The Washington times., 1902-07-10
&h.DS Cannot Butt
Until Improvements
Are Made
MUST HoDERNIZE THE PLANT
PhiIadelphians Explain Why New Bas-
tieship Authorized by Congress to Be
Built in Government YARD Could Not
Be Constructed il That City.

projected Is 0oo-tou beg flesh. SHAH be
built in the New York yard Jh-r Than
in one Of the other naval establishments
on the Atlantic seaHoard. G-l nos greatly
surprise naval ohi,ers. one reason why
the decision vas So made IS ~ep,r,e- 70
be that the New Yora Tar4 IS fully
equipped for such work. and that mate
rial and labor are plentiful there. Ac-
cordiug TO one Statement the oiicials
Of the depart tneut raz1rtr7 10 sort of
elimination process. NoTf2's. It was
said. hasn', the supply o. labor, ,a1 is
near Newport News and Richmon5,
where ships are now in process OF con-
struction Portsmouth. y. H.. has too
rigorous q climate. while Philadelphia
failed Of selection because the worl,men
here are now well supplied with Gov
ernment wori. in private yards.
There is. however. a somewhat better
reason in the minds OF naval officers
generally, so far as Philadelphia is con-
cerned. League Island navy yard is
not at the present time in shape to
build wGrship of any sort-certainly
not to build one Of $1,000 tons displace-
meni While New York has steadily
gone ahead and now has a thoroughly
equipped plant for construction, League
Island is still putting up buildings
that would be absolutely needed if con
struction were to be done there. Fur
thermore, the yard has not building
slip on which battlcship might be
built slip alone, constructed in the
soft material Of the island, and capa-
bic of sustaining the thousands of tons
OF a vessel at launching weight. would
cost. al a rough estimate, $3.50. goo Plans
have been made for such slip but. of
course until the money is available and
the slip constructed. building a tattle-
ship at League Island would be out Of
the question.
Gradually Getting New Plant.
Slowly, but surely, the yard is getting
together a cluster of frst-class build
ings for construction and repair. There
are naval officers who hold that League
Island would never have been recog-
nized, even grudgingly, if il had not
been that the manifest advantages OF
the yard over all others on the Atlantic
coast enforced recognition. These nat
ural advantages are: First. fresh water,
and an unusually large area that may be
used for the building OF a complete plant
for the building of ships; second, the
back channel FOR the storage of ships.
and third, its river front and anchorage.
These advantages. the Importance OF
which became manifest during the Span
ish war, and which were freely admitted
by Secretary Long. nave been recognized
TO such an extent by Congress that a
modern plant has been gradually spring
ing up at the yard There are now being
added to the cluster of &C. and r"
buildings foundry and coppersmith
shop. smithery, an angle smithery,
and spar, cooper and block shops. L IS
proposed that slip shall be built be-
tween the old dry doci, and the new 700
foot dock, he excavations for whicn
have now reen made. The buildings
have been so located as to insure The
greatest possible facility in handling
material 1t is believed that in a years
time League Island could be put in con-
dition Tor constructing ships. = good
many naval cl.ccrs fear to bring a deep
draft battleship up the Delaware. but
with the completion OF the deep channel
this fear will 20 set 1T rest.
The Use of Government Yards.
The main argument urged by those
who believe that the Government should
built at least a part OF its navy in its
own yards is that by so doing it would
maintain the organization OF the work
men in the yards, and thus insure great
er efficiency in repair work. With con
struction going forward on large ship,
II is urged. the yard would always be IN
good working order, and should the time
arrive when the Government would want
to rush work IL its own establishments.
rs well as to keep private yards busy. Il
vould be Ia condition TO do So i is
believed thet Rear Admiral Bowles.
cAtef corstructC~ cf the navy. fevor5
building limited number O. ai2s IN
Government Yards, r. s2ch s7Es--a. -ton
can 5e KEEP aa, from political
enee. is pointed oHr tv naval OF eaes
taat Il a Government yard there are no
h.gh salaries and no profits % o
viGed .o- and that. c3asaqu =nt1s. rl-
vo-s ean be cone al alar. Cos.
o. ia private yards
that the worf rr1 a done a -sa-
6uoaslg. .gt il ad lsss ].
Gov nmeaa Should he oltcy oi
buudju2 some of .s SHIPS n
yards g. v9a.d moi only le l-asp-r
cf a possible -'e-z-
7ell -Ga1 .7 e
o,eneg Of its yard forces
Before -he days RI fa1 -l1 aa.az aa-g
II , Coy lH e..-
a"s ae Texas ~. --e N,-
TIE fact thar a plqa e's-t -r-
tent lor tha onstr a-z-
s-a gLly 31er
lsc an on a
,aiee t1s GoFeI1.l ir
the eEag-an -u .-.snir
Sch 4.srl c-L
c. rio constrscfi-r O. e.F. az.
important gsa-D o a--.-.2sa