The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn, New York • Page 31

THE BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE. NEW YORK, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1918. First Drydock Built in the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1846 bit 9 no I jf Is. I -I -no. i ,) (7 i f' If V' I i HGW BROOKLYN NAVY YARD HAS GROWN FROM A 340,000 TO A $40,000,000 INSTITUTION navy storehouses were located there.

By HARWOOD KOPPF.Ii. John Jackson, that pioneer resi Since that time a mammoth storehouse In addition has been constructed that I stands out of the yard and pokes Its dent of Brooklyn could look today upon the twenty-three acres of ground he sold to the United nose as high into the air as many sky. scrapers in the smaller cities of the country. In addition there has been constructed the huge medical sudui. States Government in 1801 for for the purpose of establishing the Brooklyn Navy Yard, what a teeming industry and bustling humanity would greet his eye.

The original twenty-three acres have ex- building, which, while it is outside of panded into more than 197 acres and now, in the last few days word has Congress Luella Twining of Berke- oomo rom Washlngton that Secretary icy in ciJLi.il iiBi.iii;L uiiu Silver Henry of Los Angeles in the Ninth. Mrs. Stella B. Irvine of River Hungarian Writer Always Against Magyar War Policy ciency during the conflict, have undoubtedly stilled for all time those small "and narrow voices which were occasionally heard under the dome of the capltol In Washington crying for the yard's abolition. Up to the time the war broke out almost one hundred vessels had been built there or were under 'construction and these included the first steam frigate the "Fulton," built there in 1815, to the mammoth electrically driven super-dreadnaught New Mexico, on the ways when war was declared.

Mud Flats and Creeks. The land which John Jackson sold to the early Government was largely a waste of mud flats and creeks, and Wallabout Bay, where the site was selected, was a quiet and unassuming inlet that had hitherto attracted rio attention from shipping men of the day. It was 1827 before the first attempt was made to enclose the property. Almost In an unbroken line the commandants of the Navy Tard have been famous see fighters, and both Lt. Jonathan Thorne, its first commandant, and Rear Admiral Nathaniel R.

Usher, its present commandant, have Daniels in his report has advocated a further enlargement, and the Government's original $40,000 Investment has grown into one conservatively estimated at over $40,000,000. Its development has been consistent, if not always continuous, and with the exception of those sporadic occasions when some one advocated the abandonment of the yard it has wended side, candidate for Congress in the Eleventh District on the Prohibition ticket, polled 10,575 votes at the primary against Representative William Kettner. Three women candidates for Assemblyman, Elizabeth Hughes of Orville, Esto. Q. Broughton of Mod esto and Grace S.

Dorris of Bakers- the Navy Yard, yet is a part of the operations of the yard ana under the direction of the yard's medical officer. This yard is the largest assembling and distributing point for all sort of equipment in the Navy, and here the largest number of warships come for overhauling and repairing, to replenish their bunkers, secure further provisions, ammunition and the other innumerable articles that go to make up a fighting ship's complete armament. It Is there that the Navy's supply ships of the "Culgoa" and "Celtic" type come to have their holds filled with tons of supplies for the men serving In distant waters with the fleets. And during tfce World War the Receiving Ship at this yard opened its ports and received into the Navy thousands upon thousands of those young sea fighters who have made its glory imperishable and who have up- 952.58 was expended, and $2,615,171.19 was put into shipbuilding. The Government's payroll that year, iwhen overtime was not the rule and the workmen were receiving wages far under those received during the war, was of this amount $1,500,000 was the approximate amount paid out solely on ship construction.

The plan submitted to Congress by Secretary Daniels contemplates the Lajos Biro, just appointed Foreign Minister of Hungary and of as a probable delegate to the Peace Conference, is a figure of more than usual interest. Ho was prominent during the war as correspondent of a paper In Budapest, but maintained a strong anti-war attltudo throughout. He even wrote, aa late as 1916, a violently anti-war play. Born at Vienna, in 1SS0, Biro received his early education in a small millions upon millions of dollars. Naturally such a proposition failed for lack of merit.

It is not believed lt will ever be revived. Contemplated Improvements. The most important improvement now under contemplation is the enlargement of the building ways upon which the dreadnought Tennessee is being constructed. This vessel is expected to be launched early in the spring. Until that time the ways will remain as they are.

New ways, authorized some time ago, have been under construction for some time, but owing to the press of other work not much progress has actually been made. A new six-story machine shop to cost $900,000 has been ordered and U. S. Marines in the Days of 1812 i i i -ii purchase of the ground adjoining tho present boundaries of the Navy Yard on the west. This does not include $3,000,000 which the Department has law in Budapest but soon decided to neid its traditions in a manner worthv enter the field of journalism, where ho made his reputation as a writer of sketches and short stories.

He is the writer of a number of plays which I have been produced in the United States. Two plays of a one-act cycle especially brilliant records as executives in addition to their reputations as men-o-wars-men. The construction of the stone dry dock was begun In 1841 and it took ten years to complete the job. The main chamber was 286 feet in length by a width of 36 feet at the bottom, and the upper part was 370 feet long by 98 feet broad. The granite walls were 36 feet deep and the masonry of the foundation was placed on piles driven 40 feet into the earth, while the space within was filled with con of their seafaring ancestors of the days of John Paul Jones, Stephen Decatur, Lawrence and Perry, Farragut and Dewey.

Here, too, the "Devil Dogs" have been recruited, barracked and equipped and sent aboard ship and ovrseas ever -since the Marine Corps was first organized and the picturesque marine of a century ago has been succeeded generation after generation by his almost as picturesque successors of today. The yard has always been guarded by the marines, and while now they are reinforced by sailors, it was simply because the marines were too valuable elsewhere to spare more of them for the doubling and tripling already authorized for further improvements in the yard. Just a year ago $10,000,000 was authorized for work at Navy Yards and Brooklyn is to receive almosct one-third of this huge amount, which should Indicate the high opinion of the value of the yard to the Navy which the experts of the Department hold. Attempts to Abolish the Yard. This has not always been the case, however, and several times efforts have been made to abolish the yard This might seem Incom-prehensiblo to the average resident of these parts, but only as late as 1912, cajiea ino nome circle" vere re- fc-cently translated into KngHsh and I 'f published in the Drama Magazine, to- 0 fcether with a brief biugra.pb.ical note Charles Recht.

Biro is a socialist, though up to the no present he has held no political office. Win nnnuln i-i tv aa the power plant is to be enlarged. Reverting to the construction record of the yard, it may be interesting to recall that the San Jacinto, which was built here, was the ship that stopped the British ship Trent on the high seas in 1863 and took from her the Confederate Commissioners Mason and Slidell, who were on a mission to England for the Confederate Government. This nearly precipitated a war between the Union and Great Britain. The Iroquois was the last vessel "lllCl Will UI1- iAoubtediy count in his favor as a pub-lie official, though of course, it fa im.

possible to determine the strength of 1 3a Jlin fnllnwiiio- e(U during the regime of George von L. built at the yard before the Civil War Women in Politics. crete to a depth of two feet. Several courses of timber and concrete, surmounted by flagging and cut granite, form the floor surmounting piles. About 9,000 piles were used and it took almost a yeanto drive them.

At the time it was constructed this dock was considered one of the most remarkable engineering works of the country. In those days, with the crude' appliances available, it required over four and one-half hours to pump it out. Famous Ships Built. From this old stone dock some of the most famous ships of America were built and launched, including the San December 12 Women's increasingly larger part in Meyer, as Secretary of the Navy, that I and oUffht gallantly under Admiral official made strenuous efforts to close Farragut at New Orleans and Vicks-th0 yard for all time. Meyer was a uurg, renamed the great champion of 'arge yard at Gu- Florida, was built there.

She won fame antanamo, Cuba, where it in war with Mexico in 1849 and most illogical to locate such a plant, th0 savannah, which was the flagship in that our communication with it 0f the squadron which captured Mon-might have been interrupted. Thojterey, July 6, 1S16, was also con-German submarine warfare has doubt- structed there. The sloops of war less pointed out the danger of such Vincennes and Peacock, both of whom an undertaking, which would be de- participated in the Wilkes pendent upon ocean carriers for all of expedition, also came from those of the usual number of guards made necessary by the war. Great Work of the Yards, An Idea of the Immensity of the business carried on at the yard can be gained from some statistics of the year before the world war started. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 1913, stores to the value of were received into the yard from various sources.

Last year, lt is estimated, although no figures have been made public as yet, that almost five times this amount passed through the Government was a strong feature I or tne 1918 election campaign in the "West, comprising the eleven States generally so termed. In all but two. New Mexico, which has limited suffrage, and Utah, they were contenders for important offices, including JTnited States Senator, Representative In Congress, Governor and Lieutenant Governor. In Utah, women were only on county tickets. Two women, Anne Martin in Nevada, and Jeanette Rankin in Montana, were considered serious candidates for Senator.

Miss Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress, was defeated on the Republican primary ticket, but ran as "the candidate of the National party at the election. Miss ways. A LUCKY DISCOVERY Two women of the parvenue class were discussing the future of their respective sons, when one of them said: "Do you know, I believe that a boy's development depends largely upon his environment?" "I know it," replied the other, as its supplies. Meyer contemplated having yards only at Guantanamo, Norfolk, and Narragansett Pier, It. I.

At that time the Secretary had several conferences with the then Mayor Waynor, to whom he proposed selling the site of the Navy Y'ard to the City of New York. It was the argument of Mr. Meyer that the yard could not be expanded cheap- the yard gates. Of the figures cited for 1913, $1,439,521.13 represented the value of stores manufactured (n the yard itself. Theso latter figures strikingly Illustrate the industrial activities of the yard of this nature, although naturally the main part of the yard's work is devoted not to the manufacture of equipment but to the utilization of the equipment which it makes and comes to lt from other sources.

For buildings and in repairs tne sum of she carelessly toyed with her jewel old Niagara, whose work in laying the first Atlantic cable made her famous. Hero also was constructed the Somers, from whose yard arm was swung Midshipman Spencer charged with attempting to incite a mutiny on board. Two of tho enlisted men of the crew were hangid at the same time. This incident created Intense excitement throughout the United States, as the justice of the executions was much questioned. But b(g engineering feats have been the rule, rather than the exception at the Navy Yard.

The construction of this old dock, which 1b now designated Granite Dock No. 1, was the flrst.large work in which a pile driver operated by steam was used. Here the value ly and Just because he could not ac- box- "There was my cousin William's boy he never knew what it was to have a well day till tne doctor found quire more ground at a low price he proposed abandoning the whole in out that the trouble was with his en- I field were unopposed. They will be vestment of the Government, worth jvironmcnt and cut it out." Harper's. Martin given chief credit for putting in the suffrage column, was of heavy hammers was demonstrated, the even tenor of its way.

There Is another exception that I might make to that. When grim, red, stark, omlntous war has rolled down upon the country then the Brooklyn Navy Tard has leaped forward with boundless energy, and since the day when the United States declared a state of war existed with Imperial Germany, this, energy has In truth been uncon-flned. This development and Improvement which is still to be continued even now that the piping times of peace are fast approaching, combined with its unparallelled usefulness and its demonstration of worth and elll- the first women to sit In the California Legislature. A fourth woman, Anna L. Baylor of Berkeley, opposed only by the Socialist candidate, generally was conceded the election.

A HOAX "Ah, my little man, do you realize that you may be President some day?" asked the visitor, "Huh! Nuth-n to it but bunk!" replied Skinny Simpson. "Paw says they promised that Job to him more than 40 years ago, but you notice he ain't got it yet." it being found that the best work was performed with a hammer-weight of ft nominated as an independent. tha E. Bean of Multnomah County a candidate for the short term In Oregon. Numerically, women were large fac-tors in the California and Colorado kit.

campaigns. Eight women ran for At State offices in Colorado, five of them i on the Socialist ticket. Heading this Tarty is Mary L. Gippg for Governor In California, Elvina S. Beals of Berkeley Is the Socialist candidate for mo Lieutenant Governor.

On the same o1utlCket ttre tW women candidates for 111! from 4,000 to 4,500 pounds. To this dock was applied the first set of Iron turning gates ever constructed and also the tlrst pontoon wholly constructed of iron in the United States. The largest pumping engine that An Old Print of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Sketched from the East Side of Wallabout Bay, Williamsburg had ever been constructed in this country was made for this dock. This engine operated twos double-acting vervical pumps. This use of the doublo-actlng pumps was almost the first departure from the English practice of Blnglo-actlng pumps In connection with Corliss engines.

In con Imt Giant Crane Lifting Boat Aboard the New York i i Ik, It'''' i 4 -TP kM l- i ,,,1,1 nection with the boilers was the invention of the Independent steam pumPi to Henry K. Worthlngton of Drooklyn. The successful application of tho Worthlngton pump to those boilers is one of tho first recorded instances of their use. First Flit-proof Bulldliur. It was in the Brooklyn Navy Yard that tho first strictly fireproof bui.u ing in America was constructed.

It was 300 foot in length, 60 foct in breadth with roof span of 60-foot -is Iron trusses supporting wrought Iron spurllne and covered with heavy copper shoots. The windows and doors were also of iron and tho floors of rooms whero engines and hollers were placed were of cast Iron plates. Tho Navy Yard the largest single Industrial enterprise In Brooklyn, and porhaps the largest In all of the Greater City. It is likewise the chief of the Navy Department's plants, and already boforc the war tnt.