The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-07-31
WARSHIP PREMIUMS.
SYSTEM OF BONUSES ENDED WITH
AWARD TO THE NASHVILLE.

/
With the speed run of the Nashville
the last of the premiums open TO GU
warships has been earned, and il is pos
sible, now that the official report upor
| her has been made, to reckon up the re
suits 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, $50, the New,
ark $50, S57, the Concord $453, the
Bennington So, G09 and the Baltimore
S106, 442. In all cases there was pen
atty of 500 per unit for any shortcom-
ing in horsepower, and under it the
Charleston lost S33, 3S4, which was aft.
eTward RENTED by congress for special
reasons; the Monterey S32, S2S 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
ernment, not the means by which it
was achieved, and accordingly the pre-
miums and penalties were changed to
this basis, the rate being usually fixed
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 SAL, 500, the Bancroft and the
Machias S45, 900 each, the Nashville
$40, $50, the Helena $40, $40, the Cas-
tine and the Indiana 500, 600 each. the
Philadelphia, the San Francisco and the
Massachusetts $4,000 each, the Mar
blehead 1925, 600, the Detroit $3.50, 900,
the Oregon $l75, 600, the New York
and Monterey $500, 600 each, the Iowa
SAT-, 420, the Olympia $500, 000 the
Columbia and Brooklyn $3.50, 900 each,
while the Minneapolis broke all records
with earnings of $4l4, 600, her contract
being one of those that allowed for
fractions of quarter knot. Not 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 a magnifi-
cent premium for speed.
The highest excuses of speed were
those achieved by the smaller gunboats,
the Castine, for example, making 2.62
knots over her guarantee, the Machias
q 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 allowed, the three mentioned re-
ceiving only So, 600 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 500, 600 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, 4l4, 600 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 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, 50, 296, GAG. While this
is large 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 a 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
a reaction was then natural, and if the
system should ever he revived perhaps
smaller bonuses would be paid than
those which allow $500, 900 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
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.