Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-03-19
NEW DIVISION
BUILDING PLAN
GREAT PROJECT
New Division Will Handle
More Than One Bill
lion Dollars

washington, Marcn lS.-N ltn the i
creation of a construction division |
in the War Department to-day to |
handle the largest single building I,
program in history-aggregating |
s1,OS4, 200. .OoO-a board of eminent ,
experts appointed by acting Secre- |
tary Crowell reported that the pres |
ent form of construction contract Is
'protiteer proof
The new construction division will /,
replace the cantonment division, |
which did the preliminary work OF
building National Army camps, ana
will carry on an immense building
program involving hundreds of
thousands of workmen and extensive
structures for the army throughout
the country 1t will be under the inn
mediate direction of the Chief OF
staff.
Headed by Professor A. \. Talbot,
of the University of Illinois, presi-
dent of the American Society of Civil
Engineers, the board includes John
Lawrence Mauran, of st. Louis, pre-
sident of the American Institute OF
Architects: Charles T. Mann, of Bos-
ton, president of the American So
ciety of Mechanical Engineers; John
r. Alpine, representing the Amerl-
can Federation of Labor; +. Goodwin
Rhett, of Charleston, 5. c., president
of the Chamber of Commerce of the
United States; +. w. Rice, of Schnec-
tady. n. Y, president of the Amerl-
can Institute of Electrical Engineers;
| Frederick l.. Crawford, of Brooklyn,
n. ", president of the General Con-
| tractors Association of New York,
and Oscar \. Rheum, of Chicago,
representing the Building Construc-
ton Employers Association.
Start Work Early
Because of the hundreds of mil
! lions of dollars involved. the board
was asked to examine the present
form of contract and if necessary
propose a new one. The board re-,
ported:
THE form of contract permits
starting actual work. weeks and even
months before The details are COM
( pletely worked out and dellneated,
and permits the government TO push
I the Job at any speed it may select,
changing at will its scope and plan,
| but paying only what the work ac-
tually costs, plus n fee which is so.
reasonable as to be above the reach
/ of fair-minded criticism.
| This form of contract, so thor-
/ oughly approved, is known as the
"coSt plus sliding scale of fixed fee,'
lin which fixed fees 10 contractors
range from per cent. on contracts
of 100000 or less down to as low
/ as l 3, per cent. and q per cent. on
I the very largest sum.
/ The fee. according to this form,
is fixed when the contract is let, and
1 if the cost exceeds the estimate be-
cause of higher labor and material
I prices, the contractor receives no adj
ditional compensation whatever. La
Dor and material prices always will
be subject to approval by the gov
ernment.
Under other forms of the "cost
plus" contract, so widely attacked in
Congress, it was possible for a con-
tractor by running up labor charges
and paying extravagant prices for
material, to increase his fee accord
ingly.
No Day Labor
The board rejected the suggestion
that the government embark on the
day labor plan. because it was con-
WINGED it would entail inefficiency
and delay and because the board be-
lieves the existing forces and orga-
nizations of contractors should be
maintained as a public policy.
Furthermore it was thought that
central organization was undesirable
because the work TO be done was so
widely scattered over the country.
A survey of the work to be done
by the new construction division in
dicates the magnitude of the govern
ment's preparations to push the
war to n successful conclusion. There
are already under way in the United
States eighty-two big jobs aggregat-
ing $2O5. 100000. There are in pros
pect now 12O more, representing
s27S, 100000. In addition, there are
forty jobs for housing troops, rep
resenting 100000. while hos
.pital construction alone represents
/ S10,000,0O0.
The work in prospect includes stor-
age terminals at Philadelphia, Bos-
ton, Charleston, S. c., and twenty
eight other points; Signal Corps cam
tonments and aviation fields at forty
/ different points; powder loading
| plants and ordnance depots on the
| Atlantic seaboard; housing facilities
! for shipworkers at sixteen different
points; tuberculosis hospitals at
Denver, Col, and Azalea, n. c.; a re-
mount station at Charleston, s. c.;
mechanical repair shops in Texas;
three great office buildings in Wash
! ington, in addition to those under
way; a hospital at Fort Riley. Kan
sas; an insulation hospital at Tenafly,
| y. J.; extensions of the Springfield,
! Mass, arsenal; gas-making plants
and gas she'll filling plants at many
\ points.
Contracts have not been let for the
majority of the great projects and
the definite locations of an of them
have not been SO fully determined as
| to warrant announcements at this
! time.