The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-01-05
PROGRAMME FOR BUILDING SHIPS IS
 GREATLY EXPANDED
Board Asks Congress for Authority to Let 701 Mill lion Additional Con-
 tracts at Once

Was aiw ton. January 4.-PIans for -t.0U sA FH saTernment shipbuilding
 fsoFrrssBrs t7cre roy eeied today when ,.ae shlpY ag beard asked congress for
 authority so ripce srp a.5cc worth of additional shlp ce .srnrss. Al th same time nm immediase spurgy r1afaeu , of $s2,000.0o0 was asked fcr the s tension of shipyards and Tor, pTofi5s ing housing facilities for workmen. Thus far the board has been au-
 thorizsd to spend for shipbuilding s1,-
 34,o00,n00, contracts for most of which have been awarded Today's request brings the estimates of funds needed for shipbuilding to s2,01s.000,ooo. The additional funds are to be put large ly into fabricated steel ship contracts. NO NEW YARDS ARE PLANNED
 No new shipyards are planned by the board The febricating yards have contracts for about 500 ships now. which will keep them constantly em- ployed into 1919. but the board is anx- ious to place more contracts and be- gin on the task of providing materials.
 The boards housing plans cali for the expenditure of about sS5,0O0, ,000. The remainder of the ss2,Ooo,oo0 asked will be used to expand present ship yards.
 The Senate commerce committee in vestigating shipbuilding took up to. day alleged high profits allowed i'll letting contracts. wooden ship con struction and the subject of housing
 BIG PROFITS IN SHIPS
 Questioning of Theodore F. Ferris, chief constructor of the emergency fleet corporation, in connection with a report of the corporations district of- flee at Seattle, brought out that the Clinchfield Navigation company of New York was alleged to have ob- tained profits amounting to s74s,Ooo on ship contracts while in fact the company was not an actual builder of ships. The company, 1t was testi- fled, sold to the government at d profit of S420,000 four ships which the Sloane Shipbuilding corporation of Se- attle was building for it, and it re- ceived a commission of $323, 900 on con- tracts it obtained from the fleet cor poration for 12 ships which the Sloane corpora tion Is now building
 MT. Ferris denied that he has any thing to do with the contracts, but said he introduced officers of the George w. Goethals, formerly general manager of the fleet corporation.
 WOODEN SHIP QUESTION
 Conditions affecting the construc- tion of wooden ships were outlined by F. Brown, general purchasing officer for the fleet corporation. and F. l.. Sanford, member of the southern pine emergency bureau. Mir Brown ex- plained the fleet corporation's grant ing of an increase in lumber prices and said that it was fully Justified in view of the fact that the timbe sizes were made larger He said that the sizes were made so large that pine producers could not make deliv- cries, but that the corporation expect ed to have delivered from Oregon with in 50 days enough fir to furnish the heavier timbers for 200 wooden ships
 Delays in pine deliveries were att tributed by MT. Brown to some ex- tent to the fact that builders, anxious to draw on the fleet corporations ad- vance funds, laid down too many keels instead of. going ahead with the con- struction ships already laid down. Their contracts, he said, called for the payment of money advances when keels were laid and many builders took advantage of this to get money quickly. The fleet corporation, he said. finally was forced to put a stop to the laying of xeels
 MT. Sanford contradicted the testi- mony of Rear Admiral BowIes of the fleet corporation, who declared that pine producers had fallen down on de- lIVariaS Prndlptipn rato 1al i,,t the summer, he said, by the fleet cor poration's changes in specifications but he predicted that all the lumber called for in the contracts would be delivered by next July. the time set for final deliveries.