The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1923-12-19

ker, Lissner, Schlessinger to argue
for the reconditioning of the Levia-
than "as the pride of the government
fleet and the American Merchant Ma
rine."
That was the big inducement held
alluringly before Congress in the
whole progrm.
Gibbs Bros. Get The Fees
Permission of Congress was reeeiv-
ed and funds made available for the
reconditioning of the Leviathan and
the contract for the work was award
ed to the Newport News Shipbuild-
ing & Drydock Company, Homer Fer
guson's firm, the hid being for &c..
1865, not including extras"
Now, what else happens?
Why, although w. F. Gibbs had
been the naval architect for the L.
M. NJ, which had been paid hundreds
of thousands of dollars for drawing
plans for the reconditioning of the
Leviathan before the 1. NJ. M. con-
tract was canceled-Mr. Gibbs and
his brother form a company known
as "Gibbs Bros. Inc" and Mr.. Las
ker promptly gives them a contract
as supervising naval architects to
!, assist Homer Ferguson in recondi-
tioning the Leviathan at the lump
I sum of $1,518 ,O58.S7, "for agency
{ fees, supervision, inspection. audit
| ing and accounting, and miscellaneous
| repairs not covered by contract" so
t the Shipping Board report for 1922
t recites.
Of course the Shipping Board had
= a very large and expensive corps OF
e auditors and accountants costing the
government a couple of millions g
year-but that force couldn't do any
thing on this Leviathan job-"Gibbs
Bros. Inc" were given the job of aud
iting.
d And, too, the Shipping Board hac
n a large force of inspectors in it,
= repair department-many with little
to do, under Commander Richard u
Gatewood-said to be a most com
l. petent man, by the way-but nobod!
t. but "Gibbs Bros. Inc" could furnisl
= the inspectors for the Leviathal
n job.
Gimbel Brothers, a large JEWS
E. firm in New York, had to furnlsl
the plans, the inspection and tn
j, equipment for the interior decors
,e ton of this palatial liner which wa
he to be "the pride Of the government
I'd feet and the American Merchan
ed Marine" so a contract for $646,S00.O
at was given for looking after the equip
is ment of the stewards department
ye the furnishings, and so forth.
OF While all this was going on,
m quiet chap g. the name Of Thoms
Ie- H. P~;1ss5ottom, who had for sewers
wears been in charge of the hlghl
DIS success full Panama Railroad Steam
CT shio Company a enc hundred p'
ir- cent aforementioned feet, whl
n had been consistently making a pr
fit fit in operations until the world q
rs, preston hit shipping-and who,
he spite of that, had manged to no
down his losses so far below tho
IN of the Shipping Board that comps
isons began to be unpleasant for t
ere Shipping Board-was making a So
cess of the United States Lines. Fl
ger line was the outcome of a scand
M which operated under the name
of the United States Mail Lines
the which more will be told later.
nts Lasker drafted Rossbottom into
da, service of the Shipping Board
on $4,000 a year. He couldn't opera
the of course, as well as Smuil at $3.50
as Love at $4,000, so he could be pa
only $4,000 a year-but anyw
ist- that got him out Of the Panama Ii
ore so he would no longer prove an e
all barrassment to the Shipping Boa
res by running ships at so much less c.