Mr. POWELL. Every shipbuilding company has a great many fixed charges that will go on whether the yard lies idle or whether it is full of work. These are the interest on the bonds, the taxes, rentals, the salaries of its president and officers, and a number of other charges of that sort. Those must be met whether the yard is idle or whether it is busy. Also there is the working office force, a force of skilled draftsmen, of designers, and of foremen, which must be kept together. It is often, from an economical standpoint, to the advantage of a corporation to take a ship at less than the total cost when all of these above charges are figured in, to pay off a part of them and to keep this force together to be ready when the pinch is over. Mr. PAYSON. Is it not a matter of common knowledge among the shipbuilders of the country that in the biddings that have been made for Government work in the last three or four years particularly, that particular situation has resulted in bids which, when the bids were tendered, the contractors stood a loss on the face of the papers because of this very condition and the desire to keep their men together? Mr. POWELL. Yes, sir; that was certainly the case, particularly in the bidding of the last two years and in the bidding of 1905. Mr. PAYSON. I speak particularly of the last three years. it has been so with our people. Mr. POWELL. Yes. I know Mr. PAYSON. In a general way, what would you say that the proportion of work that you do is Government work, and what proportion of it commercial work? Mr. POWELL. As a general rule, our Government work runs more than half; I should say it would average 60 per cent. At times it might run as high as 70 per cent, and it might run as low as 50. Mr. PAYSON. Is it not true that the Cramp people have been especially fortunate in that regard, if you can call getting Government contracts fortunate? Mr. POWELL. I was just going to say that you were getting hold of the loaded end of the machine. The Cramp company and the Newport News company have done considerably more work for the Government than any other companies. Mr. PAYSON. Would you not put it broader than that and say that the two yards have done more than all the rest put together? Mr. POWELL. I think that statement would be correct. Mr. PAYSON. And the situation which you have explained in a general way as applying to your yard also applies to all shipbuilding yards in the country, so far as you believe? Mr. POWELL. I should say that the conditions applying to our yards would apply very closely to all of the other yards. Mr. DAVENPORT. In your service in the Navy did you have anything to do with the making of the contracts? Mr. POWELL. No, sir; I did not. Mr. DAVENPORT. Do you know what meaning would be attached to the expression "open market?" Mr. POWELL. The term "open market" has generally been used in connection with the Government department purchases to cover standard commercial articles; that is, when a purchase was made in the open market it was usually an article that the Government would use in exactly the same form as a private person. I think I used once before the example of nails. The Government has no specifications for nails or for screws. The same screws that a man building carriages will use will do for the Government work just as well, and it is to that class of articles, I understand, the exception in the second section of the ill would apply. Mr. HAYDEN. That is, things that would be salable in the open market? Mr. POWELL. Exactly. Mr. HAYDEN. Take as common an item as rivets used in ship construction. How do those employed in Government work compare with those employed in private work? Mr. POWELL. The rivets that are used in Government work are made to special specifications; they are made of special tensile strength and of material of different elasticity from the material in commercial rivets, and they are inspected and manufactured under the Government's supervision. The net result is that they are more expensive than commercial rivets, so that in our own yard we carry two stocks of rivets, one of which has been inspected and passed by the Government, of which is this special material and is only used on Government work, and the other, which is of a different grade and cheaper, is used only for our merchant work and other commercial work. In other words, those Government rivets are not salable in the open market, because they cost too much; they are a special Government material, just as much as the battle ship is a special Government article. Mr. HOLDER. Do you not buy them entirely from the Borden company, in Troy, N. Y.? Mr. POWELL. No; we do not buy any of them from Troy. Mr. PAYSON. Take the comparatively new style of engine that is 'being adopted in some of the constructions in the Navy; I refer now to the big turbine engines in place of a restricting engine. What is the size of the cylinder that would go into a battle ship-its internal diameter? Can you tell us? Mr. POWELL. I should say it was about 14 feet, but I may be wrong. Mr. PAYSON. That is just what it is-14 feet. Do you remember its length? Mr. POWELL. I can make another guess, but I do not know whether I can do as well. I should say that the over length of that turbine is double its diameter. Mr. PAYSON. Yes. That is all. (Thereupon, at 3.50 o'clock p. m., the committee adjourned until Monday, February 24, 1908, at 2 o'clock p. m.) SUBCOMMITTEE ON LABOR, No. 1, The committee met at 2 o'clock p. m., Hon. Kittredge Haskins in the chair. STATEMENT OF MR. DANIEL DAVENPORT, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONN. Mr. DAVENPORT. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the Committee on Labor in the House of Representatives, at the special request of the Bridgeport Manufacturers' Association of Bridgeport, Conn., I appear before you to express their opposition to the eight-hour bill now pending before you and to give you the reasons therefor, which I have from time to time heard them urge in frequent conversations on the subject with their various members. Bridgeport, as you know, is a manufacturing city of about 100,000 inhabitants, situated in southwestern Connecticut, about 55 miles from New York City. Its manufactured articles are greatly diversified and are sold in all quarters of the globe, and very many of its establishments manufacture and do work for the Government. The reasons, urged by them may be briefly summarized as follows: First, work on contracts with the Government could not be kept separate from work done in the same factory by the same men on private contracts, nor would it be practicable to have different hours of service for men engaged on Government work from those engaged on private work. Second, as no concern does Government work exclusively and the principal business of all is private work, the concerns taking Government work at the present time would be unable to bid at all for work for the Government because of their inability to operate their plants more than eight hours per day if they took Government work and they would be unable to meet competition on private work. Third, they believe that the passage of the proposed law would be an unwarranted trespass against the individual rights of both the manufacturer and the mechanic, and the limiting of hours in the private manufacturing establishment is certainly not within the jurisdiction of the Federal Government, and could only be accomplished by a perversion of its powers to attain an end by indirection, which every person must conceive it could not do directly. Fourth, it would prevent the workmen from earning the compensation they now earn or from increasing their earning power where they are disposed to do so by working more hours per day than those stipulated in the bill. This reduction of their earning capacity and forcible deprivation of their rights as men, it is believed, would be very much resented by them. Fifth, the bill if it became a law would require an almost incredible number of inspectors and officials of the Government to enforce it, at enormous expense to the Government, if the same was done impartially. Sixth, contractors would be subject to complaints which might be made from time to time without foundation and which would prove to be an unjust burden and the system would in all probability develop a huge amount of graft and bribery to the disadvantage and loss of the honest contractor. Seventh, in the interest of competition and progress in the arts, it is highly important that manufacturers should be free to establish the hours of labor and manage their own business generally with reference to existing conditions at the time and place contracts are entered into. Eighth, on Government contracts it is necessary to make certain deliveries at a specified time, and there are many times when delays will occur which are entirely beyond the control of the contractor, which can be made up by working overtime, holidays, etc., and save great loss to him as well as to the Government. On such occasions it is believed that the employees are always willing and anxious to work overtime at overtime pay. 32796-08- -6 Ninth, it is manifestly unfair to the manufacturer that his business should be hampered by an eight-hour law, for the reason that in many cases ten hours will accomplish one day's requirements, while eight hours will not, without an unwarranted expenditure for additional machinery and additional employees, involving perhaps an expanse in floor space at an expense altogether out of proportion to the benefits to be derived. Tenth, the purpose of the proposed bill is to make the contractor responsible for the acts of the subcontractor in a matter in no way connected with the quality or excellence of the article furnished by the latter. There is scarcely any contract which can be imagined that can be completed entirely by one contractor. The contractor is obliged, in the ordinary class of business, to purchase different parts and different materials from other manufacturers, and according to the plain terms of the bill, it reaches clear through to the remotest subcontractor, and it would be necessary to require of them that they work their men only eight hours a day. The contractor who would be responsible to the Government has no effective mode of enforcing such a requirement. Eleventh, the bill as drawn would inflict upon manufacturers accepting orders from the Government no end of trouble and annoyance. In fact, it would be impossible for manufacturers doing general work to accept orders from the Government on account of this trouble and annoyance. Hence, it will be difficult for the Government to contract for many of its necessities. It would make it more difficult than at present to do business with the Government Departments, and it is already so difficult that the Government is deprived of the advantage of free competition. Twelfth, it is class legislation which is claimed for the benefit of a few and is aimed at a few out of many employers. No reason is given or can be given for thus discriminating against the class of employers covered by the bill, who have embarked their capital in business and are certainly entitled to the equal protection of the laws. Thirteenth, much of the work done for the Government is piecework. Men working by the piece are willing and anxious to work ten hours, and although men on job work might welcome an eighthour law if it permitted overtime work at overtime pay, the proposed bill would work very unfairly against the pieceworkers. Fourteenth, the cost of all goods manufactured under an eighthour rule must of necessity be increased, with no commensurate return to either manufacturer or consumer. Fifteenth, the proposed bill is so full of obscurities and uncertainties both of meaning and application that it is certain to lead to disastrous complications and litigations both between the Government and its contractors and between the contractors and their subcontractors. I append hereto a copy of a communication sent by the Manufacturers' Association of Bridgeport, Conn., to the chairman on Education and Labor of the United States Senate, on December 13, 1902, which shows the action of the association in regard to a bill in principle the same as that now pending before this committee. Hon. L. E. McCOMAS, THE MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION, Chairman Committee on Education and Labor, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: At a meeting of this association held on the 6th instant, the accompanying resolutions were unanimously passed, same referring to the bill now under consideration before your committee limiting the hours of service of laborers and mechanics employed upon work done for the United States Government, etc. We now respectfully transmit the same to you, and give below a list of the manufacturing concerns who are members of this association. Yours, truly, E. P. BULLARD, President. List of members: American Graphophone Company. American Ordnance Company, American Sparkets Company, American Tube and Stamping Company, Armstrong Manufacturing Company. Automatic Machine Company, W. H. Baker, Bridgeport Brass Company, Bridgeport Forge Company, Bridgeport Machine and Motor Company, Bridgeport Manufacturing Company, Bridgeport Safety Emery Wheel Company, Bullard Machine Tool Company, Burns, Silver & Co., H. O. Canfield, Cornwall & Patterson Manufacturing Company, Coulter & McKenzie Machine Company, Curtis & Curtis Company, Eaton, Cole & Burnham Company, John S. Fray & Co., É. S. Hotchkiss, Harvey Hubbell, International Silver Company, Locomobile Company of America, A. H. Nilson Machine Company, Pacific Iron Works, N. Palmer & Co., W. G. Rowell & Co., Salts Textile Manufacturing Company, Smith & Egge Manufacturing Company, Springfield Manufacturing Company, Union Metallic Cartridge Company, Union Typewriter Company, Wheeler & Wilson Manufacturing Company. Whereas a bill is now under consideration by the Senate of the United States which limits the hours of daily rervice of laborers and mechanics employed upon work done for the United States Government; and Whereas said bill provides that no laborer or mechanic employed by a contractor or subcontractor upon Government work shall be permitted to work more than eight hours in any one day, and imposes a penalty upon such contractor or subcontractor for a reported violation of contract by himself, his agents, or his employees, and directs that the amount of penalties stipulated shall be withheld from the moneys due under said contract; and Whereas the enactment of such a law would cause a contractor or subcontractor to suffer on a complaint which might be unfounded, and deprived of property without due process of law, when the Government would sustain no damage whatever; and Whereas the enactment of such a law would inflict a crushing blow upon the industries of the country, as work for the Government on an eight-hour basis can not be carried on in conjunction with work on a ten-hour basis in the same establishment (the prevailing hours of labor in manufacturing establishments), and manufacturers would therefore be compelled to refuse Government work to their disadvantage and loss; and Whereas while the bill is drawn to apply to Government work only, the intent is to use the Government as an entering wedge to bring about a general eight-hour day in all industries: Therefore be it Resolved, That we The Manufacturers' Association of the city of Bridgeport, Conn., representing thirty-four establishments, having about fifteen millions of capital invested and employing about ten thousand employees, do hereby protest against the passage of the act now pending: And it is further resolved. That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the Senate Committee on Education and Labor with a request that they report the bill unfavorably. Mr. EMERY. In pursuing the line of evidence offered to the committee before, we have to-day several witnesses representing very large interests employed, and who are very large makers of Government contracts. They desire to present their protests to this committee and to show you the impractical requirements of the proposed contract. I will ask Mr. Andrew M. Morrison,' representing the Pennsylvania Steel Company, to speak to you. |