Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1919-08-29

as follows:
That the Olympic peninsula logging
road. built by he SiemsC argyll. S
Kcrbaugh company. cost approx
mately $i,000.0o0 for 80 miles of
Inn, or an average of about SIP. O0o
nile, while adequate logging road
car and e, being constructed for SIS.
000 10 40 900 q mile.
! That the route taken by the road
from Dsque, on the Clallam county
line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & st
Paul railroad, via Lake Crescent to
Lake Pleasant, vas not the logical
route. The road, timbermen have
testified. should have been built fur
Their west via the Pysht river or the
Ioko river. where it would have
tapped spruce Immediately and have
gained u shorter route to Lake Pleas
ant
| That the Milwaukee road, seeking
route, through to Grays Harbor,
may possibly have exercised influence
in the selection of the course taken
by the governments spruce line, with
view TO swapping it up at low fig
ure when the war terminated
That the expensive and solid ma
ture of it's construction is utterly un-
necessary for logging purposes, and
tends to indicate that the road may
have been intended secretly for the
future use of the Milwaukee.
That General Disque did confer
with Milwaukee engineers and Off
Gals regarding the route, though va
rious disinterested engineers, as we'll
as logging representatives, were
present at the time the decision was
made.
That General Disque and the
spruce production corporation dis
played marked favoritism toward the
SiemsCarey-H. S. Kerbaugh corpora
ton, which built the road, and which
was given a contract to produce $780,
100000 feet of fir flitches within IS
months on the cost plus basis, while
independent logging operators were
refused contracts or asked to sublet
work from Stems Carey.
That the Siems.Carey contracts for
railroad construction and for the con-
struction of two mills, one at Port
Angeles, the eventual destination of
the spruce on tide water, and one at
Lake Pleasant, in the heart of the
spruce area, were extravagant. and
that such construction was unneces-
sary. The mills were to cost respect
lively $1,200,000 and $1,000,OOO.
That Independent logging operators
could have supplied all the spruce re-
duired and were perfectly willing to
do so.
That Independent logging operators
did make such a tender, and were met
by General Disque with terms which
they could not accept, though their
offer was to log without profit.
That soldiers employed by the
spruce division were paid civilian
wages, while soldiers in France got
only the regular army pay.
That while the division spent mil
lions in getting out spruce, there were
practically no American planes on
the American battlefront in France,
enabling German aviators to fly over
our lines at will and subjecting Amer
lean troops to heavy casualties.
The reply OF the spruce production
division to these charges has been
less in detail than the bill of COM
plant. but will be thoroughly spread
on the records at the Portland hear
4 ing II ia undaratoOd
Thus far but two witnesses, Colonel
Stearns. head of the spruce corpora
ton, and j. ]. Donovan, director, of
Bellingham, have appeared before
the committee to testify to the neces-
sity for the spruce production pro
gram as carried OUT.
The reply, in brief, is: That the
Lake Crescent route of the Clallam
county logging road was imperative
4 because it was paralleled by the Olym
pic highway, which permitted rapid
construction through facilities for
transporting materials. Further, that
the roadbed of the Lake Crescent
route is superior and of character
essential to the hauling of the ire
AHCAuOuoiy hCoNy iOuuo dHO COAotdA'
traffic anticipated in the spruce pro
gram.
That the cost of the Lake Crescent
road. SIP, 900 a mile, was not exces
sive when tn elements of speed and
inexperienced soldier labor are con
sidered.
That the Milwaukee railroad did
not covet the Lake Crescent line, but
had run it's own survey westward and
then southerly via the Pyscht river
and that Milwaukee officials had nc
decisive voice in the naming of the
route taken.
That the Siems-Carey-H. S. Ker
baugh company, as well as other cost
plus operators. were rapidly cOmplet
ing their preliminary work at the
time of the armistice and would soon
have been able to swell spruce pro
duction to the required minimum OF
the program.
That it was necessary to contract
spruce production in the larger cost
plus operations, even though extrava