Consolidation of Government construction. Consolidation of Government procurement. Summary of conclusions and suggestions for improvements. Part VI includes the exhibits referred to in the report and an index of its contents. The following letter by the Assistant Secretary of War to those invited to serve as members of the Board of Review of Construction states the reasons for the appointment of the board and the instructions and authority given it: JULY 24, 1918. MY DEAR MR. : It is the history of large construction programs that much can be learned from a comprehensive review of work completed in order to apply the lesson to work still in progress, by accurately recording the facts, and drawing conclu. sions which may be of benefit to the work yet to be performed. For this reason it has been decided to appoint a board of eminently qualified men to review the construction work rendered necessary by the war emergency and done by or under any subdivision of the War Department. This review is to be from the standpoint of speed and economy and is to include suggestions for improvements. It is particularly to cover the methods, procedure, and results of the Construction Division of the Army under the general policies in effect. These policies have already been reported on under date of March 15, 1918, by a committee consisting of the presidents of the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Chamber of Commerce of United States, General Contractors' Association of New York, a representative of the American Federation of Labor, and of the Building Construction Employers' Association of Chicago. This Board of Review will be authorized to employ such engineers, constructors, accountants, clerical and other assistants as may be required and to incur such other expense of any kind as in its judgment may be necessary to review and report as above provided; however, no expense shall be incurred after May 1, 1919. The records of all such divisions of the War Department will be open to the board and it will have full authority to visit and inspect any construction project completed or underway, and to call as witnesses any persons in the military service and any employees of the War Department. You have been recommended to serve as a member of such board. It is hoped that you are in a position to accept this appointment and thus render a most valuable service to our country. Mr. and Mr. - have been requested to serve as the other two members of the above-mentioned Board of Review. BENEDICT CROWELL, These appointments were accepted. The Board of Review of Construction so created comprised one engineer and constructor, one accountant, and one railroad engineer. Their business and professional connections were as follows: Francis Blossom, New York: Member of the firm of Sanderson & Porter, Engineers. Member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. W. Sanders Davies, New York: Member of the firm of Davies & Nield, later Davies & Davies, public accountants. President and member of executive committee of the American Institute of Accountants. Charles A. Morse, Chicago: Chief engineer, Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway. Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. President of the American Railway Engineering Association. Assistant director of operation, Engineering and Maintenance, United States Railroad Administration. At the call of the Assistant Secretary of War the board members met at his office in Washington on September 11, 1918. After he had outlined the services which it was hoped could be rendered, the board organized by selecting Mr. Blossom as chairman. It later appointed Mr. Thomas H. Pierson as assistant to the board, in charge of its Washington office. His ability and experience proved most. helpful in this position, which he held throughout the entire period of the work. The board understood that it was to make a full, impartial, and constructive report, to state its criticisms, and to make any suggestions for improvements which it deemed pertinent. This it has endeavored to do. It has grouped related information and facts in sections or chapters with its comments and conclusions thereon and has given, in the last section, a transcript summary of the more important conclusions and suggestions for improvements. In order that each section of the report should be reasonably complete in itself and that cross referencing should be minimized, some matters which are covered in detail in later sections are also referred to in the earlier and more general sections. The Board of Review presented, on November 21, 1918, a preliminary report based on the work done by it to the date of the armistice, of which the substance has been embodied in this report. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. The Board of Review called as witnesses officers from the military service, employees of the War Department and others familiar with War Department construction, all of whom responded fully and supplied desired facts and data which were supplemented by information obtained from many others. Among those examined or interviewed were the following: Maj. Gen. W. M. Black, Chief of Engineers. Maj. Gen. Grote Hutchinson, Chief of Embarkation Service, Newport News district. Col. J. W. Joyes, Chief of Nitrates Division, Ordnance Department, accompanied by Col. W. A. Phillips, Ordnance Department, commandant Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md. Col. B. W. Simpson, Inspection Division, Ordnance Department. Col. James B. Heckman, Supply Division, Ordnance Department. Col. J. H. Burns, explosives branch, Engineering Division, Ordnance Department. Col. D. C. Howard, Chief Sanitary Division, Medical Corps. Col. Winford H. Smith, Medical Corps. Col. Floyd Kramer, Chief of Hospital Division, Medical Corps. Col. W. A. Starrett, member of firm of Starrett & Van Vleck, architects, New York City; chairman of committee on emergency construction of the General Munitions Board. Col. Frank M. Gunby, chief of engineering division, Construction Division. Col. M. J. Whitson, chief of building division, Construction Division. Col. Peter Junkersfeld, associate chief of building division, Construction Division. Col. J. N. Willcutt, chief of procurement division, Construction Division. Col. Millard A. Butler, constructing quartermaster, Norfolk Army Base, Va., and Col. Lincoln Bush, assistant chief of engineering division, Construction Division. Lieut. Col. Thos. G. Gallagher, executive officer and assistant chief of supply division, Lieut. Col. Harold Bennington, chief of accounting section, supply division, Division of Military Aeronautics. Lieut. Col. Albert Forsch, explosives branch, Engineering Division, Ordnance Depart ment. Lieut. Col. B. T. Converse, constructing quartermaster, Watervliet Arsenal, N. Y., Ordnance Department. Lieut. Col. H. S. Crocker, constructing quartermaster, Brooklyn Army base. Lieut. Col. W. C. Spruance, Jr., constructing quartermaster, Gillespie Shell-Loading Plant, Ordnance Department. Lieut. Col. E. P. King, Jr., assistant to Chief of Field Artillery. Lieut. Col. Geo. B. Dusinberre, Ordnance Salvage Board. Lieut. Col. E. B. Morden, constructing quartermaster of Camp Custer and Philadelphia quartermaster terminal. Lieut. Col. C. H. Smith, constructing quartermaster, Camp Mills, N. Y. Lieut. Col. D. H. Sawyer, constructing quartermaster, Air Nitrate Plant, Cincinnati, Ohio. Lieut. Col. Philander Betts, chief of report section, administrative division, Construction Division. Lieut. Col. D. H. Maury, advisory engineer, Construction Division. Lieut. Col. E. H. Abadie, supervising constructing quartermaster, Construction Division. Lieut. Col. J. N. Pease, assistant chief procurement division, Construction Division. Lieut. Col. George B. Walbridge, chief of section E of building division, Construction Division. Lieut. Col. F. B. Wheaton, advisory architect, Construction Division. Lieut. Col. O. P. Chamberlain, chief of section A of building division, Construction Division. Lieut. Col. George A. Johnson, assistant chief, maintenance and repair division, Construction Division. Lieut. Col. R. M. White, chief of section C of building division, Construction Division. Mr. M. C. Tuttle, general manager Aberthaw Construction Co., Boston Mass., mem- Mr. Leonard Metcalf, member of firm of Metcalf & Eddy, consulting engineers, Boston, Mass., member of subcommittee on engineering of committee on emergency construction of the General Munitions Board. Mr. Geo. W. Fuller, member of the firm of Fuller & McClintock, consulting engineers, New York City, member of subcommittee on engineering of committee on emergency construction of the General Munitions Board. Mr. Asa E. Phillips, consulting civil engineer, Washington, D. C., member of subcommittee on engineering of committee on emergency construction of the General Munitions Board. Mr. L. B. Stillwell, consulting engineer, New York City, president of American Institute of Consulting Engineers; member of the subcommittee on engineering of committee on emergency construction of the General Munitions Board. Mr. F. L. Cranford, director of construction, United States nitrate plants, War Department. Maj. S. F. Voorhees, assistant construction division, Hospital Division, Medical Corps. Mr. Stanley King, War Department, member of the War Labor Policies Board. Mr. Louis B. Wehle, lawyer, former advisor to War Department on certain labor matters. Mr. C. E. Denney, former chief of the transportation section, material and transportation division, Cantonment Division. Mr. Howard L. Rogers, chief of engineering division of Stone & Webster, Boston, Mass. Mr. H. B. Hardaway, president, Hardaway Construction Co., contractor for flying field, Americus, Ga., and north Camp Jackson, Columbia, S. C. Mr. W. A. Rogers, president Bates & Rogers, contractor for Camp Grant, Interior Storage Depot, New Cumberland, Pa., and United States Nitrate Plant No. 3, Toledo, Ohio; also dikes and cribwork at Hog Island Shipyard. Mr. R. B. Porter, representing Porter Bros., contractor for Camp Dodge, Iowa, and Turner Construction Co., general contractor, Brooklyn Army Base, Brooklyn, N. Y. Mr. A. F. McArthur, representing McArthur Bros., designer, general contractor and operator of Woodbury Bag Loading Plant, Woodbury, N. J. Mr. James Stewart and Mr. H. W. Baum, of James Stewart Co., contractor for Pig Point Ordnance Depot, Va., and Camp Bragg, N. C. Mr. H. J. Deutschbein and Mr. Edward A. Hurley, representing Foundation Co., general contractor, Richmond Bag Loading Plant, Seven Pines, Va. Representatives of Air Nitrates Co., general contractor; Westinghouse-Church-Kerr & Co., and J. G. White Co., subcontractors, Nitrate Plant No. 2, Muscle Shoals, Ala. PART 1. SECTION 1. WAR CONSTRUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. The construction work of the United States Government has been done by the following departments, of which the first four made most of the expenditures necessitated by its entrance into the World War on April 6, 1917: War Department. Navy Department. United States Shipping Board-Emergency Fleet Corporation. Treasury Department. Department of the Interior. Department of Commerce. Few of its people at that time grasped the magnitude and vital importance of the emergency construction work that would be needed. The large foreign orders then being filled here for arms, ammunition, supplies, subsistence, and clothing included but little material for European war construction and were but supplementary to European production of war material, and their execution called for no construction comparable to that required for housing and training the new Army, which also had to be completely equipped and supplied by this country. The Nation was unprepared for war, and especially for field combat work. It lacked trained troops, arms, munitions, aeroplanes, and supplies; suitable buildings and structures to house and train its armies; warehouses, arsenals, hospitals, specialized factories, artillery proving grounds, flying fields, and many other essential war facilities. To provide these deficiencies it called upon many of its most resourceful and self-reliant citizens, experienced in business, engineering, construction, and industrial work. It effected the mobilization, on emergency construction work, of the best brains of the Nation to an extent that could not have been accomplished except under the stress of war. The personnel which directed or performed the work included many business and professional men who, through purely patriotic motives, sacrificed important or lucrative positions. The men selected generally gave their best efforts. Some selfishness, more or less disguised as patriotism, was in evidence, but judging by reports as to other wars, the percentage 182545-202 17 |