Norwich bulletin., 1920-11-16
pEFEcTIyis EIyETING FIGURES
 IN SHIFTING BOARD LEARN

f,eat ls I < New York, Nov t5s--Alleged defective riTeting on. ships constructed for the Emergency Fleet Cooperation was not only called to the attention of President Wilson; but :sevidenee,' in the form of a package of. the riyets was sent to him. ? witness. before the Walsh committee inqu ring into shipping board affairs, tes tfhed today.
 The witness was Thomas H. Purtell. who described himself as "an expert riv- ster of the. old school" In 1918 he was engaged as an inspector of hulls at the plant of the Submarine Boat Corpora ition, Some. of the riyeting work in this yard he described as fierce. He said ishis superiors would not support him &n his contentious of poor work-therefore he sent President Wilson some sam ples" in the form of defective rivets. He could. not say if the president ever Saw the evidence but he did know he was fired for sending it' They gare me only just about enough time to get my clothes and get out of the yard ne said. ;.la., Later on.s.he said, the president an- swered hls complaints through his secre- tary,2 Mir Tumulty. As result he was reinstated as san inspector and given hls back pay. He did not return to the Sub i marine Boat Corporation yard, but was sent to the Standard Ship Building plant It was evident" the witness testi- 1 fled, that my record had preceded me for I found was in bad favor there" l., He also testified that the riveting sit nation at the latter plant was also 'something fierce He complained tc his superiors,. he added, without sat:s- faction. He then threatened to go d. rect to the Emergency Fleet Corpora tion headquarters at Philadelphia and l was warned not to oFdo it.
 I&kI went to Philadelphia and WAS again. fired" he added The witness
 supplemented his verbal testimony as to what poor T feting was by exhibits in the form of dra '{+iags by him showing rivets under yarie@ D nditions and by samples of rivets used in ship construction. The Committee was enlightened as to the meaning of various terms used in de- scribing faulty riveting and as to how
 alleged poor work was covered up by "doping with red lead and other mater Iiais" @
 ,;sae named "hall B" among others as ian example Of alleged poor riveting work. Askedsif this ship was still afioat he said he did not know. Chairman Walsh asked how 1t was that ships or (which he alleged poor riveting was dont
 were still adoat and the witness said hG
 oould not tell. He afterwards said tha
 poor work might not cause a ship It break down for four or five years I;a
 charged the committee to go with him tC
 any ship they might name that was bull
 during the war in some of the yards .pf
 be would point out to them evidence Ol
 poor work.
 Ills asserted that 1t should take at leas
 one or two years to train properly 8 goo
 riveter, but admitted that during tn,
 war emergency ships were needed quick
 iy and that skilled men could not be
 had. In his work as inspector, he added
 he had charge of two hulls at time
 with supervision over the work of 150 t
 160 men. He testified there were in
 stances of work which he had condemn cd not being done over It was "spiri . of patriotism, he said, which prompted him to persevere in his attempts to cor rect slack work in riveting He ex. pIained he did not want 1t to be his faul
 If ship went down with men on board
 Eventually, Purtell asserted, he di 5 talk with Chairman Hurley in Ney York and was told to put his complaint
 ;t writing.
 ''1 told the chairman that I had
 cramp tn the; arm from writing
 ! He presented letter signed by R. F
 Bailey, Jr. assistant to Chairman Hur ley, in which he was informed that hi
 complaints had been investigated an
 found to be unwarranted. He was aIs
 told that his charges were without foun
 dation and that for various named raa !