The record-union., 1898-12-15
AMERICAN SHIPS.


AMERICAN SHIPS.
They Should All be Built In This
Country.
| Inc simultaneous happening of two
great national events in the field of in
dustry is likely to mark an epoch in his
tcry- We refer to the fact that Ameri-
can steel makers are able to supply
british shipbuilders with steel ship
plates in quality better and in price
cheaper than it is possible for British
steel makers to do, and to the further
1act that, at the same time, shipbuild-
ing IN the United States is capable of
Delng made as cheap as it is in any
other part of the world, while the abili-
~ OF our builders to produce ships as
good has not, for years, been seriously
questioned. These two events are preg-
nant of great events in the future, ben
eficial, industrially, to the American
people.
Let US first prove our case: G. n.
/ Wolff, member of the British Par
( lament, is also a member Of a leading
British firm of shipbuilders. He was
recently before a parliamentary COM
mittee, at which he stated that in for
mer years the whole of the average of
about $4,000 tons of steel used by his
Ishlpbulld1ng firm was obtained from the
! West of Scotland while now a large
portion is imported from America The
tonnage OF ships constructed by his firm
aggregates, annually, about 10000 or
I9O,UOU. In the September number of the
Engineers Gazette Of London, Eng
land, the statement is made that steel
snip plates made in America are now
delivered at Belfast at 10 and y shil-
lllngs per ton cheaper than they can be
supplied by British manufacturers. The
Carnegie Steel Company of Pittsburg is
NOW turning out l 900 tons of steel ship
plates, monthly, for shipment abroad.
a Mr.. G. o. Herbert, an inspector for
the British Lloyd's Register of British
and Foreign Shipping, is now located at
Pittsburg inspecting and passing the
steel plates destined for British ship
yards. Recently we was quoted, in an
interview with a representative of the
Pittsburg Dispatch" as making the
following statement:
THE steel furnished by the Carnegie
lSteel Company as SO far been Of excep-
ltionally good quality and has compared
very favorably with the British prod
tuct. OF course, the American article is
the cheaper or it would not sell abroad.
The Introduction of American steel is
becoming rather general in the United
Kingdom, and I see no way of meeting
Iyour competition except by reduction
of the price of the British product
Apparently, therefore. greater excel
lence in the quality of the product is
beyond British manufacturers, if not all
the rest of the world The only thing
for the British to do is to reduce the
lprice of their steel. But meanwhile it
is not to be supposed that rock bottom
prices have been reached in this coun-
try. When it comes to reducing the
price, probably the initiative will be
taken with US, not with the British
manufacturers.
| The London Times" recently review
ed, at length, the subject of the Amer
lean merchant marine. In its opening
paragraph it said:
1T has long been foreseen by COM
ipetent observers that the mercantile
marine of the United States would
sooner or later recover the position on
the seas which it, lost during the Civil
War"
The London Times further said:
"A country which has turned out the
modern navy of the United States need
not fear competition in material re-
sources, mechanical appliances, or con-
structive skill, with any shipbuilder in
the world"
If our people are the equal in material
resources, mechanical appliances, or
constructive SKILL or if our position with
respect to the possession Of these places
US in a position where we need not
fear any competition, what need we
fear? Sooner or later" adds the
Times" the American shipbuilding
trade is certain to find itself able to
supply all the demands Of the country
for shipping, and to that extent the
British trade must in the long run be
the looser." The fact that we are able
to build ships as cheaply in this coun-
try as they can be built in others is
demonstrated, by inference, at least.
But with a large tonnage to build in our
yards, it will unquestionably be fact.
British newspapers are saying so, over
ard over again, the British shipping
trade journals have long ago admitted
1t, and they are now reiterating 1t.
The power which Great Britain now
wields in the world is due almost en-
tl1eIy TO her mOnOpOiN Ol shipping Gil
gagged in foreign carrying. It will be
apparent that. when we have reached
a point where we are able to produce
shipbuilding materials cheaper and
ships as cheaply as they can be produc-
ed in Great Britain, it is only question
/ of time when a large share of the
! worlds shipbuilding will be done in the
United States And, by this we mean
, during the course of perhaps twenty
} five or thirty years. But if We are able
! TO even equal Great Britain's present
shipbuilding output in fifty years, con-
! sisting as it does the present year, of
: nearly 100000 tons of all types. war
: ships and everything, we may consider
ourselves. as we shall be, extremely for
: tunate. What there is to hold US back
from such an accomplishment it would
be difficult to say.
A Chi1d's Philosophy.
Lord Crewe, at an educational meet
; ing at Liverpool, told an amusing story
of the little son of a friend of his who
refused to say his lesson to his gov