1 Maintenance and repairs, Naval Academy-Continued Purchase and maintenance of all Tools and repairs of the same.. Furniture for Government buildings Coal and other fuel1. Attendance on light and power plant. Attendance on fires, lights, fire apparatus, and plants, and telegraph, telephone, and clock systems.. Incidental labor. Advertising, water tax, postage, telephones, telegrams, tolls and ferriage 1... Flags and awnings. Packing boxes.. Fuel for heating and lighting bands men's quarters.... Pay of inspectors and draftsmen... For pay of employees on leave. Totals.. Reroofing terrace Bancroft Hall. Appropriated 1924. Expended.. Balance. Estimate for coal based on 36,000 tons, at $6. 1,011,500.00 15,000.00 13, 500.00 1,040,000.00 $1, 105, 000.00 18,041. 23 1, 123, 041. 23 1, 115, 271. 81 7,769.42 Estimated cost telephone service. Increased by placing all telephone charges Naval Academy, under this appropriation. By order of Navy Department. NOTE.-Number of buildings, 128; cubic feet of buildings, 32,281,794; athletic fields (acres), 50.8; total grounds (acres), 202.19. Mr. FRENCH. Is there anything unusual in the expenditure under this item for 1926, or is that amount necessary for the general maintenance and upkeep of the buildings of the establishment? Commander KIDD. The amount requested is believed to be suffirient, under the present organization, to accomplish the work, and we estimate that the reroofing of the north terrace of Bancroft Hall will cost $15,000. That item is included in our estimate of $1,026,500. Mr. FRENCH. I was thinking you were going to do that in the present year, or would you find that in the amount we appropriated for the general maintenance? Commander KIDD. No, sir; not for this present year. This item covers work that will have to be undertaken during the absence of the midshipmen, because the workmen will have to use dynamite 22231-241-22 in order to tear out the old roof, and people can not occupy those dormitories in the immediate vicinity during that time. PURCHASE OF MACHINERY Mr. FRENCH. You have here rather a large item for machinery. What machinery do you refer to? Commander KIDD. That is machinery in the power plant, coalhandling equipment which has not been completely installed. In addition to that, the heating plant, which was temporarily on the other side of the river at Dorsey Creek, has been replaced by the installation of additional boilers. The old boilers have been replaced. Mr. FRENCH. Is not that work complete? Commander KIDD. It is under way. The coal-handling equipment has not been completed. Mr. FRENCH. This item in the pending bill is for the completion of that work? Commander KIDD. It will include the completion of that work. COAL AND OTHER FUEL Mr. FRENCH. The next rather large item under this head is for coal and other fuel. Commander KIDD. The amount for that is variable. The status at the present time is that the contractor, Mr. Huebner, of Philadelphia, got the contract for furnishing coal from the Kimmel mine, and that coal has been rejected as not being up to standard. They are replacing that by coal from another of their mines, the Big Chief, and that is not up to standard. Then, whatever the price of coal will be next year will make a difference. The amount of coal runs from about 30,000 to 36,000 tons. Mr. FRENCH. Do you make a separate contract for coal? Commander KIDD. The Bureau of Supplies and Accounts makes a contract for the Naval Academy coal. Mr. HARDY. About how much does it cost a year for coal? Admiral WILSON. Next year it is estimated it will cost $215,000. Mr. FRENCH. About $6 a ton? Commander KIDD. This year the price is $5.20, and last year it was $6.50. They have to bring it to Baltimore and transship it on barges to the academy. If it comes by rail there is an additional switching charge from the tracks in Annapolis to the Naval Academy grounds. Mr. FRENCH. Then you are going to use all we gave you for that purpose for the present fiscal year? We gave you $238,000. Commander KIDD. There will be a saving in that item for coal. Mr. FRENCH. Why is not the coal for the Naval Academy purchased by the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts without limiting the specific amount for the academy but simply purchasing the coal in large quantities to be used at different places, and then have your share allotted to you later on? Is it done in that way? Commander KIDD. It is handled entirely by the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts under their procedure. There is a separate contract for the Naval Academy. COMMUTATION OF RENT FOR BANDSMEN Mr. FRENCH. The next item is for commutation of rent for bandsmen, at $15 per month, each, for which you are asking $13,500 for 1926. That is the same amount as the appropriation for 1925? Commander KIDD. Yes, sir. Mr. FRENCH. And it is similar to the allowance made for several years past? Commander KIDD. Yes, sir. Mr. FRENCH. Admiral, I believe your detail to the academy will expire in February. Admiral WILSON. On the 23d of February next; I retire on that date. Mr. FRENCH. I was wondering if there is any further general statement you would like to make touching the academy. Admiral WILSON. I have no further statement to make, except that I would like, as a matter of satisfaction to myself, invite the attention of the committee to what we have tried to accomplish at the Naval Academy, from an economical point of view. The appropriation for the Naval Academy in 1921, the first year I had charge, was $2,530,407.52, and the estimates for this coming year show a saving of practically $600,000 since that time. During that time the number of midshipmen at the academy has been higher than ever before, reaching 2,500. I only wish to say further, Mr. Chairman, that I desire to express my appreciation of the way the Committee on Appropriations has treated me. I have always tried to put all my cards on the table. Mr. FRENCH. Admiral, on behalf of the committee I want to thank you for your very frank and complete statements made to the committee, both now and heretofore, and to again express the wish and the hope that, notwithstanding your service at the academy may be nearly completed, we may not lose the value of your suggestions and your cooperation in connection with the work we have to do. Admiral WILSON. I thank you, sir. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1924 BUREAU OF SUPPLIES AND ACCOUNTS : STATEMENTS OF REAR ADMIRAL WILLIAM R. SHOEMAKER, CHIEF, BUREAU OF NAVIGATION; REAR ADMIRAL DAVID POTTER, SUPPLY CORPS, CHIEF OF THE BUREAU OF SUPPLIES AND ACCOUNTS AND PAYMASTER GENERAL OF THE NAVY; MR. CLYDE REED, SPECIAL ASSISTANT, BUREAU OF SUPPLIES AND ACCOUNTS; LIEUT. COMMANDER L. N. WERTENBAKER, SUPPLY CORPS, AND LIEUT. Е. С. EDWARDS, SUPPLY CORPS DUTIES OF BUREAU Mr. FRENCH. This morning we will take up the items for the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts. We have with us Admiral Potter. chief of the bureau, and also at this time we have Admiral Shoemaker, Chief of the Bureau of Navigation. Before taking up the item for 'Pay of the Navy," I am going to ask Admiral Potter to make a general statement indicating to the committee the duties of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts. Admiral POTTER. The duties of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts cover all that relates to the purchase of supplies, including the preparation and distribution of schedules, of proposals, of contracts. bureau orders, and advertisements in connection therewith in the Navy's list of acceptable bidders. It covers the reception, storage. care, custody, transfer, shipment, and issue of supplies and property of the Naval Establishment, except medical supplies, and also excepting the purchase or handling of supplies for the Marine Corps. It includes the accounting for all those forms of activities. It has direction of the naval clothing factories and their cost of operation; the supervision of the requisitions and service covering provisions and clothing and stocks in ships' stores; the allotments under the supplies and accounts appropriations, and it accounts for allotments made to ships under all other appropriations. It also includes the preparation and issuing of allowance lists for ships, so far as the supplies and accounts material is concerned. It has cognizance of the disposition of excess stocks accumulated at the various navy yards, It is charged with the upkeep of the naval supply account stock. It recommends to the Bureau of Yards and Docks the interior arrangements of storehouses ashore. It is not charged with the construction of the storehouses. It recommends to the Bureau of Construction and Repair the character of permanent galley fittings afloat and interior storeroom arrangements afloat. It has direction of the sale of condemned, salvaged, and scrapped or other material and the transfer of such material from point to point as needed. It It procures all the coal, fuel oil, and gasoline for navy use. also handles the matter of the transportation of fuel, of leased storage. and of water for all purposes on naval vessels. Also, it has to do with the chartering of mercha merchant vessels for transportation purposes. It is also charged with the procurement and loading of cargoes of supply ships, tankers, and colliers in conjunction with the ships that may be furnished by the Chief of Operations. It is charged with the upkeep and operation of the fueling plants ashore. It is responsible for the keeping of property and money accounts for the entire Naval Establishment, including accounts of all manufacturing and operating expenses of navy yards. VARIOUS ACCOUNTS CARRIED Mr. FRENCH. Admiral Potter, at this point suppose we develop for the record the facts with respect to the different accounts maintained or administered by your bureau. As I understand it, the several large accounts are as follows: Second, the appropriation Purchases account. Fourth, the Marine Corps account (maintained by the Marine Corps, but the totals of the appropriations, charges, and balances of which are reported to your office and kept by you). Fifth, the account of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (maintained by the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, but the totals of the appropriations, charges, and balances of which are reported to your office and kept by you; your office making the purchases, however). Sixth, the Clothing and Small Stores account. Seventh, the Navy working account, which latter is in no sense a stores account, but a sort of bookkeeping account for the accommodation of the different funds. Is that right? Admiral POTTER. Yes, sir. NAVY SUPPLY ACCOUNT Mr. FRENCH. Then, Admiral, would you indicate to the committee what the Navy supply account is? Admiral POTTER. The Navy supply account is a term used to describe the group of supplies that are financed by means of the naval supply account fund. When stores are procured for the purpose of being carried in and issued from the naval supply account, payment therefor is made from the naval supply account fund. The naval supply account fund was established by the act of March 1. 1921, but the fund is a development through several accounts and funds during a considerable period of years. The Navy supply account is used among other things, to procure and carry material usually required for more than one bureau. This is the essential purpose of the standard stock carried within the naval supply account. The stock in the naval supply account covers more than 30,000 items, such as fuel, flags, boats, pumps, hardware, electrical supplies, rope, canvas, plumbing supplies, lumber, steel plates, bars, and shapes, mess gear, provisions, etc. It should be noted that, in practice, large quantities of some materials used by only one bureau are carried-boats, for example. Mr. FRENCH. This account is in part money and in part materials, and you added to this account largely during the World War? |