Mr. PIRTLE. Well, from a Ford dealer in Nashville-the George Cole Motor Co.

Mr. FULTON. Now, with respect to Mills-Morris?

Mr. PIRTLE. We bought some few parts from Mills-Morris.

Mr. FULTON. How would that compare with the parts you bought at higher prices from other people?

Mr. PIRTLE. Well, we never did have a blanket order from MillsMorris?

Mr. FULTON. The committee has a copy of a letter from Mills-Morris offering to establish a blanket depot there if they were given a blanket order, but you say they were never given one?

Mr. PIRTLE. Not to my knowing; no, sir.

Mr. FULTON. That, of course, was our information. Was that the reason that a lesser quantity was purchased from them?

Mr. PIRTLE. Yes, sir; to the best of my knowledge.

Mr. FULTON. And the balance was purchased locally. Do you know anything about the prices at which they were purchased as compared with the prices that were quoted by Mills-Morris?

Mr. PIRTLE. Yes, sir. We could have gotten stuff, I say, a number of parts, for less from Mills-Morris than they got them at other places, if we had had an order set up with them.

EQUIPMENT GARAGE-REPAIR CHARGES AND OPERATING COSTS

Mr. FULTON. I see. Now, as I understand it, you are still employed in charge of Light Equipment Garage, and in that connection you have inspected the repairs that were made?

Mr. PIRTLE. Yes, sir.

Mr. FULTON. That is probably a rather unpopular job in the sense that it is your duty to criticize where repairs that are unnecessary are being made, and I suppose that in that connection you had to check on the work that is being done in the garage; is that true?

Mr. PIRTLE. Yes, sir; I have checked on all of it possible.

Mr. FULTON. Would you tell us the conditions that you found to exist in the garage?

Mr. PIRTLE. Well, the greatest thing I ever found in the light-equipinent garage was the overstaff of labor that causes the expense to run higher than anything else.

Mr. FULTON. Will you tell us what you mean by that, how many men approximately there were, and the type of work they had to do?

Mr. PIRTLE. Well, of course, sometimes there were more men than there were at other times. There was an average somewhere between 165 and 200 men at all times at the garage.

Mr. FULTON. Just to repair the equipment?

Mr. PIRTLE. I couldn't be positive; I don't have the exact number, only on a certain date, about September 10-I will say there were 187 men employed, including mechanics and mechanic helpers. Mr. FULTON. And that is the light-equipment garage only?

Mr. PIRTLE. Yes, sir.

Mr. FULTON. There is also a heavy equipment garage which is separate?

Mr. PIRTLE. Yes, sir.

Mr. FULTON. Now, would you tell us how those men were organized, say, in several shifts and under foremen, and so on?

Mr. PIRTLE. Yes, sir. There were three shifts.

Mr. FULTON. And how many men would be employed in a shift? Are they roughly equal shifts?

Mr. PIRTLE. Somewhere, we will say, from 20 to 25 mechanics and helpers on an average of that; sometimes probably they used 30 mechanics and 30 helpers, and on other shifts there would be smaller numbers.

Mr. FULTON. Did they have work enough to keep that number of men working efficiently?

Mr. PIRTLE. Sometimes, some days they did, but on the average they didn't.

Mr. FULTON. Will you describe some typical cases that you found out there? First, Mr. Pirtle, at the request of the committee's investigator, I think you and he picked a day out of a hat and checked on that particular day to see what the cost of doing work in that garage was; isn't that true?

Mr. PIRTLE. Yes, sir; as well as I remember. I don't know-I got a daily report from the garage of parts, labor and total cost, see. Mr. FULTON. And you picked a day-I think it was June 21.

Mr. PIRTLE. I wouldn't say we picked a day. We reached in the file and pulled out a sheet and it happened to be about June 21; yes, sir. Mr. FULTON. And you did that with the idea of getting a particular day without selecting either the worst or the best.

(The analysis of repair charges referred to was marked "Exhibit No. 158" and is included in the appendix on p. 3284.)

Mr. PIRTLE. We didn't select any certain day; no, sir.

Mr. FULTON. When you picked that out, what did you find then in connection with that garage and the cost of doing work in it?

Mr. PIRTLE. Well, just offhand, I might give some few things there. I remember hours they had charged up to various things, such as installing fire extinguishers, removing and replacing generators, tuning motors, and such as that.

Mr. FULTON. I noticed, for example, on that day there was a fire extinguisher installed on truck No. 2010, with a labor cost of $3. Mr. PIRTLE. I have known it to go as high as $6.

Mr. FULTON. How much time would it take to install a fire extinguisher?

Mr. PIRTLE. I should say it should average 30 minutes, we will say. It should be about that.

Mr. FULTON. And here right on the same day there was a fire extinguisher installed on truck No. 2012 taking 6 hours, with a labor cost of $6. Another one you checked on was vehicle No. 2100, installing rings-parts, $3.66, requiring 481⁄2 hours, a labor cost of $53.88. How much would you estimate the labor cost on such an article properly to be?

Mr. PIRTLE. Well, I would say $25 would be the average labor on installing rings.

Senator BREWSTER. What is installing a fire extinguisher? What does that mean?

Mr. PIRTLE. To the best of my knowledge, it is about three screws in a little bracket that is bolted somewhere on the door or under

neath a cowl, or various places they may be installed; three stove bolts, and then the extinguisher snaps into it.

Mr. FULTON. That took 6 hours?

Mr. PIRTLE. That is their report. They make that report themselves as their daily official report, and they give me a copy of it; that is their own report. I don't make the report. That is the shop report made by

The CHAIRMAN (interposing). The Government was billed with these expenses on the strength of that report; is that true?

Mr. PIRTLE. Yes, sir; it is. That is the report that the records are posted from.

Mr. FULTON. Here is a 32-hour labor charge for repairing a tire, and one vehicle listed three consecutive times on the same day-once for lubrication which took an hour. How long would it take to lubricate such a car?

Mr. PIRTLE. Well, with the greasing system they have and the amount of men, it usually takes anywhere from, I would say, 10

minutes.

Mr. FULTON. It was washed twice on the same day and took 2 hours for each wash job. How long would it take to wash such a car?

Mr. PIRTLE. You mean from the time they start on it until they get through with it?

Mr. FULTON. Yes.

Mr. PIRTLE. Oh, 30 minutes. That would be about as long as it ever takes to do a wash job.

Mr. FULTON. Here is another one where it took an hour to put in 5 quarts of oil, and here is 41 hours to repair a missing motor listed four consecutive times on the same day. Is there any explanation that you could give as to that?

Mr. PIRTLE. No, sir; I couldn't explain that exactly. That is their report that they make themselves of the way they list the men's time and what they are working on.

Mr. FULTON. Here is 12 hours to repair a carburetor, with labor and parts, $18.64, and I think you found

Mr. PIRTLE (interposing). New ones could have been purchased for about $9.

Mr. FULTON. So it cost twice as much to repair the old one as it would to get a new one.

Mr. PIRTLE. I remember some of those.

Mr. FULTON. Here is repairing of tire, 41⁄2 hours. That includes the cost of a new tire, so it is evidently putting on a new tire. How long would it take to put on a new tire?

Mr. PIRTLE. Well, that all depends on whether it was a truck tire or a passenger-car tire.

Mr. FULTON. It is an $11 tire, so it couldn't be a very big truck.

Mr. PIRTLE. On some of them sometimes it takes longer than it does on others. I would say an hour, to be safe. Sometimes it could be done in 30 minutes, but that is an average.

Mr. FULTON. As against 41⁄2 hours. And 911⁄2 hours to repair a selfstarter. Do you regard that as a reasonable amount of time? Mr. PIRTLE. Nine hours on a starter?

Mr. FULTON. Yes.

Mr. PIRTLE. No, sir; I wouldn't.

Mr. FULTON. How long would you say it ought to have taken as a maximum?

Mr. PIRTLE. I have repaired some of them in 30 minutes and I have worked on them for 21⁄2 hours on passenger cars or on a light truck.

Mr. FULTON. Then on that same day some of these vehicles were in for three or four different things on separate charges. How does it happen that they come in so frequently?

Mr. PIRTLE. That could be possible. Possibly they were in for motor tune-up this morning and maybe something goes wrong with the brakes this afternoon or they break a spring. That would be entirely possible, for it to be in three or four times a day. That wouldn't be impossible.

Mr. FULTON. It would seem a little difficult to have its valves ground and brakes adjusted at one time and then to be in again on another somewhat similar job for a drive shaft at a later time in the same day. It seems to take most of the day to do one of them. Did you find occasions when the same vehicle was brought into the garage several times during the day for

the

Mr. PIRTLE (interposing). Yes; I saw the same vehicle brought in garage as many as two and three times the same day.

Mr. FULTON. What were your observations with respect to this? Mr. PIRTLE. Well, on some occasions that is nothing out of the ordinary. You can't tell when something is going to tear you up. You might repair one end of it this morning, and something could break in 30 minutes after it got out of the shop.

Mr. FULTON. And there were several other items of an hour each for putting in oil. I mean, those weren't the rare occasions; they were things that happened frequently, were they not-charges of an hour for putting in 5 quarts of oil?

Mr. PIRTLE. I noticed it on several daily reports; yes, sir.

Mr. FULTON. It was a daily occurrence?

Mr. PIRTLE. Yes, sir.

Mr. FULTON. Are these examples that were found by checking this one day picked out of the whole group arbitrarily; the type of thing you found happening day after day, week after week?

Mr. PIRTLE. Well, there are several days-oh, I will say a number of times compared to that. This is just one day; one particular day. I think you could find dozens or more days to compare with that if you go back through the files, but I didn't go all the way through

them.

Mr. FULTON. Now that day, the charge was $1,300 for labor in that garage, and that was for servicing in some way or another approximately 300 vehicles, over 100 of which simply received a wash job. You say that is more or less typical of dozens of other days? Mr. PIRTLE. Yes, sir.

Mr. FULTON. On the 16th of June you rendered a report with respect to the conditions you found in the garage to Mr. Bouck, did you not?

Mr. PIRTLE. I did, sir.

Mr. FULTON. Is this a copy of the report?
Mr. PIRTLE. That is right, sir.

Mr. FULTON. The report can be inserted in the record.

The CHAIRMAN. I think this report is worth reading. [Reading Exhibit No. 159:]

To: Mr. A. W. Bouck.
From: L. E. Pirtle.

JUNE 16, 1941.

I am writing you in regard to conditions here at the Light Equipment Garage. I have been inspector here since April 8, 1941, and I have noticed considerable change in the superintendent, shop foreman, and other officials of the Ferguson-Oman Co. in the past month. They try to spend every dollar they can for parts whether the equipment needs it or not; they want to put new gears in rear end when they only need adjusting. Last week they put new valves in a motor' when the valves only needed refacing, and they have the necessary machine to reface and reseat valves instead of putting in new ones. They want to put in new spark plugs when all they needed is cleaning. also have a new spark-plug cleaner which they will not use unless I am there to see that they do.

They

They also try to see how long they can keep a truck tied up in the shop for repair. They have an International truck No. B 2336 which has been in the shop 4 or 5 weeks for repair; about 3 weeks ago an order was made out for all parts needed to put this unit to work, so they said. Now after 3 weeks they find they need a starting motor and several other things. This unit should have been disassembled and inspected and all necessary parts ordered at one time.

I have told them all more than once that I will gladly go over any unit with them and inspect and O. K. any parts needed in order to keep the equipment in service, but they try to avoid me seeing as much work as possible. The garage assistant superintendent refused me seeing the shop card file to get information I needed on a certain unit, Monday, June 16.

I have made reports to John Taylor, superintendent of transportation, on several trucks that have been wrecked in different ways due to carelessness and all reports have been ignored.

It seems to me that all Ferguson-Oman officials and employees are organized to abuse, destroy, and delay the defense work as much as possible and cost the Government every dollar they can.

For instance, about 2 weeks ago Mr. Stanfield, Mr. Jessup, and I asked Mr. Walker, connected with the water department, just how he wrecked his pick-up truck No. A 2246, which cost about $100 to repair. His reply was, "I don't know what damn business it is to the C. Q. M."

I personally think necessary steps should be taken to avoid the unnecessary expense to the Government.

Respectfully yours,

L. E. PIRTLE.

(The report referred to was marked "Exhibit No. 159" and appears in full in the text above.)

Mr. FULTON. Mr. Pirtle, did you ever make any surprise appearance at the garage?

Mr. PIRTLE. I have; yes, sir.

Mr. FULTON. Would you tell us what you found at such times?

Mr. PIRTLE. Well, I couldn't give you the exact date, but I would say some months ago, I went out one night at about 8:30 or 9 o'clock and couldn't find anybody in the shop at all, with the house full of work. I walked around to the back, and they were sitting in the automobiles and trucks listening to the radios. I looked up the shop foreman and he was up in the office. I asked him where he had all of his men, what the idea was.

Mr. FULTON. What was he doing in the office?

Mr. PIRTLE. Well, he was sitting in the office-I don't know-working on some cards or something. I couldn't say exactly what he was doing. The only thing he gave me was that it was lunch time.