INCREASES REQUESTED FOR 1939 (a) Additional (or increased) recurring items for 1939: 1. Tem- 2. Laundry machinery, including repairs to present 3. Linotype machine (project No. 2, p. 6). Total increases__ Total nonrecurring items__. Estimate for 1939. 9, 000 3,245 12, 245 $13.35 256.300 The increases over the base requested this year, which total $13.325, will bring the appropriation to the same figure as was appropriated last year. TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENT OF SKILLED LABOR Item one, temporary employment of skilled labor, is $1,080. This is required to complete projects upon which W. P. A. employees were formerly employed, due to the fact that certain skilled mechanics. particularly plumbers and electricians, are not obtainable from the relief agency. The sum requested represents approximately 144 mandays of such skilled labor, averaging $7.50 per day. They have had a great deal of W. P. A. labor at that station and have accomplished a great deal of work with it. This will enable them to get skilled labor to finish jobs which the W. P. A. had already started. LAUNDRY MACHINERY AND REPAIRS The second item is laundry machinery, including repairs to present machinery, $9,000. Mr. UMSTEAD. I believe the appropriation for the present fiscal year carried an item of $6,500 for laundry machinery and bakery equipment. Captain WILKINSON. It does, sir. Mr. UMSTEAD. Of that amount, $3,100 was for laundry machinery? Captain WILKINSON. Yes, sir. Mr. UMSTEAD. Now you are asking an additional $9.000 for the next fiscal year for laundry machinery? Captain WILKINSON. Yes, sir. We have a different type of laundry machine. The machines asked for last year were press machines, a cuff and neckband machine, and a starch cooker. This year there are other items requested, as listed on pages 6 and 7 of the estimate, which total in themselves $19,000, and this $9.000 requested will accomplish approximately half of those replacement items. Mr. UMSTEAD. Are the items for which the $9.000 is being requested replacement items? Captain WILKINSON. Yes, sir. Mr. UMSTEAD. How long have the items you are seeking to replace been in use? Captain WILKINSON. Fifteen years and more. Mr. UMSTEAD. Captain, can you give us an idea as to the total cost of the machinery in the laundry at the Great Lakes Training Station? Captain WILKINSON. I do not have that, sir. Mr. UMSTEAD. Will you insert it in the record at this point, please? Captain WILKINSON. I will. NOTE.-$27,523. LINOTYPE MACHINE Captain WILKINSON. The last item is the linotype machine, for which $3,245 is requested. This machine is required to replace the present Mergenthaler linotype machine located in the print shop at this station. This machine is approximately 18 years old and is in such poor condition that further repairs are not warranted. In view of the unsatisfactory service which the present machine has given during the past several years and the exorbitant expenses in connection with its maintenance and repairs, further expenditures are not considered justified; therefore, replacement of this machine should be made during the fiscal year 1939. Mr. UMSTEAD. Captain, for what purpose is a print shop operated at that training station? Captain WILKINSON. The training station is the headquarters of the ninth naval district, sir, which covers all the North Central States. The commandant of the district has a good deal of printng that he has to have done in connection with his instructions and orders to all naval activities throughout the district, and the training station itself has a good deal of printing to be done in routine orders and instructions with respect to men and their training. It is a small print shop. I think it has only two or three men in it. Mr. UMSTEAD. Have you at any time discussed the operation of that print shop and similar print shops with the Joint Committee on Printing? Captain WILKINSON. I have not myself, sir, but they are authorized field stations under the Joint Committee on Printing. Mr. UMSTEAD. There is no conflict there? Captain WILKINSON. There is no conflict, and they are operating under the regulations of the Committee on Printing. We have others in New York and elsewhere. NAVAL TRAINING STATION, NORFOLK, VA. Mr. UMSTEAD. The next item is the Naval Training Station at Norfolk, Va. Captain WILKINSON. The purpose of the appropriation is to provide funds for the training of recruits preparatory to sending them to the vessels of the Fleet, giving instructions to enlisted men in the several classes of the trade schools as training for future petty officers, and for the maintenance and repair of building and grounds of the Naval Training Station, Norfolk, Va. The estimates for 1939 and the allocation of the appropriation for 1938 are based upon the expenditures for 1937, which figures are the latest available, and take into consideration the following factors: (a) Number of recruits in training: (1) Number of recruits assigned to this station for training in 1939 is 5,538, inclusive of mess attendants. (2) Number of recruits assigned for training in 1938 is 5,000, inclusive of mess attendants. (3) The number trained in 1937 was 4,269 recruits and 478 mess attendants. (b) Number of enlisted men under instruction in trade schools: (1) The number of enlisted men to be detailed to service schools in 1939 is 1,500. (2) The number to be detailed in 1938 is 1,500. (3) The number of graduates in 1937 was 1,233. Mr. UMSTEAD. Captain, I believe that only at the San Diego station and the Norfolk station do you have enlisted men detailed to service schools. Captain WILKINSON. That is correct. The other training stations have recruit training only. Regular appropriation, 1938 act_. Deduct nonrecurring and other items not required in 1939: 1. Repairs to buildings U6 and U7--- $260,000 $4,800 6. Material for galley and mess hall, replacement of bicycles and electric fans_. 1.286 Base for 1939 18,286 241, 714 INCREASES REQUESTED FOR 1939 (a) Additional (or increased) recurring items for 1939: (b) Nonrecurring items required in 1939: 2. Material for galley and mess hall, project No. 2, page No. 6_-3. Replacement of machinery in service schools (Machinist's Mates School), project No. 2, page No. 6-- 4. Repairs and alterations, project No. 5, page No. 10. Total nonrecurring items____. Total increases_. Estimate for 1939. 5.600 2,500 4.000 14, 686 21, 186 26.783 268,500 DISTRIBUTING SYSTEMS The first increase asked for in the item is for the expenses of taking care of the distributing systems. Until last year the steam, water, and electric lines throughout the naval station were operated under the naval operating base as a whole, and out of their Public-Works maintenance fund, and as a result of a board that the commandant convened there to allocate the charges for the upkeep of these activities, they were broken down into the several areas that they fed. One of the areas, of course, is the training station, and the training station is obligated to maintain, from its funds, these lines within its area. Mr. UMSTEAD. If I understand you, although this item appears here as a new item, it is in fact an item which will be deducted from some other appropriation in the bill? Captain WILKINSON. It should be a deduction from the maintenance charges under the Bureau of Yards and Docks. Mr. UMSTEAD. Do you know whether that deduction has been made as shown in these estimates or not? Captain WILKINSON. I do not, sir. The estimated additional cost of those lines is $5,600, of which $2,100 is for steam lines, $2,500 for electric lines, and $1,000 for sewer and water mains. REPLACEMENT OF MACHINERY IN SERVICE SCHOOLS With regard to the replacement of machinery in service schools, $4,000, this is required to cover the cost of partial replacement of worn-out machinery necessary for proper operation of the schools. The estimated cost of all items requiring replacement is $11,900. Estimates for succeeding years will carry funds to continue this replacement program. Mr. UMSTEAD. How long have these schools been conducted at this station? Captain WILKINSON. They have been running practically since the institution of the station, and some of these machines were in use there just before and in the war. They were obtained from machinery originally installed elsewhere. I have a list of them here. There was one that was bought in 1873, and the youngest of the lot of them was bought in 1900. There was a tool grinder bought in 1873, and some others as late as 1900. Mr. UMSTEAD. Are those items bought in 1873 and 1900, respectively, still in service? Captain WILKINSON. They are reclaimed machines that are used in the school, and they are still in service there. There are 13 items on this reclamation program of $11,900, of which, as I say, the oldest was purchased in 1873 and the newest items are 3 that were purchased in 1900. Mr. UMSTEAD. How are the old ones operating now? MATERIAL FOR GALLEY AND MESS HALL There is an increase requested for material for the galley and mess hall of $2,500, to provide replacement of certain necessary galley equipment, such as dough-mixing machines, meat-grinding machine, cake mixer, potato-peeling machine, scales, steam kettles, food conveying trucks, and ceiling fans. The estimated cost of all items requiring replacement is $4,612, and provision will be made in estimates for succeeding years to complete the program. That can be finished in 2 years. Last year there was $714 allocated to the replacement of machinery there, such as vegetable cubing and slicing machines, cake mixer, and food chopper. Mr. UMSTEAD. If you should receive the $2,500 now requested, what world be the balance necessary to complete the replacements? Captain WILKINSON. About $2,000. REPAIRS AND ALTERATIONS OF BUILDING There is a very important item for that station, and that is repairs and alterations, $14,686. The station was built in a hurry, in war time, it is frame construction, and the buildings are not really in anything like a satisfactory state. There is a constant expense involved in maintaining them, and we are endeavoring to get the replacement of some of them. Pending that replacement there is a great deal of work that has to be done. These are not by any means the only items, but these are the most serious items that should be taken up. Essential repairs to buildings U-6 and U-7. These are two buildings that are used for trade schools, in which all this machinery just mentioned is housed and other machinery as well. Our machinists' mates and aviation machinists' mates get their training in those service schools. The buildings are about to fall down. We are seeking authorization for replacement of the buildings, and this item of $4,686 is by no means sufficient to put them in good condition. It is merely to patch and piece and hold them up for another year. Mr. THOM. Those are wooden buildings? Captain WILKINSON. They are wooden buildings. ALLOCATIONS FROM W. P. A. FUNDS Mr. UMSTEAD. Before you leave that item, Captain, I believe that during the present fiscal year there have been W. P. A. allocations to the Norfolk training station area for repairs and improvements. It appears that there have been two allotments-one of $167,000 and one of $179,000. Were those allotments for the naval training station or some other unit of the navy at Norfolk? Captain WILKINSON. I have no record of those individual projects. sir, but from the terms as you read them, I am sure that they are for the naval operating base as a whole. The record that I have indicates that last year there was a total of $28,706 allowed to the training station at Norfolk out of W. P. A. money-$21,000 for labor and $7,600 for material. This year I have a recent note showing that the $167.000, which checks with your item, was allowed to the naval operating base itself, and out of that it was anticipated that about $25,000 to $30,000 might be drawn for the purpose of the training station alone, but the remainder would be used for the water-front operations on the base and work at the naval air station, which is adjacent to the training station. |