Evening star., 1922-02-25
Scrapping the Navy Yard Workers

/
Two incidents. which the Spring
field tMass) Union republican, de-
scribes as practically local. the al
| most simultaneous dismissal of large
number of workers from the Wash
! ington navy yard and the award of
the contract for reconditioning the
Leviathan to private shipbu1lding
concern, have interested the country
at large to the extent of provoking
some discussion of the use to which
navy yards are to be put, now that,
the naval treaty appears to warrant
| the suspension of much of their work.
Incidental to the main discussion is
the reaction on the award Of the con-
tract for more than eight millions OF
dollars to be paid to the Newport
News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Com
pany for work on the Leviathan. The
Springfield Republican independently,
while admitting that the effort to
have this work assigned to the Boston
navy yard was "superfluous politics"
thinks that so long as the govern
ment is operating navy yards 1t is
the governments business to keep It's
own plants supplied with work. The
Boston Herald independent repub.
lican) confesses to having refrained
from saying anything at the time our
people were pressing for the con-
tract" but now that somebody else
has the contract" and I'VE as com.
munity are in sackcloth and asnes.
IL ventures to observe that the
United States is doing nothing any.
where at less than double the cost of
the same work under private enter
prise On the other hand. the
Rochester Times-to opion Independently.
while disclaiming any sympathy Tor
Senator Lodge" feels that mis- sug
gestion that the navy yards should
have a chance on this work had much
merit" since execution of the $S.OOO,-
600 Leviathan contract will keep sew
eral hundred men constantly employ
ed during a period of at least four,
Times-Dispatch (democratic).
The New York Evening World
(democratic) thinks the government
could have figured on the basis OF
the sS,2OO,OO0 award to the Newport
News company and could have al
lowed the navy yard workers a
chance to cut wages enough so that
the government could meet the bid
and so keep the navy yard employees
working" The New York Times tin
dependent democratic) feels that the
Presidents support Of the Shipping
Board in it's award of the contract to
the lowest bidder 'fs in the interest
of efflciency and fair dealing with the
competing companies. in agreement
with the New Orleans States (demo-
oSatic), which thinks that there IS
no reason why private shipbuilding
concerns should not have the right
to bid for public work of this kind
and get 1t if they can show that they
are capable Of doing it as well and
more cheaply than the government
nVs<Jf ffNY m "
in the use Of public funds. combined
with impelling considerations of gov
ernmental honesty to induce MIR. Har-
ding to prevent an utterly arbi-
rrary and unjustlfable Discrimination
against Newport News and in favor
Lynchburg News (democratic).
Enumerating as "one. of the first
practical results of the disarmament
conference" the ''increase of several
thousand in the number of unem-
plcyed." the Philadelphia Record dn-
government, even though trying to
economize." SHOULD make special
point of providing work of some kind
for all the Immediate victims of the
disarmament conference" The Fort
Wayne News-Sentinel Nepublican)
thinks the most of the dismissed em-
ployes worked for absurdly high
wages during the war and certainly
have enough to keep them while they
are looking about for new employ
ment Does nurse complain when
the plague starts to recede because it
threatens her with idleness?"
The Topeka Capital (republican),
discussing the protest of William H.
Johnston to President Harding in be-
half Of the dismissed men. says that
"in his preoccupation with the mis-
fortune of the relatively few men
thrown out of job he forgets the
monumental benefits of limitation of
naval armament to millions and hun
dreds of millions of people" after
it has been decided to stop work. the
American people would not tolerate
the continued expenditures of millions
of dollars per month upon ships that
had been marked for the scrap heap"
thinks the Fremont (Neb.) Tribune
(republican). and the Florida Metrop-
oils (democratic) feels that every
dollar saved in government pay rolls
should beneht the condition Of the
tax-rfdden public" and believes that
Others, than shipbuiIders should be
laid or" ut is easy to symra'hiss