramp & Sons
bid for that contract was 81 $50, 900.
The Chicago is expected to make seven
teen or eighteen knots an hour, while
the speed Of the Iris is only 16.4