The Washington times., 1901-11-02
TO APPEAL TO CONGRESS.
PhiIndelphians Anxious to Secure
Hnrbor improvements.

HnrbOr imprOSeuse
PHILADELPHIA. Nov. THE action
OF General Gillespie Chief of Engineers,
in cutting down the estimates to be sub
mitted to Congress for appropriations TO
continue the work on the 30-foot channel
OF the Delaware has caused a furry
among the commercial bodies which have
been active in behalf OF the river inn
provements. and every effort will be made
to impress Congress with the great ne
cessity for pushing the work as rapidly as
possible.
The maritime interests here. II is claim
cd. have materially suffered from the
failure Of the last Congress to provide
for the continuance Of the deepening of
the channel. and with the prospect of a
decreased appropriation for the next year
there is anything but a hopeful toutiook.
Advocates of the Improvement will con-
centrate all possible efforts to have a con,
tinucus contract for the 5O-foot channel
work provided for by Congress This will
be the basis OF the argument of the Phil
adelphia delegation before the Committee
on Rivers and Harbors.
The Joint executive committee on I'M
proVement OF tha rivers and harbors Of
this city, Of which Joel Cook is the chair
man Will arrange to be heard by the
Rivers and Harbors Committee early in
the coming session of Congress, to urge u
continuous contract fer the thirty-fcOt
channel. The surveys and plans were all
made some years ago There have been
no new plans Of the channel since 1898. al
though the manner of carrying out these
is subject TO changes.
The portion of General Gillespie's re-
cent recommendations referring to the
increasing Of the depth OF the Schuylkill
River is taken from the report made by
Col. w c Raymond in March. lS9S Con-
gress ut the time failed TO act on the
suggestion and since that time the orig
rIx ref IN
supervising engineer Lire Colonel Ray
moud. in his report figured on giving
a Z6-foot channel. 200 feet wide. from the
mouth of the Schuylkill TO the Walnut
could b. completed At a cost Of S15J-
~. 1t was ignored BY Congress and
Will, in all probability. not be brought
mp again for some years, at least until
the Delaware River uCep channel work
is well under way.
The pres. Mt work on the s0-foot chan
ncl is being continued under previous ap-
propTiajions. but these are about ex-
hnustod. and after the present contract
has been completed nothing more can be
done until Congress makes further au-
propriations The work at Reedy Island.
being done by the Virginia Dredging
Company. should have been completed
yesterday. according to the original con-
tract
Up to the first Of the present year there
was a default in the work Of $50. 90 Gu
bic yards in the dredging. This default
was u nalized in the cor tract at one-third
Of the original price, which was cents
a cubic yard. when payments were ask
ed the Auditor OF the Treasury deducted
2 cents per cubic yard for the default up
to the first Of the year.
The contractors refused to accept this
and have continued the work without
having up 10 this time, received sin
gle payment from the Government Since
January ] the work has been pushed by
the contra ctors. 80 that the work at the
prescnf tire Is practically where II should
have been at the first Of the year. There
was an additional $4,000 cable yards to
be dredged by October q. The contract
has been extended to June /. 1902. but it
is expected that the present contract Will
be completed before she end Of the year
The Treasury officials. however. viii in
.ist on the , cents per cubic yard penalty
on all Of the default. The matter Of set
ilclnert will undoubtedly be taken 10 the
Federal Courts. as the contractors Insist
that th= psnalty is Illegal