The morning call., 1893-01-12
GIVEN TO CRAMP.
Contracts for the New
Warsllips.
TRACY WAS VERY FRIENDLY,
But the Law Was Plain, and 1t Was
His Duty to Follow 1t to
the Letter.
TRACY WAS VERY FRIENDLY,
Special to THr MORNING CALL.

WASHINGTON, u. c., Jan. 11.-As stated
exclusively in The CALL a week ago. Sec
retary Tracy has awarded the contracts for
the construction Of the cruiser Brooklyn
and the sea-going battle-ship Iowa to Will
liam Cramp & Sons Of Philadelphia. under
their bids Of s., 600 and S3 010.0 coo re-
spectiyely.
Secretary Tracy to-day gave out the fol-
lowing statement over his signature:
"The department advertised inviting
proposals for the construction OF these
vessels, and bids were received in accord
ance with those advertisements. | have had
under consideration the BIDS of William
Cramp & Sons, class A and 3, wherein
that company proposes to construct
these vessels with quadruple expansion
engines, and, after mature delibeTafion.
/ have concluded TO accept those
bids for reasons stated by the eRgineer-in-
chief The vessels will therefore, IN ae-
eordance with tie recommendations OF the
Bureaus of Construction and Repairs and
Steam Engineering, be built in accordance
with the plans and Specifications provided
BY the department. Had power TO award
the contracts for the construction OF these
ships, in my discretion l should distribute
them TO two firms, but l have no such
power / am required by the statute to
award the contracts 10 the lowest and best
responsible bidder, and there is no doubt
that CTamp & Sons are the lowest bid
deTs, and l cannot say that the
Uaion Iron Works are better build
ersg thanEare Messrs. Crsmp & Sons,
any more than / can say that Crsmp & Sons
are better builders than the Union Iron
Works. l regard them both as excellent
builders and equally good. Under such
circumstances il is plainly my duty under
the law to award the contracts for both of
said vessels to Messrs. Cramp & Sons. and
the contracts therefore are accordingly
awarded TO them al the price for each
respectively stated in their proposals under
class l. The country is to be congratulated.
not only upon the fact that there was sharp
competition between the bidders on these
ships, but also upon the low price on
which the contracts are taken, they
being from 10 to u per cent
cheaper than the contract for any other
ship which the department has contracted
heretofore. The Brooklyn is substantially
the same as the New York except that she
is larger by 1896 tons, the New York being
c1OU tuuS anu AAt DlUbhi1 II dbOul S4HDs VI
about 13 per cent larger; and yet she is to
be constructed for substantially the same
price as the New York, the latter's cost
being s.. .9S5, 600 and that of the Brooklyn
g, ,eS6, 0O0 The displacement of the coast
line battIe-ship is 10,2sS tons and that Of
the sea-going battle-ship Iowa l,2S5 tons,
while the cost of constructing coast-line
battle-ships was s3.O63 COO ana the cost of
the Iowa. 10 rer cent larger vessel, is only
5000, 00O OF S55.O00 less than the eoast-line
batie-ships,
Under competition. which the construc-
ton of the navy has stimulated among our
manufacturers Of ship-building material.
there has been a reduction in price Of such
material. which IN view of the superior
quality required is quite remarkable. and it
Is a source Of qualification that this large
reduction in the cost of ships is effected
without a reduction in the wages of laborers
and mechanics employed in their constTuc-
tiUn. b. +. TRACY,
Secretary OF the Navy"
Irving n. Scott will probably remain here
until the official report OF the Monierey's
trial trip is received.