Mr. MAXON. They were operating a gravel pit, and preparing the material for use at a future date; preparing it and storing it for future repair work.

There was, I believe, at that site, the construction of a cafe under way. There was a sewage disposal plant under way. There was some grading and general work going on. I believe they were rolling on the taxiways and runway.

Mr. DAVIS. Which appeared to be work of a corrective nature; is that correct?

Mr. MAXON. Both, work of a corrective nature and new work. Mr. RowE. There were small connecting taxiways under construction at the same time which were entirely new work and not corrective measures.

Tests were being conducted by the use of heavy rollers, but there was no corrective work under way on runways or taxiways while we were there at either of the bases.

Mr. MAXON. Except the rolling.

Mr. RowE. Except the rolling.

Mr. DAVIS. Were you able to observe those rollers actually in action?

Mr. RowE. We did at Nouasseur observe a 200-ton roller in operation on the taxiways where the depressions had occurred. Unfortunately, the 200-ton roller that was to be used at Sidi Slimane was being used at Ben Guerir, and the 100-ton roller that they were using at Sidi Slimane had broken down just about an hour before we got there. The 200-ton roller from Ben Guerir was subsequently moved over to Sidi Slimane, and shortly after it arrived there it blew a tire, so we didn't get to see the 200-ton roller working at Sidi Slimane.

CONSTRUCTION IN PROGRESS DURING MAXON SURVEY AT BEN

GUERIR

Mr. DAVIS. At Ben Guerir what was the status of construction there?

Mr. Rowe. At Ben Guerir they had completed the base on the 14,000-foot runway, that is, the stone base, and had about two-thirds of the base courses of the asphalt in place. They were also working on the taxiway, and making preliminary plans for the erection of part of the housing facilities for the Air Corps. There was also under construction the POL system, which was substantially completed.

Mr. DAVIS. You actually saw them laying pavement at Ben Guerir, then?

Mr. RowE. No, we did not. At the time we were there the operations were suspended in the field and we did not actually see any of the new work being constructed, although we saw what had been constructed, as far as runways were concerned.

Mr. DAVIS. What is the significance of this statement in the report, which appears on page 33:

Although the surface of the leveling course had a rather smooth finish, it was observed that no failures had occurred on a test section of the runway including the binder course.

I imagine that has some significance to engineers. It doesn't to me.

Mr. RowE. As has been pointed out here in numerous statements, the materials available for the construction of these bases had required very extensive field research by those set up to make the field investigation to determine what materials would be available, and the most suitable material obtainable in that area was a rather soft limestone, and in the processing of this limestone it would form a cake on the top of it.

Ordinarily it is desirable to have the rock base so that the asphalt will bind on it, so when we saw certain sections of the runway had this coating on it, we immediately raised the question as to whether or not it was desirable to have this coating on, as ordinarily in construction practice it is not permitted.

The area engineer then took us up to about the middle of the runway. This question had previously come up before the architectengineers, and I presume the Corps of Engineers, and in order to prove or disprove the theory that I and some other people evidently had had that it was not necessary to have the ramp fully exposed, they had constructed a section of the runway on which they had already placed the asphalt surface, and over this area they had towed the 200-ton roller 200 passes, and they had had no slippage or any failure, and therefore we assumed that even though the appearance was contrary to construction practice, after the tests were made, it was an approved method, considering the type of materials available. I am surprised you picked up this small item. Mr. DAVIS. That is our job.

General WALSH. Because of the smooth surface we got because of the large amount of rolling, both rubber-tired and smooth-wheeled, we found it necessary to broom, with a heavy broom, that top surface before we put on the prime coat, and by that brooming removed a large amount of the slick-appearing surface and gave the base course the necessary roughness.

General PICK. Also, what they are talking about now, Mr. Chairman, is the surface between the black-top material and the base rock, not the wearing surface of the black-top runway.

Mr. DAVIS. Would you call this method of construction a peculiar adaptation to this particular place, or have you adopted that as somewhat of a standard method of construction now?

General WALSH. The formation of the more or less slick surface is a characteristic of the rock at this particular point.

Mr. DAVIS. As I gathered from your previous comments, from your on-the-spot inspection you were favorably impressed with the construction now in progress at Ben Guerir; is that correct?

Mr. MAXON. Yes, sir.

UTILIZATION OF MANPOWER

Mr. DAVIS. What comment would you make on the utilization of manpower as you observed the construction? You might want to compare it with your experience in the continental United States and also your experience in overseas construction.

Mr. MAXON. I would like Mr. Keenan to answer that.

Mr. KEENAN. From my observation, I saw no loafing, no racing of heavy equipment in and out of pits. I particularly noticed that, in

the gravel pit at Sidi Slimane, where it easily could have slipped over the bank, they were very carefully driving their equipment.

The maintenance of permanent equipment, such as we call plant, had been such that it appeared to me that it was all operating just as though it were new and could take on any additional amount of work; it was in good shape.

The asphalt plants looked like they were brand new. One had been moved from Sidi Slimane to Ben Guerir, and it looked like a new plant. It was just being set up and would be ready to operate, I think, within a few days.

No matter where we went, whether in the cookhouses or the warehouses, my observation was there were not too many men. I didn't go into the bookkeeping end of it, but there were not too many men, and everyone was working, and in the higher levels everyone was looking for more work to do.

Mr. DAVIS. Did you observe both American and native labor?

Mr. KEENAN. I observed all labor that I came in contact with. In the carpenter shops everyone was working; in the machine shops everyone was working. The native labor was there ready to take care of any emergency that might happen. The plant runs by itself, but when something unusual happened, they were there.

I was very much impressed with the whole operation.

Mr. DAVIS. About how many people did they have on the job at Ben Guerir?

Mr. KEENAN. Two thousand, I think, approximately.

STATUS OF COST ACCOUNTING RECORDS

Mr. DAVIS. Going back to the discussion we had just before the recess for lunch, Mr. Maxon, would you say that there was any too much detailed cost accounting being done at the present time, in your opinion?

Mr. MAXON. I would like Mr. Burke to answer that question. I might put in a general statement there, that I believe that due to the urgency of getting all past records up to date, there is a tremendous concentration of work on all types of records that will not follow through when they are up to date. On cost keeping, I would like Mr. Burke to answer that.

Mr. BURKE. Obviously, after their cost records are brought up to date they will not have too much cost keeping. In the cost engineering section, we thought they had too few people in that section.

Mr. DAVIS. My question was directed more to the details of their present system of cost accounting. Is it too cumbersome?

Mr. BURKE. No. I would say they are not keeping too much cost records.

Mr. DAVIS. Then what explanation did you get for the failure to keep cost accounting records in the past?

Mr. BURKE. Well, as somebody else has already stated, initially they got off on the wrong foot with the records. The machinery and materials arrived before the personnel, and the records never have been brought up since. Let me elaborate there.

On labor cost records they are doing exactly what I would do if I were over there on the job so as to determine cost. There is nothing

wrong with that. They are not doing any more nor less than I would do.

On their equipment, the same is true. There is nothing wrong with the way of determining the equipment cost.

The only thing that is behind is the cost of materials going into their facilities. That is the only deficiency I found in their cost keeping.

Mr. DAVIS. Let me ask you this, Colonel Derby: In the early stages of this operation, did you contemplate that some time or other you would get caught up with your cost accounting, or at last along the line did somebody tell you that you had to do more cost accounting than you had contemplated?

Colonel DERBY. No. We contemplated catching up. We were very slow in getting the right people for that particular type of work. In February of this year when Mr. Wilbur came he said he was the only man on the job who knew anything about cost accounting, and he didn't have time to do it. We had been after that cost keeping for some time. That was one deficiency they definitely had for a long time, and we saw very considerable improvement in it as soon as Mr. Wilbur got there. Even with the people that he had, he was able to coach them enough so that they were able to get out some very useful cost statements.

Mr. DAVIS. Then it stands on the record that it was well over a year after construction was started that a real effective system of cost accounting was put into effect; is that correct?

Colonel DERBY. No, sir. We didn't get started in construction until well in April, and they seemed to have a pretty good system started by March of this year. They put out that first statement I mentioned the 31st of March or the last of February, I forget which. Mr. DAVIS. Do you agree substantially with that, Mr. Bonny? Mr. BONNY. I agree substantially; yes.

DEPRESSIONS AS RESULT OF ROLLING AT NOUASSEUR

Mr. DAVIS. On page 36 of your report, Mr. Maxon, appears this statement:

An inspection of the operational apron at the Nouasseur base, one-third of which had been rolled with the 200-ton roller, was conducted. Evidence of depressions were frequent.

As an experienced constructor, would you consider those evidences of depressions as indicating weaknesses in construction that will require substantial redoing?

Mr. MAXON. I believe the depressions would indicate a weakness underneath, or the weakness may be in the subbase, which can be corrected by additional rolling. Your question as to whether that is evidence of any particular amount of construction to be done as a remedial matter would depend entirely on further tests.

Mr. DAVIS. We will defer further questions on that until tomorrow, I guess.

Mr. MAXON. I might add that what we call depressions in this report are probably synonymous with what General Hardin called bird baths a while ago.

Mr. DAVIS. They may have been consciously created depressions, then?

Mr. MAXON. No, not consciously created, but created in a conscious process.

Mr. DAVIS. I understood General Hardin to say that some of these bird baths were made purposely.

Mr. MAXON. I think you misunderstood General Hardin.

General HARDIN. No, sir. The bird baths I had reference to came in the operational apron as a result of running the compaction roller over the area, particularly in the lower area of the operational apron. We feel that for a proper type of drainage for an apron of that nature, it should be improved to the degree of quick draining after a rain.

STATUS OF PROPERTY ACCOUNTING

Mr. DAVIS. Referring to your comment on page 48 on the property accounting, on which there has been some discussion here previously did you have an opportunity to consult with top management, as you have referred to it here, to form an opinion as to whether or not the constant attention of top management is directed to the problem of accomplishing results now?

Mr. MAXON. Yes, sir; we took that matter under advisement several times-myself, Mr. Rowe, and Mr. Burke, and Mr. Keenan at times. We discussed the problem with the cost accounting people, with management of Atlas Constructors, and I think that is about as far as we went with it, but there was plenty of opportunity taken to discuss that with them.

Mr. DAVIS. Are you now satisfied that tangible and effective steps are being taken to bring those records into proper shape?

Mr. MAXON. Absolutely.

Colonel DERBY. So far as my comment about Atlas' deficiency in cost keeping is concerned, they kept a lot of detailed records. What they were short of was the cost-keeping men who knew how to analyze the figures and put the figures together so that they would mean something to me.

EXCESSIVE HOUSING CAPACITY AT BEN GUERIR

Mr. DAVIS. You mentioned in your report, Mr. Maxon, that at Ben Guerir the operating capacity was double that required.

What explanation did you obtain with respect to that?

Mr. MAXON. Are you referring to the camps? Are you referring to the housing capacity of the camp?

Mr. DAVIS. Was it the housing capacity? I neglected to put down the page.

Mr. MAXON. Page 28, Mr. Burke says. That is the capacity of the construction camp, the camp for housing personnel and the recreational facilities and the commissary facilities for taking care of that personnel. Now, what was your question?

Mr. DAVIS. What explanation did you obtain from those in charge for that?

Mr. MAXON. For the doubling of the capacity?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes.

Mr. MAXON. I do not know that we got an explanation for that. We did not ask for it. I would say in that case we assumed that the