New-York tribune., 1899-11-24
coon RIDDAyCE TO BAD DOCKS.

The announcement was made in yesterday
Tribune that what may pretty confidently De
reckoned the end Of wooden drydock DulldlnS
by the United States Navy Department had at
last been reached contract for another
wooden dock was awarded on Wednesday, but
there Is excellent reason TO expect that before
the end Of this year a change Of it TO stone ana
concrete will be ordered And there Is full con-
fdence that never again will a wooden dock be
bujlt or planned This we feel privileged TO
saw. Is particularly gratifying TO The Tribune,
for the reason that II Is the successful culmlna-
tIon Of a long and earnest campaign in which
this paper. in its editorial columns, its Wash
ineton correspondence and it's local news, has
taken most active part. We might, indeed,
without presumption claim to have taken the
lead in exposing the false economy-and some
times something worse-of the wooden dock
system. and in urging the sane and business
like policy which has now happily been SUD-
stituted.
But there is more potent motive for re)olc-
ing than such mere personal triumph. The dis
carding OF wooden docks In favor OF masonry
Is triumph for sound principles in Government
administration. 1t means an end of the series
of scandals that have Of late years been asso-
cated with the drydOcks Of the Brooklyn ana
other navy yards. Nothing, indeed, could have
been more dScreditablc than the record OF some
of those ill-conceived structures from first 10
last Wood was adopted instead OF stone, we
were told, because we were in great hurry 10
get new docks for our new ships and wooden
dock could be built much more quickly than a
stone one. And yet one Of the most important
of those wooden docks dawdled along in build
Ing until longer time had passed than stone
dock would have required. Wooden docks were
fully as strong and safe, we were told, AS stone
ones. Yet that lllomened structure had scarce
ly been finished when it showed fatal weakness,
seriously mperiied valuable ship, and finally
went to smash within a few years of its com
pletion But at any rate, wooden docks are
the cheaper, it was said; on the wise principle
that it was prudent to save 500. or so, on a
structure TO which is to be committed ship
worth millions. even II such saving does imperll
the safety Of the ship! But now it is found
that with the bill for repairs the wooden con-
trivance costs n good deal more than dock OF
solid granite would have cost.
We have no doubt that some men. including
not only interested contractors but ais" en-
gineers Of high reputation and undoubted pro-
bity. will continue to favor wooden COCKS Some
men will probably TO the end Of time insist
that wooden houses are better than houses of
brick and stone, that wooden ships are better
than steel ships. and that moonlight is brighter
than sunlight 1t Is a matter OF hearty con-
graduation, however to the Navy Department
and to the whole Nation that other views are
henceforth to prevail at Washington. and that
the drydocks for the Navy Will be made worthy
of the ships they are to contain. To the trum-
perry timber things, with their leaks and col
Iapses and all the rest good rddance!