San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-03-18
Refuse to Pay Million Dol
lars for Blue Prints and
u. S. Draughtsmen Make
Better Ones for One-quar-
ter of Sum.
BY HERBERT COREY

an. That was ten years before the
second greatest ship in the world was
launched. Of course. But the state
ment is true for all that. He issued
this general order:
I'm fire any employee who gets into
a fight"
Then he had Il second thought:
And III fire every employe who
sees a fight"
That instituted regime of peace
and quiet in the yards Of the New
port Shipbuilding Company. Black
and white work there together in
peace aud kindness. The white man
does not rag the colored man. The
X. X. X. has never been heard of in
the yards.
Cheap Rent and Coal for Men.
Then the shipbuilding company
found it was necessary to go farther,
1t began 10 protect its men. Today
hard coal can be bought by them from
the company for $12 a ton. Steam
heated. hot-water flats within ten
minutes walk of the yards are for
rent at ST and 81 room. Some Of
the ordinary groceries are To be had
Mt cost. When a man is injured the
company makes 4 fair settlement with
him.
I'VE haven't had a personal injury
suit brought against us in eighteen
years" said Horace ;. Ferguson, the
general manager.
When the Lcyiathan was turned
over TO the company for recondition-
ing by the United States shipping
Board it offered perhaps the most
discouraging ship5uilding job in the
world 1t would have been easier to
build n battleship. The Leviathan
had been lying idle at pier in Ho-
boEen for two years. since her war
use ended. She was mass of rust
and dirt. During the war there had
been no time for repairs. The Ger
man crew had rot injured the great
ship when they left. but some OF her
turbines had broken down when IN
use. The staterOomS below tho
weather deck had been torn out TO
make room for. troops. On one trip
she carried almost l4.O0O men. In tea
trips she carried more than 10000
to France.
Wording for Difficulties.
when You build ship you begin
at the beginning, Just AS with a
house" said W. f. Gibbs. who has
Dten luSlWtlOI III 'iiNi i'A NV 'H'i
ping board. watching the process OF
reconditiomng. "But We could not
do that with the Levi.
Every one calls the great ship the
Levi now. No one thinks Of the last
two syllables Of her name. She has
been Americanized. One might al
most say Jerusalemized.
The builders had no plans. What
I, ha pAnlIypsl Inv tlp
fact that 800 miles of new wiring
were later laid in her. The Ger
mans Offered 10 sell the original plans
for one million dollars. The offer
was refused. The Germans were not
trusted. Anyhow. ,the price. was Too
high. One hundred and fifty
draughtsmen worked for six months
making set of new plans. Before
drawing them they explored. They
had to wriggle through tunnels in her
double body. and strip the ceiling
from the social halls. But the plans
were made. at q cost Of S250,OO0.
They provide for plus or minus OF
hree-thousandth of an inch in
81 feet.
Praised by Admiral Benson.
THE thought Of these men from
the beginning was TO do II better job
than any other shipbuilders in the
world could do" said Admiral Ben
son of the United States navy. They
did it,"
The ship was stripped down to bare
bones. She is $50 feet long and 100
feet wide. If one could set an office
building on her keel the windows of
the thirteenth story would look upon
her navigating bridge. The engines
were pronounced good. They needed
repairs, of course, but they were ex-
cellent. But the German ventilating
system was bad. In the engine room
when coal was used the mercury stood
at 15S degrees. That is not so far
short of the broiling point. No crew
could deliver the goods in such heat.
The coal burners were converted
into oil burners. Now. in cold wealth
err. a fireman in the Lewis stokehold
must wear u sweater. Most of her
firemen can play cooncan most oil
the time. One man, seated on
stool, can screw valve up and down
and regulate the steam pressure To
within half q degree. II he forgets
himself. mechanical telltales will be-
gin TO get hysterical around him.
Everything is automatic and fool
proof. The fireman can wear white
collar. The first class passenger in
the midst of bowling storm can lie
in his bed, open the ventilator for a
little more fresh air and talk to his
home by wireless phone.
II Anything Should Happen
Something might happen, of course,
even to the worlds finest and most
luxurious and safest ship-and that
old Levi certainly is. In which case
there are seventy-odd lifeboats to take
off the 1898 passengers in the four
classes and the 100 Of the crew. Two
of them are motorboats large enough
TO buck headseas from New York to
Bermuda, aud with a wireless hav-
ing a range of 80 miles. They would
take the seventy lifeboats in tow. II,
when that happened, tn. lights were
cut off they would not stay off. An
emergency circuit would go into oper-
alton. fed by storage batteries. Auto
matically the burden would be taken
up by two Diesel engines, which carry
fuel for a Today run and are operated
three hours a night, just to make sure
that the emergency device is on the
job. Most emergency devices are for
gotten about to the years end. IL they
fail. the lights go back on the storage
batteries again. \ new set.
.yI,I.o Inp'f luOw mugl