New-York tribune., 1918-03-25
Fabricated Ships
Merchant ohpoudng Corporation Plant Bristol Ready
to lurn Out 9,O00-Ton Vessels for the
Governments Merchant Marine
By Theodore M. knappen

pie'ion OF the ship, or ninety days till
launching, but it is the confident expec-
1atlon of President r. II. NJ. Robinson
and General Manager w. T. Smith that
"heh the great plant is in full swing
the time to launching Will be cut down
20 SIXTY days or even less. However,
so many unexpected obstacles to the
realization Of celebrity turn up in these
days that no premature chickens are
being counted.
Here, as with the other fabrication
PLANTS. the delay in transportation is
annoying and rctartling. and if not soon
eiimlnated is likely to play havoc with
al schedules. The fact that four cs-
sential cars Of steel have been from ff-
teen to thirty days getting from Pitts
burgh to Philadelphia is not very en-
couraglng. and shows how much room
there is for improvement in the war
work of thu RAILWAYS.
When the construction work at the
bristol yard was at its height about
5000 men were on the payroll AT
present about 1000 men are working
and the total number engaged will
ascend to 10000 when shipbuiding gets
into full swing. AS Bristol is a small
place the corporation has had great
difficulty in obtaining AMI keeping
labor for the construction work, but
little trouble is anticipated in getting
and training skilled men as rapidly as
the growth Of shipbuilding calls for
them.
Temporary sleeping quarters for 1000
men and commissary commodations
for 5000 were provided for those en-
ployes who did not commute from
neighboring towns and cities, and now
great new housing scheme which
is rapidly being realized or an ex-
tensive tract of land Immediately ad-
joining the yard will dispose of the
problem of comfortable quarters when
fully carried out.
First Model City
Under Boards New Plan
This will be the first model city built
under the Shipping Boards plan for
shipyards by providing comfortable
homes for the men. The model city
includes dormitories and boarding
houses fer single men, detached bunga-
lows, cottages, houses and group domi-
Giles for families. Every dwelling place
is completely furnished and so rented.
Many of the smaller homes are already
completed and occupied, and when the
work is done shelter will be provided
for some 10000 persons. This com
munity will be utterly unlike the work
ingman's quarters Of the ordinary city.
Streets are wide, houses are we'll
planned and archtecturally attractive
Parks and recreation grounds are pro
vided and near by these are two large
tracts of land which the villagers may
use for garden plots.
In passing, it may be remarked that
this idea of building up nc del living
communities under government auspices
rear the plants in which the men work
would seem to mark new era in Amer
! lean industry, and is return in a new
spirit to practice that was formerly
abhorrent to employees, who dreaded the
company house and the company store.
Hereafter we may expect tnat all new
manufacturing plants of siz. ir subur-
ban or country districts vii! include
! housing as part of their development
! scheme, quite as much as the actual
manufacturing plant itself.
There have been practically no labor
controversies at Bristol and none are
anticipated.
The Bristol plant is doing its full
part to vindicate the fabricated ship
idea, and it is my firm conviction that,
like Hog Island and Newark, it will
deliver its ships on time or better,