New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-12-19
s...,.matic Theft in Erect
ing Barracks Is Under
lis. Investigation
More Than Twenty
Persons Arrested
rtompson-Starrett Co. or
government to Shoulder
Heavy Loss

u.,,,rread and systematic graft by
=, rmc-ctccAcrs and workmen
,i.ye5 By thc Thompson-S'arreti
800 discovered by the govern
'0-f Ill, after 10 had gone on for
pea -, s55od thousands Of dollars to
.o.t Of the National Army can
" -, AZ Camp Upton. Yaphan&'
Island. whose structures, with
L.-s -roJations for 10000 men, arc
- rrae,icaly completed.
TO-DAY. with al hands about to be
.,sr,wn from the ground after
..,y six months work, the frauds
- ,ss subject Of special audit
~ - ,be completion Of which the
~ amour. involved will not be
-, In fact, padded and manipu-
,...3 as the psyrolls were, accord
:. % information that has come to
=. Tribune, the figure may never
:, a,,srmincd. which means that OF
:. ,Imos, 100000 that the camp
=, ,o.t what proportion represented
s,,aous labor may remain always a
nysiery.
Who Will Stand the Loss
Conceded as it is that the payrOll'
ard the eheckcd-up cards Of the work
Non show discrepancies running IN
.am. cases as high as $4,000 a week.
-. ouestion remains to be settled.
Who will stand the loss. the company
~ the government? The work done
was on cost plus 10 per cent basis
90 that every dollar added means tha'
up,b more for the contractor.
There is not the slightest sugges-
.iop Of irregularities on the part
AZ The -Starrett Company.
yvsrv National Army cantonment IN
,bs eountry-and there are sixteen o.
,ssm-was contracted for on the cost
plps 10 per cent basis, and whether
iryes,igstion by the War Department
viii show that extensive frauds were
committed elsewhere than at 1aphank
IS matter Of conjecture. Al zap
hank some time ago the government
installed its own system Of duplicate
time.keeping, and largely by TINS
method ascertained that it was being
robbed.
six Sent TO Jail
The benefciaries were subordinate
employees. who from the start OF the
work, ingeniously connived IN system
Of cheating designed if not checked, to
make cantonment building one OF the
nations most expensive wartime under
tskincs. Many were subsequently ar
rested. Of whom six are known 10 nave
been sent 10 Jail. Others broke parole
and fed; cases Of others are pending.
Strangely enough, cases heard IN
BROOKLYN attracted scant attention, and
only dilgent investigation disclosed
that the defendants were principals IN
a CONSPIRACY which will cost the gov
eminent Tor the Thompson-Starrett
Company thousands Of dollars, which
involved hundreds of workers, which
reeessitated calling in the Department
" Justice and the Secret Service, and
which now has thrown payrolls into
such muddle that IT may be weeks be-
fore they are Strengthened out.
Some fifteen hundred structures form
the nearly completed camp. 1t was
rush JOB. Work was started on June
q and within a few weeks 1000 men
were on the payroll, totalling nearly
100000 weekly.
Bonanza for LabOrers
Labor, attracted by the fancy wages
offered, came from everywhere. The
carpenters and other skilled workers
were union men. the unskilled hands
we're Of an sorts and unorganlzed.
hey drew 31i- cents an hour notwlth-
standing, while carpenters got tZ12i
plumbers and steam filters 10 cents,
with equally liberal rates for labor all
Up and down the line. In some cases
the contractors allowed 81 a day toward
eoard FOR good measure, and as
iSrther inducement stipulated that II a
nan worked ten hours he should be paio
'or twelve, fourteen hours 70 count as
twenty. On Saturday afternoon and
sunday the allowance was further IN
creased, fourteen hours counting as
lvsuty eight
By this scale workmen stood TO earn
a sun weekly that would make a bank
CLERK env.ous, but many, as subsequent
developments were TO show, were not
satisfied. The talk ran that it was d
government job and rush one al
that. and scnemCs we're soon Matched
70 milk IT,. Hardly was the work well
under way when these frauds were put
m operation:
J.. Duplicate time cards were issued
:. Men quitting their Jobs gave OF