The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-03-06
DEPART.
shipbuilding IN United States.

The Ship Building Industry of the
Foreign Trade is the title of a docu-
ment just issued by the treasury bu-
reau of statistics. 1t discusses the eco
nonic conditions which surround the
present state of the shipbuiIding indus
try III TINS country in potn tneIr MS
torical and their industrial aspects.
hIstoricaliy 1t finds that the use OF
lr0nclaQs in the Civil w ar sounded the
doom OF wooden ships as instruments
OF national defense, and JneAcSlortn
turned over maritime aSceudancy to
the lron-produclng nations, in which
Great Britain had then held the lead
ershIp. But with the aScendency of
the United States in iron and steel
production, and the advent or TINS
country into the new era of oceanic
responsibility, both commercially and
politically, the present period of our
maritime progress is clearly marked
on rrom allstnat has preceded it. His
torically our development in snip
bmuolng has reached the point at which
the economic outlook is based upon the
most favorable industrial and commsr-
cial conditions ever known in the his
tory of our merchant marine. These
conditions are shown first IN the in
ternal development of the ShipbuildinS
industry The influence of the naval
policy on merchant ShipDuIiGing has
developed shIpbullding pants to a
point of eq1- Yalent with too.S and ma
chinery, and TO scale OF production
which, with a larger demand for ships,
would almost put the best American
shipbuilders on the same plane as Brit
ish SLtpULiiders as to cost OF produc-
ton. ! Go use of electricity III the OPP
Grafton ot shipbuilding plants. the en-
ploymeUt OF pneumatic tools and the
n ~-falyS lNsa
handling OF heavy materials at. every
stage have revolutioniZed Shipmaking
methods in the United States to such
an extent that the best shipyards in
America are even better equipped than
those of Europe. The chief obstacle
to shipbuilding in competition with the
foreign Shipbullders is the lack OF SUI
ficient orders at our shipyards to keep
them busy on a sufficiently uniform
volume of work.
The difference in the LABOR cost of
production In foreign and American
Shipyards is conceded to De about 70
per cent greater on the hull, and %
per cent greater on the machinery in
the American yard. This difference, IL
accepted as correct, 1t is neId, must be
overcome by the introduction of piece
work methods of labor and the stand
ardizing of types and parts. The re-
port finds that, as compared with Brit
ish shipyards, comparatively little
progress has been made in this coun-
try in either of these respects, except
in those located upon the lakes. 'The
lake SuIpyaruS have turEed OUT vol
ume of tonnage which has enabled
them to utilize European methods or
reducing cost more generally than is
the case. on-ethe Atlantic seaboard. 8
i The progress on the lakes IN produce
tive economics has arisen largely from
consolidation of plants, whereby spe-
cializing could be more generally de-
veloped and uniformity Ia type of con-
structfon introduced. The consolida-
ton of shipbuilding plants with steel
making eSta btishmentS seems 10 De an
other direction in which eco1pon1lcs IN
productive cost of ships must be real
lied. Shipbuilders complain that the
fluctuation of prices in the steel market
has been among the greatest him
ORANGES to the development of steel
shfpbuilding in the United States, as
compared with European prices, which
are more stable.
The second part of the inquiry IS
devoted to the study of the merchant
marine as a part Of the national dis
tributive system. 1t cites fact shown
by statistics that with the growth in
the volume of ocean commerce .an III =
2 creasing proportion of our surplus
wealth has been forced to avail its
/ of agencies not of It's own control ~
order to reach and maintain fore.
markets subj It to the discriminat =
of shippiHs- lines organized in the Sc
| vice of our rCmpetitors. The growth
| in the volume of our foreign commerce
| is mainly responsible fer the fact that
American capital has practically over
come it's timidity for investment in
! either shipbuilding or shipping. I'm
der existing conditions, however. dis
! tribution by sea between the United
States an>- the outside world is in for
eign control For the fiscal year end
ing June 30 1900. imports and exports
by sea aggregated s2.0S9, 52S, 666. only Q 5
! per cert of which value was carried in
| American vessels. Numerous tables
| are given. showing the growth in our
| foreign commerce and the decline In
our foreign shipping.