The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-02-25
BUILT AT a LOSS.
Portland company's Claim for Work
During the War.
Especial to the Press |

Especial to the Press.l
WASHINGTON, February PA contract
to build government vessels in Bath will be
a great thing for Bath and her shipbuilders
undoubtedly; but there has been a time
when government contract has not been so
profitable. During the war, several gun
boats and monitors were built in Maine, at
Portland and Bath. In the-great stress of
circumstances at that time, there were great
delays on the part of the government in fur
nishing specifications and other directions
needed by the contractors, and great losses
resulted on account of the depreciation of
the work thus delayed, and on account of
the appreciation of wages and the cost of
materials as the war advanced. Claims for
these sums lost have been before Congress
ever since the war, and there are now before
the House committee on war. claims three
bills for appropriations to pay these claims.
The Portland Company has large claim for
losses sustained in furnishing the machinery
for the d0uble.ender war vessels Pontoosuc
and Agawam, which were built at Portland
by George w. Lawrence, then of Damaris-
Gotta, now deceased. AS long ago as 1865,
Portland Company, appeared before board
and established the claim. He stated at that
time that the contracts for the machinery for
those vessels were dated by the Navy De-
partment August 30, 1862 In the contract
they were allowed one and one-half months
from April 81, 1868, the time of receiving the
hull Of the Agawam from the builders, to
complete the machinery of the vessel, and
they were allowed the same time from May
20, 1868. the time of receiving the hull of the
Pontoosuc, for the completion of the ma
chinery of that vessel But the Agawam
was not so delivered until November 80,
1863. and the Pontoosuc not until April "a,
1864. The cause of the delay was the diff
Guilty of the work and the scarcity of good
labor. The contract price for the machinery
for both vessels was to be $1S4,000; but on
account of the unforeseen difficulties in the
way of getting labor and material, both hay
ing become scarce and high as the war pro-
gressed, the company found. when it had
completed Its contract, that it had expended
s2SS OOo. or nearly S6O, 600 more than It could
terms of the contract This claim the Port
land Company has had before Congress more
or less ever since the war. In 1873, bill to
It. as well R several other similar
ing the Senate by mere accident. There
was no opposition sufficient to defeat it; but
one. OF its supporters, in moment of for
III, called the yeas and and
had the most Votes qs but Il was found that t
quorum was not present. So the Senate ad-
iourned, and the opportunity was lost The
Portland Company now has before the
House committee on war claims a bill to al
low $So,o 200 for the payment Of this long-de-
what the loss to the company has been
through the loss of interest on the original
sum but is intended to cover the amount
paid out for labor and material in excess of
the contract price, and also the indirect loss
to the company.
The committee on war claims has before it
two other similar bills, One of them appro-
PIRATES about $11, 900 to reimburse the Bath
firm of Larrabee & Allen for similar losses
ender, slde-wheel gunboat Iasco. which was
built at Bath for the government during the
war. The Iasco was wooden vessel
The builder of the hulls of the Agawam
and P0nt0os NC, the vessels for which the
Portland Company built the machinery, was
George w, Lawrence, of Damariscotta He
built the gunboats in Portland, and for rea-
sons similar to those affecting the Portland
Company, had to pay out for labor and ma
terial much more than he received as the
contract price of the work. The bill to sat
isfy this claim calls for an appropriation of
$150,000.
The Maine builders were not the only con-
tractors who were pin,hed by the sudden
and unexpected advance of prices during the
war. The McKays, Donald and Nathaniel,
the great shipbuilders of Boston and New
York, had similar experiences; and have
been pushing their claims ever since the war
closed. During Cleveland's term bill to
reimburse Nathaniel Mckay passed Con-
gress, but was vetoed