Interest on outstanding indebtedness to Jan'y 13th, 1879 (date of the act for the relief of the legal representatives of Geo. Williams)...

$10,931 26

297 45
84.95

$11,313 66

1,374 95

12,688 61 $337,495 23

No. 16.

[1st endorsement.]

Respectfully referred to the Chief of Engineers for remark.

By order of the Secretary of War.

WAR DEPT., April 11, '79.

H. T. CROSBY,

Chief Clerk.

No. 17.

In the matter of claim of the estate of Geo. Williams, deceased, against the United States, under recent act of Congress approved January 13th, 1879.

I, C. L. Williams, administrator of said estate, on my oath, make the following

statement:

In 1876, when the work of building locks on the Tennessee River, in the Muscles Shoals Canal, was commenced, there had been no work of a similar character done in that section of the country, and it necessarily forced upon us the bringing to of a large number of men, and establishing this point as a place where laborers could procure work.

The labor used in building masonry is of itself high, and owing to the unsettled state of the country, its unhealthy and rainy season, it was very difficult not only to get laborers to the works but to keep them for any length of time after they were there, particularly so in reference to stone cutters and masons, all of whom had to be brought to the works, there being no local labor there of that class, so we were forced to pay higher prices than we otherwise would have done, though not higher than others doing same kind of work at same time and place, and not higher than ruling prices for labor at that time, taking all things into consideration.

Labor now, and since the United States Government has been at work, is reduced in price much below what it was in 1876 & 7; and in 1878, when the government took hold to do similar work to what ours had been, the following must not be overlooked, viz: 1st. That labor of all class had been greatly reduced in price.

2nd. That the government has NO OPPOSITION WORKS TO CONTEND WITH, SUCH AS WE HAD ALL THE TIME, and could necessarily FIX ITS OWN PRICE FOR LABOR.

3rd. That we had really settled the country and established it as a point for the working class to find labor, the government thereby having none of the troubles to contend with that were forced upon us from the beginning.

4th. It should also be borne in mind that the engineer in charge of the work was constantly urging forward the work, stating that more work must be done, more labor employed, &c.

Taking all into consideration as aforestated, I claim the work was done in a prudent and economical manner, and the prices paid were only in conformity with the time and place of doing the work.

And further to show that we had the strongest possible interest in securing cheap labor is that my father, George Williams, was losing large sums of money daily, even with the utmost care, economy, and energy, and I personally know and certify that we did the very best we could in the matter of rates paid for labor: furthermore, it was entirely for our own interests that we should do the work for the least possible amount. C. L. WILLIAMS, Adm'r.

Sworn and subscribed to before me this 17th day of April, A. D., 1879.
[SEAL.]
ISRAEL KIMBALL, JR.,
Notary Public.

No. 18.

In the matter of the claim of the estate of George Williams, deceased, against the United States, under recent act of Congress, approved January 13th, 1879.

I, C. L. Williams, administrator of said estate, state on my oath that my father, the said George Williams, made his bids for contracts on the Muscle Shoals Canal under a misunderstanding as to the character of the work to be done, which misunderstanding grew out of his conversations with Major W. R. King, officer in charge of the works. As soon as the misunderstandings were discovered, it was seen that he, the said Williams, must lose heavily in the prosecution of the work, but he was determined to obey orders and complete the work so as to preserve his good name and credit, and to ease his bondsmen, and in completing the work his loss was about $106,000, and he died owing about $105,000, fully nine-tenths of which indebtedness was contracted in the prosecution of the said work, and which indebtedness can never be paid except from proceeds of this

claim.

C. L. WILLIAMS, Adm'r.

Sworn and subscribed to before me this 17th day of April, 1879. [SEAL.]

ISRAEL KIMBALL, JR.,
Notary Public.

No. 19.

Affidavits of C. L. Williams in re claim of estate of George Williams, dec'd, contractor for building locks in the Muscle Shoals Canal. Respectfully referred to the Acting Chief of Engineers.

APRIL 17, 79.

G. W. M.

No. 20.

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS,
Washington, D. C., May 3, 1879.

Hon. GEO. W. MCCRARY,

Secretary of War:

SIR: I have the honor to return herewith the report of the board of engineers convened by S. O. Nos. 56 and 60, Headquarters of the Army, to take into consideration the claim of the late George Williams, deceased, for work done on the Muscle Shoals Canal and locks on the Tennessee River, which was referred to this office for remark. The report, with the papers accompanying it, as well as the records of this office relating to the subject, having been carefully considered, I have the honor to report thereon as follows:

The claim of Mr. Williams, having been originally presented to this office and deaded upon adversely, was brought before Congress, and the act of January 13, 1879, for his relief was passed. The Committee on Claims of the House of Representatives, having the subject under consideration, called for any information concerning the same of record in the War Department, and in reply reports were furnished from the officers who made the contracts and under whom the work was executed, with a report from this office; all of which were adverse to the merits of the claim. With this information before it, the committee presented a report which was read in the House at the time of the passage of the bill, in which an entirely different view of the case was taken from that presented in the reports referred to. I am, therefore, forced to the conclusion that it was the intention of the law to make some allowance beyond what the terms of the contracts authorized.

The board, while of the opinion that upon the basis of the contracts alone a fair and just settlement has been made by the engineer officer, was satisfied that the act designed more than this, and has interpreted it as intending to cover all the losses meurred by the claimant in the prosecution of the works under the contracts with reasonable compensation for use of tools and for money advanced, and has made its award accordingly.

I am at a loss to see what other construction can be placed upon the terms of the law considered in the light of the report of the Committee on Claims of the House of Representatives; but as the action of the board is based mainly on an interpretation which may not be a correct one, I would suggest that the question be submitted to legal authority for the proper construction.

In view of the fact that the board found it impracticable to fix a definite sum as the actual value of the work done,” the officer in charge of the work, in compliance with nstructions from this office, submitted a statement of "amounts" paid George WillLams for work actually performed under each of his contracts for lock work, and by power of attorney under contract of M. G. Kennedy for section work, and 2d abstracts of bids made at the time of the letting of these contracts, computed on the basis of actwal insteadof estimated quantities.

This report of Captain King, dated April 26, 1879, with its inclosures, is submitted here with, marked A A. By examining these abstracts of bids and selecting for comparison the proposals of those bidders only who in each case, i. e., for the locks and for the section work, bid for all three locks and for all four sections, and aggregating the amounts of the proposals based upon the actual quantities, two tables have been preared and are submitted, marked B B and C C. These tables show what each bidder would have received, and the amount of each may be assumed as his estimate of the ost of the work plus profit. Assuming these amounts as the value of the work acording to the views and prices of these several contractors, and by a comparison of the values thus fixed by Kennedy for section work, and by Williams for lock work, with the mean of all the values of each fixed by all the bidders, it is found that the m of the two, i. e., of Kennedy and of Williams, which is the amount actually paid ander the contracts, is less than the sum of the mean values by $71,675.57. It must be remarked, however, that for section work there had been paid to Kennedy prior to Williams assuming the work under power of attorney the sum of $20,041.41.