Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-03-22
United States Senator Calder, of
New York, Attacks "COsf
Plus Plan

The following article taken from the
Brooklyn Eagte bears out the stories
brought to Wild wood the past winter
by carpenters who have worked on the
government environments at Cape May:
Mn thecourse of adiscussion on hous-
ing shipbuilders by the United States
Senate recently Sen ator Calder of Brook
Ign attacked the "cost plus 1C per cent.
profit" contract plan. Basing what he
said upon his experience as a builder,
the Brooklyn Senator declared the pres
ent plan to be wasteful and urged allot-
ing contracts IN the basis of COMPETE
tive bids. He said:
"Mr. President, L share with the Sen
ator from Colorado come misgivings as
to the working out of this house-build-
ing program. l have watched, as other
Senators have, the development of our
systemfor awarding contracts for ships,
munitions and supplies of different
character. / have observed that vast
sums of money have been wasted thru
what we are pleased to call our cost
plus system of contracts, whether they
were based on a percentage of profit
on the cost or on the cost plus lump
sum profit.
"Under the provisions of many of
these contracts the Government sup
plies the money necessary to carry Oh
the work, guarantees the delivery of
materials, assists in obtaining an ade-
quate supply Of labor, and now is about
to undertake to provide housing facili-
ties for the employees, takes over the
negotiations with labor as to wages and
conditions of employment, and in
general performs nearly all of those
functions which In al ordinary con
tract serve to earn for the contractor a
profit. He is left with the responsible
ity for furnishing the technical know
ledge and directing organization nee
essary for thecarrying on the work, and
for that he is guaranteed a profit which
In many cases would be highly salts
factory even if all the risks and respon-
sibilities of an ordinary contract were
involved.
Another Bad Feature
"There is another very bad feature
of this form OF contract as it works out
In actual practice. The contractor is
relieved of all anxiety as to possible fin
aneial losses through faulty organiza-
ton, bad management, inefficient sup
erintendence, the employment Of I'M
skilled labor, aud all the thousand and
nethings which once established make
it impossible to TURF out good work in
fair quantity. This conditioninevitably
works for the employment Of men in
important posts with small reference to
their qualifications, in the prodigal use
of labor and materials rather than In
skiliful planning for their most sd
vantageous use, and In a general care
lessness about paying unfair prices for
materials, equipment and labor. The
details of all this are known only to
those whose daily work brings
them into contac CT with suchprob-
lens, but the extent to which a big
organization can, and almost invaria-
bly, does, go to pieces when the spur of
financial responsibility for results is
removed is alpsost beyond thelayman's
belief. As al old-time contractor for
road work once said, Il don't know
how 1t is, but when we have a percent
age contract the very mules seem to
know 1t, and work accordingly
~ say again, and l speak, too, as
one who has had some experience in
house-buildlng, if / had charge of this
program 1 would bend every effort to
construct all of these houses on a com
petitive contract basis. I am of the
opinion that in nearly every communi-
ty men could be found who would bid
in competition for the furnishing of
both the labor and the material for the
construction of. the buildings needed
for the housing of our workmen.n
-s
Building Association funds to loan
on first mortgage in amounts to suit.
Robert J. Kay secretary, Wildwood,
NJ