The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-01-08
COMMENT
The Year In shipbuildlng.

In the January number of international Ma
rtne Engineering is presented very compre.
hensfve review OF the amount of shipbuilding
Of the country for the present year. 1t is an
industry of which the average citizen. not in
touch with marine matters has little knowledge
and not very exalted opinion. He knows that
about all the vessels Of the United States that
leave American waters under the American flag
are vessels of the navy and upon that fact he
bases his estimate of maritime importance in
general. But it should crafty even IL it sur
prtses him, to learn that at the present time the
American merchant marine makes a total of
nearly eight million tons, and is second. among
the nations of the world, to Great Britain only.
This IL all the more remarks able from the fact
that this equipment liz almost exclusively made
up of vessels in the domestic trade.
Less than dozen ships fly the American flag
in foreign ports. and all of these compare
lively old, less than ten years and more
that are twenty There ships owned
by Americans but operating under the flags of
other nations. that would give about 9, 1000
600 tons more could they he rated under their
own colors The estimated investment of Amer
lean money in vessels sailing under those con-
dtions ts not less than $50 900. 600. but the
American government derives benefit from
them with respect to taxes. This has long been
a regrettabe and humiliating condition. 1t
has confronted us for more than fifty years but
the patriotism and the smanship Of the
ton, while acknowledging the reproach, hav>
not yet found remedy for the situation, which
I II not getting worse is certainly growing no
better.
/ When It comes 10 inventory OF transpor-
tation resources in home waters the exhibit is
a much brighter The capital invested In
shpyards within the borders of the United States
totals about hundred and fifty million dollars.
and In them there Is expended hundred mil
lions annually for wages and materials The
American merchant marine has expanded along
! the seacoasts. on the Great Lakes and other in
/ land waterways untIl it represents investment
/ Of approximately six hundred million dollars,
the yearly payment for wages and other operating
expenses being about fifth of that large sum.
while repairs and renewals cost about thirty
millions
/ A large amount of shipbuilding has been car
! ried the past year. The Newport News
Shipbuilding and Drydock company has pro-
duced the greatest tonnage Of any concern he
ing about evenly divided in that respect between
naval and merchant vessels though for the latter
class the American Shiphuilding company heads
the record with gross tonnage of nearly fifty
eight thousand representing over thirty -one
horsepower The yards the Atlantic coast
have had busy year. though not working up TO
their fun capacity, Shipbuilding the Great
Lakes has been comparatively negligible but
general repair and drydock work has kept the
yards more or less occupied, especially since the
early part OF November. when the damage sus-
tanned from the lake storms sent numerous yes
sells the repair hospitals The principal yards
on the Pacific coast have been more largely en-
gagged in naval construction on the whole it
is an impressive addition TO the resources OF
our domestic commerce. and emphasizes the au-
dacity OF giving this great coastwde fleet free
passage through the Panama canal when by the
terms of treaty all nations 10 enjoy
the of It terms of strict equally .-Boston
Transcript.