PURCHASE OF LAND NEAR LEAGUE ISLAND. (See p. 290.) The CHAIRMAN. This land figures about $3,600 an acre? Mr. SMITH. Yes, sir. That is the price that the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. has paid for land adjoining the tract that we want to purchase. The CHAIRMAN. How far is this from Philadelphia? Mr. SMITH. About 7 miles from Philadelphia. Admiral HARRIS. Seven miles from the City Hall. The CHAIRMAN. Down the river? Admiral HARRIS. On the Schuylkill River, which flows into the Delaware. The navy yard, League Island, is on one side. On the other side of the Schuylkill is this piece of property. Mr. GILLETT. Is League Island on the Schuylkill rather than on the Delaware? Admiral HARRIS. No: League Island is on the Delaware and on the Schuylkill. The Schuylkill comes done on one side. There [indicating] is the Delaware River. Here [indicating] is the Schuylkill River. This indicating] is Philadelphia. That [indicating] is the City Hall. Philadelphia [indicating] comes around here. That indicating] is League Island. Here [indicating] is Fort Millin. Here [indicating] is the property. The CHAIRMAN. How much land have you at Fort Mifflin; have you a naval reservation? Admiral HARRIS. A naval magazine. The CHAIRMAN. How much land have you there now? Admiral HARRIS. I do not know the exact area of Fort Mifflin; I will have to insert that. I think it is probably about 70 or 80 acres. NOTE.-One hundred and forty-seven acres. BUILDINGS AND BARRACKS AT ORDNANCE DEPOTS. The CHAIRMAN. Where the other buildings are to be located, did you specify the amount to be expended at each place? Admiral HARRIS. There is $45,000 to be expended for buildings. The remaining item is for quarters or barracks, for a marine guard to protect the ammunition depots, $250,000. The CHAIRMAN. We gave you that? Admiral HARRIS. No; you gave us $100.000 for that purpose. The amount of money, $100,000, was not sufficient for the size of the marine guard that they want to put to protect the stations. The CHAIRMAN. You do not have the guard there ordinarily? Mr. SMITH. We are going to expand six or seven times at most of these places. The CHAIRMAN. What is the character of these quarters, permanent or temporary? Admiral HARRIS. They will be frame buildings. The CHAIRMAN. Permanent or temporary? Admiral HARRIS. Temporary. The CHAIRMAN. Please put in the record a statement as to where they are to be located and the number. Admiral HARRIS. Yes, sir. Mr. Smith will explain. INDIANHEAD PROVING GROUND BUILDINGS. (See p. 285.) Mr. SMITH. Indianhead, Md., $30,000. The figures which I will give you include the $100,000 appropriated and the proposed $250,000 for the development that we consider necessary. That is, $33,500 for 80 men. The CHAIRMAN. Have you not a large force of watchmen there all the time? Mr. SMITH. There are a few watchmen, but there are actually 80 marines, and they are very cramped and very crowded. The CHAIRMAN. Has not the Indianhead plant been running full time sice before the outbreak of the war? Mr. SMITH. It has been running aproximately full time. The CHAIRMAN. Two shifts or three shifts? Mr. SMITH. I think they are running two shifts. The CHAIRMAN. Two shifts at least? NOTE.--Three shifts, eight hours each. Mr. SMITH. Yes; that is my understanding. The necessity for protection has never been as great as it is now. The CHAIRMAN. How many men do you contemplate to provide accommodations for? Mr. SMITH. Eighty men at Indianhead. Mr. CANNON. That is, for the civilian guard? Mr. SMITH. No; the marine guard, a detachment of marines. Mr. CANNON. You are going to have 80 of the marine guards doing guard duty at Indianhead? Mr. SMITH. Yes, sir; they are there now. Mr. CANNON. Is that enough? Mr. SMITH. That is enough; but we have not adequate quarters for the men. The CHAIRMAN. The capacity has not increased; they have had guards and watchmen? Mr. SMITH. It has been tremendously increased since the war. The CHAIRMAN. But the capacity of the plant has not been increased? Mr. SMITH. No, sir; but the protection. Admiral HARRIS. I think you will find that the watchmen are largely confined to the interior works. The marine guard is for the outside, keeping people from coming in. Mr. SMITII. We police the boundary of every magazine at all times; they flood lights and use searchlights. Mr. CANNON. It is contemplated that there will be 80 men during this war on guard at this place? Mr. SMITH. Yes, sir. Mr. CANNON. It seems to me that they ought to be supplied by people in civil life and that these men should be on the line of duty. That is just a suggestion. I am a tenderfoot. on. Mr. SMITH. That is a question of policy that I am not able to pass It is a military organization, which is considered necessary. Mr. CANNON. How many men are going to protect these places in the aggregate? Mr. SMITH. There are 11 places, and I should say 1,000 or 1,100 men. Mr. CANNON. Admiral, have you taken up the question of supplying these places by men in civil life? Admiral HARRIS. I think the general principle is that a place of that sort should be guarded by a military organization, subject to discipline and being to some extent under orders from military authority. In other words, ammunition depots are rather important. They have a great deal of this reserve ammunition. The marine guards are likely to take much more drastic action than a civilian. Mr. SMITH. It is difficult to secure men for the regular work at the different stations. They are all outlying points and at most of them it is extremely difficult to get enough men to operate the plant. Admiral HARRIS. You take a civilian watchman and if he does not feel like coming out to-morrow he will not come out, or if he has had rather a hard time the night before he may be sick the next day and may not want to come out, but with the marines, under military control, you always have your guard there, together with your relief. It is much more effective; the appearance is more effective. People are less likely to try to get in and do mischief if they know there is a military guard than if the guard is from civil life. Mr. CANNON. Can not you enlist people for this special duty? Mr. CANNON. And thereby release these men. I am rather under the impression that you may have use for all you can get. Admiral HARRIS. We may come to that later on, if we need the men badly enough. The men who take the magazine duty are usually men who have only been in a short time, as a part of their training and discipline, they are recruits, and they do not stay there very long. They serve a certain time and then move along, but so far as replacing them with a type of home guard, we may come to that. The CHAIRMAN. $33,000 at Indianhead. Where are the other items? BUILDINGS AT THE ORDNANCE DEPOTS. (See p. 290.) Mr. SMITH. At Hingham, Mass, $66,200; there will be 100 men at Hingham. At Iona Island, 100 men, $45,000. At Lake Denmark, 150 men; that is a place which is very wooded and very diffi.. cult to guard; $52,000. Fort Mifflin, Pa., $23,650; the guard being 100 men. St. Julien Creek, Va., 80 men, $26,000. Puget Sound, Wash., 80 men, $27,000. Mare Island, Cal., 100 men, $17,700. Kua Hua, Hawaiian Islands, Pearl Harbor, 50 men, $20,000; and the Philippines, 80 men, $40,000. Mr. BYRNS. Why is there such a great difference in price? Mr. SMITH. At some of these places we have some facilities at the present time. These are necessary additional facilities. PHILIPPINE ISLANDS ORDNANCE DEPOT. The CHAIRMAN. Where are these magazines in the Philippines, at Cavite? Mr. SMITH. They have been at Olongapo. We are moving those to Corregidor, in the passage to Manila. The CHAIRMAN. You do not need any marine guard at Manila? Mr. SMITH. That is the proposition. The CHAIRMAN. You have a whole military organization there. Mr. SMITH. I realize that. This will be the naval part of the naval magazine. The CHAIRMAN. Nobody can get on the island; it is a military stronghold. Mr. GILLETT. There is nobody to protect it against, except the Army? Mr. SMITH. Part of that island should be policed. The CHAIRMAN. It is all there together. Admiral HARRIS. Not our shore line, unless we asked them. The CHAIRMAN. We have barracks there for a big force of men for the garrison in connection with the defense. That is to be the last ditch. Admiral HARRIS. That is a matter that I have not control of. I have just been requested, Mr. Chairman, to put barracks there and to estimate on them. Mr. GILLETT. Requested by whom? Admiral HARRIS. By the Bureau of Ordnance, after consultation with the Marine Corps as to the guard. The CHAIRMAN. There is no reason why the Army can not do all the police duty, even around the naval magazines. Admiral HARRIS. They are doing some of that for us, as you probably know, out in the region, for instance, of Honolulu, where they have three companies of men guarding the navy yard. The CHAIRMAN. We have provided accommodations there for a considerable force of men. Mr. GILLETT. As I understand, Corregidor is nothing but a fortress? Admiral HARRIS. An island. Mr. GILLETT. There is no civil life there; it is nothing but a great military stronghold. The CHAIRMAN. It is a military post. It is about 10 miles from Manila. Admiral HARRIS. It is out in the bay? The CHAIRMAN. At the mouth. That is included in this item of REPAIRS AND PRESERVATION, NAVY YARDS AND STATIONS. The CHAIRMAN. The next item is "Repairs and preservation at navy yards and stations, $500.000." You have $2,600,000? Admiral HARRIS. That is necessary for the repairs and preservation of section bases, camps, and supply depots. That is the same as the description I gave you under "maintenance," where we would need more money for section bases, camps, and supply depots for these additional stations. At these places we have been making allotments out of "repairs" for the winter months; that is, in some places, where there are outbuildings we are putting in heating systems. I might mention Cape May, the section base which I inspected the other day. It is an amusement pavilion for summer use. We have 600 men in the section headquarters. In order for them to continue to occupy this building during the winter months, we will have to spend about $30,000 or $40,000 to prepare it for winter use. is only one of several stations of the same sort. That The CHAIRMAN. Can not you give us the details of this estimate? Admiral HARRIS. Capt. Marvle, who has charge of the section bases, is at work making that up now. He and the district commandants have given me a preliminary estimate of $500,000. The CHAIRMAN. We want it in detail. When will they be ready? Admiral HARRIS. They are making them up. The CHAIRMAN. We can wait until they make them up. It will be a week or more before we get ready with this bill. Admiral HARRIS. I will try to get them and insert them. The CHAIRMAN. Under each of the items please submit in detail a statement showing the proposed expenditure at the various places and the purposes for which the expenditure is to be made. Admiral HARRIS. All right. The following statements show the probable distribution of expenditures under "Maintenance, repairs, and preservation, contingent, yards and docks," including additional amounts asked for in the present estimates. Detail explanation of the projects contemplated out of other items is given elsewhere in the hearing. Available July 1. Now asked for... Maintenance, yards and docks. Estimated requirements at various yards and stations are as follows: Technical Services Bureau___ Naval Academy. Boston-- Cavite-Olongapo. Charleston_. Great Lakes_ Guam___ Guantanamo_ New Orleans_ New York.--. Norfolk Pearl Harbor_ $4,160, 000 1,500, 000 5,660,000 300,000 22.000 250,000 125,000 150,000 50,000 60,000 75,000 10,000 50,000 350,000 75.000 35,000 70,000 450,000 350,000 Pensacola.. Philadelphia. Portsmouth. Puget Sound_. 150, 000 50,000 370,000 150, 000 200, 000 |