The Brunswick times. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 188?-1900, 1897-07-18
WARSHIP PREMIUMS.
SYSTEM OF BONUSES ENDED WITH
AWARD TO THE NASHVILLE.

or Speed 5000, 626 - Contractors Will
Henceforth Be Paid the Contract Price
Only.
With the speed run of the Nashville
the last of the premiums open to our
warships has been earned, and it is pos
sible, now that the official report upon
her has been made, to reckon up the re-
sults'of the system from the start
1t began under Secretary Whitney
with awards for horsepower at the rate
of 500 per unit in excess of the con-
tract requirement. Under that system
the Yorktown earned $50, 1876, the New
ark $50, 857, the Concord $45S, the
Bennington $1,000 and the Baltimore
$106, 442. In all cases there was a pen
atty of 500 per unit for any shortcom-
ing in horsepower, and under it the
Charleston lost $S3, 1884, which was aft
erward RENTED by congress for special
reasons; the Monterey $32, 1928 and the
Petrol $4S5. There were also some pre-
miums for machinery furnished by pri-
vate works to ships built by the govern
ment in its navy yards.
But soon change was made to pre-
miums for speed, irrespective of horse
power. 1t was urged that speed, after
all, was the thing valuable to the gov
eminent, not the means by which it
was achieved, and accordingly the pre-
miums and penalties were changed to
| fhiO hosts tho 70 hoi11Cr liz
at SO much per even quarter knot of ex-
cess or deficiency, while in most of the
latest cases an allowance at the same
rate was also made for fractions Of a
quarter knot.
Under this plan the Wilmington has
earned $41, 500, the Bancroft and the
Machias $40, 900 each. the Nashville
$40, $50, the Helena $40, $40, the Cas-
tine and the Indiana $50, 900 each, the
Philadelphia, the San Francisco and the
Massachusetts, 100000 each, the Mar
blehead, $125, 900, the Detroit $3.50, 900,
the Oregon $175, 900, the New York
and Monterey $780,, 900 each, the Iowa
$217, 420, the Olympia $500, 900, the
Columbia and Brooklyn $3.50, 900 each,
while the Minneapolis broke all records
with earnings of $414, 900, her contract
being one Of those that allowed for
fractions of a quarter knot. Not a sin
gle vessel has lost anything on this
speed basis, and one vessel which on
her official trial fell far short of her
estimated horsepower, SO that she might
have had to pay very heavy penalty
on that basis, really gained magnif-
cent premium for speed.
The highest excuses of speed were
those achieved by the smaller gunboats,
the Castine, for example, making 262
knots over her guarantee, the Machias
O. 46 and the Bancroft 2.37. Neverthe-
less theirs have been among the small
est speed premiums paid, since on the
smaller vessels smaller rates of premium
were allowedy the three mentioned re-
ceiving only So, 900 per quarter knot,
The great successes of the three final
premium winners, the Newport News
trio, achieved this year, tell exactly the
same story. On the other hand, the
Philadelphia and the San Francisco
earned 800, 900 each for somewhat
over half knot in excess Of their con-
tracts, because they had the great bonus
of $50, 900 per quarter, or ten times as
much as the gunboats just spoken of,
while the enormous earnings of the
Minneapolis, Columbia. Olympia and
Brooklyn, amounting to 81, Ala, 900 for
these four vessels alone, are accounted
for in the same way. A single firm, the
Cramps of Philadelphia, earned, accord
ing to the figures just given, the great
sum, above the contract price, of ST.,
500, IA, never losing a dollar for pen
alties, either i'll speed Or horsepower.
The total amount earned in premi-
inns for horsepower or speed, excluding
premiums for the machinery of ships
built in the navy yards, is, if our fig
ures are correct, So, 296, 626. While this
is largo sum, yet no doubt the con-
tractors have improved vessels for the
purpose of producing extra speed, with
the consent of the authorities, and such
changes, if made for that purpose only,
have been, according to statement of
Chief Engineer Melville, sat the ex-
pense of the contractors. " Again, as
the speed requirements have been stud
led carefully, whenever builders were
confident that they could surpass them,
and so earn premium, the effect was
to lower their bids, of course to the
benefit of the government.
The speed premium system was stop
ped after the prodigious winning of the
Minneapolis had been recorded, al
though subsisting contracts for premi-
ums were of course carried out. Perhaps
reaction was then natural, and if the
system should ever be revived perhaps
smaller bonuses would be paid than
those which allow $500, 600 for an ex-
ira knot But at present the view taken
is that, with the experience gained, pre-
miums are not needed. and, in fact, the
composite gunboats and the torpedo
boat Porter, without premiums, have
far exceeded their contract speed. How
ever, contractors now take into view
that no premiums are payable when
they make their bids. New York Sun.
To Explore the Yosemite Valley.
The high Sierra back of the Yosemite
valley and the famous Hetch- Hetchy