Admiral MOREELL. Funds are appropriated or otherwise provided under the Bureau of Yards and Docks for all of the public works and public utilities of the naval-shore establishment, which include all classes of construction at navy yards, ammunition depots, hospitals, marine barracks, and other shore establishments. New con struction and major projects of reconditioning are classed as publie works. Repairs, maintenance, dredging, upkeep, and operation expenses are provided for out of maintenance appropriations of this or other bureaus.

In 1931 Congress passed the Employment Stabilization Act of 1931, which required the various agencies of the Federal Government to prepare 6-year programs for their needed construction and to keep those programs up to date. Generally speaking, in past years the Navy's shore program called for the expenditure for public works of $12,000,000 to $13,000,000 a year, which includes a reasonable allowance for replacements and reconditioning to make good obsolescence and deferred depreciation of existing structures. Due to rising prices and the expanding needs of the shore establishment. this figure has been increased in the current 6-year program to $20,000,000.

Projects proposed for inclusion in the 1939 bill have a total cost of $16,176,000, which figure represents the total authorized cost of the various projects. Toward the accomplishment of these projects and to carry on projects authorized in appropriation acts for previous years, it is recommended that an appropriation of $10,787,000 be made.

The projects requested are of major importance to the Navy and are necessary to improve the industrial facilities at Navy Yards, relieve deplorable housing conditions at isolated activities, and provide additional facilities for aviation and hospitalization of naval personnel.

The principal items are: The development of the air station at Alameda; the further improvement of harbor and channel at Pearl Harbor: improved or increased housing at the air station, Norfolk, fleet air base, Coco Solo, submarine base, Coco Solo, and naval sta tion, Balboa; improvement of power facilities at Pearl Harbor; im

provement of ammunition handling facilities at Fort Mifflin and Iona Island; and the construction of a Naval Medical Center at or near Washington, D. C.

The work of the Bureau of Yards and Docks is carried on under the immediate supervision of officers of the Corps of Civil Engineers-115 in number. Seventy of these officers were appointed from civil life and the remainder are graduates of the Naval Academy, having been given postgraduate courses at a civil technical school after they were selected for the Corps.

Distribution of estimate for Public Works projects-Appropriation Act

Mr. UMSTEAD. Admiral, will you take up now the items requested for the navy yard at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii?

Admiral MOREELL. Yes, sir. We ask for additional improvement of harbors and channels in the fourteenth naval district, which includes Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, $1,500,000.

The Pearl Harbor Navy Yard is located on the south shore of the island of Oahu, about 5 miles from the sea and 11 miles from Honolulu. The general strategic area includes all of the islands of the Hawaiian group and those to the westward, but not including Guam or Samoa. The navy yard is the Navy's principal outlying naval base and the harbor is the only adequate protected anchorage ground for concentrations of the fleet in Hawaiian waters. The yard is in

tended as a repair establishment for units of the fleet. With the passage of years since the station was first established it has become of increasing importance and is now one of the primary bases of the fleet.

This project contemplates a continuation of the development of the harbor and channel by the dredging of the anchorage area on the north side of the channel around Ford Island in East Loch, to provide a mooring area for the fleet. It is important that this area be dredged to a depth sufficient to allow for the placing of moorings to make best use of the areas so that the greatest number of ships practicable can be moored. Upon the completion of the anchorage areas mooring will be placed for berthing units of the fleet in p tions where ingress and egress can be effected in the quickest posse time. The areas to be dredged are now from 16 feet to 24 feet deep and is contemplated to dredge these areas to a minimum of feet deep. The material dredged will be disposed of in locations where it will not interfere with naval or private interests.

Mr. UMSTEAD. Admiral, I believe that rather large sums of mote have been appropriated over a period of years for dredging Pear! Harbor?

Admiral MOREELL. Yes, sir.

Mr. UMSTEAD. Is it your opinion that there will be annually re curring appropriations for that purpose?

Admiral MOREELL. It is, sir, but not for an indefinite period.

DREDGE "HELL GATE"

Mr. UMSTEAD. If I recall correctly, in the 1937 appropriation bell Congress provided funds under this item for the purpose of pur chasing from the Army a dredge. This year, in February, as I recall, we were told, when considering the estimates for 1938, thi the dredge had been purchased and that some effort had been made by the Department to put it in proper condition. Where is it now Admiral MOREELL. It is at Pearl Harbor, sir.

Mr. UMSTEAD. Has it been put to work?

Admiral MOREELL. No, sir.

Mr. UMSTEAD. Do you contemplate dredging with it?

Admiral MOREELL. At the present time the Navy does not on template dredging with it. But I think it is pertinent to state that the Army has made a request for permission to use it at Was Island in connection with the development of that harbor. T. v work has been authorized by the Congress and it is understood fures are available for it.

Mr. UMSTEAD. How far is Wake Island from Hawaii?

Admiral MOREELL. About 2,000 miles.

Mr. UMSTEAD. In which direction?

Admiral MOREELL. Westward.

Mr. UMSTEAD. I think it is fair to make the further statement the'. in addition to the probability of actually using the dredge in Pes Harbor, it was indicated that the ownership of the dredge by Navy Department and its location in Hawaii would have a tendenc to enable the Government and the Navy Department to obtain better contracts for dredging work in that area, that is to say, it wo. tend to compel private companies to make lower bids. Has i achieved that result?

Admiral MOREELL. The fact is, Mr. Chairman, that the prices of dredging under the last two contracts, made in 1936 and 1937, were lower than the price under the contract made in 1934. .

Mr. UMSTEAD. Do you ascribe it to that cause?

Admiral MOREELL. If I did, sir, it would be tantamount to stating that the contractor at Pearl Harbor required this threat in order to cause him to give the Government a fair price, and I am not prepared to say that that is the case.

Mr. PLUMLEY. Mr. Chairman, might I ask right there if that dredge was moved to Wake Island and disappeared from Pearl Harbor, in view of your question, what effect would that have?

Admiral MORREELL. The use of the dredge at Wake Island would be only temporary, Mr. Plumley, over a period of not to exceed approximately a year. The proposal made by the Army provides for the return of the dredge to the Navy at Pearl Harbor on the completion of the work at Wake Island.

Mr. PLUMLEY. That is what I wished to get on the record. Mr. UMSTEAD. What is your opinion regarding the prospects of future bids for dredging, as compared with present prices?

Admiral MOREELL. That is a very difficult thing to state, Mr. Chairman, because we know that construction costs in the United States are going up. On the contrary, dredging prices at Pearl Harbor seem to be going down. Now, whether that is due to the fact that the nature of the material is different and the difficulties of working in the inner harbor are not as great as those of working in the outer reaches of the channel, I am not prepared to state. Last year, in the discussion before this committee, the point was made that the lower price offered by the contractor might very well be attributed to the fact that the working conditions were safer in the inner harbor than on the outside.

Mr. PLUMLEY. Mr. Chairman, I should like to ask if it is not, nevertheless, a fact that the reduction in the price of dredging was noticed after this dredge appeared there?

Admiral MOREELL. No, sir. A difference in the price of dredging occurred in 1936. The change was from 65 cents a cubic yard under the 1934 contract to 51 cents a cubic yard under the 1936 contract. The bids on the latter contract were opened on August 5, 1936, and the dredge arrived at Pearl Harbor on June 21, 1937, about a year later.

Mr. PLUMLEY. Was that bid opened before there was any agitation with respect to the transfer of the dredge to Pearl Harbor?

Admiral MOREELL. I do not recall, Mr. Plumley, that there was any agitation about the transfer of the dredge to Pearl Harbor. The dredge Hell Gate was actually delivered to the New York Navy Yard on June 15, 1936. The contractor's bid was dated at Honolulu July 24, 1936. Whether, at the time he made his bid, the contractor knew that the dredge had been acquired and would ultimately be sent to Pearl Harbor, I do not know. However, the hearings on the 1937 appropriation bill, which were published before the bids were solicited, indicate plainly that the Department was considering the purchase of dredging equipment.

Mr. PLUMLEY. I will just state that it seemed to be the consensus of opinion, that was communicated at least to me, and I think to some other members of the committee, that were it not for the fact