Evening star., 1917-09-29
GREAT SH|PBU|LD|NG
TASK BEFORE j. S.
Must Overcome U-Boat De-
Struction to Insure Safe
ty of the Entente.
BRITAIN CITES THE NEED

By the Associated Press
LONDON, September 2S.-British ship
ping losses since the beginning of the
unrestricted submarine campaign last
February now approximate the total
losses before that period, according to
a statement authorized by the con-
troller of shipping. The statement in
dicated it was reasonable to expect
Germany TO destroy by next spring 200
vessels more than could be built in the
meantime.
The controller of shipping authorized
the Associated Press to make the fol-
lAvfng statement of the shipping situ-
alton and the urgent need for the
United States to undertake a merchant
shipbuilding program on a broad scale:
1T is of the utmost Importance that
the United States should realize that
the shortage of shipping is the most
vital fact in the present situation and
the building of merchant ships is of
the utmost importance.
Question Before United States.
THE question the United States must
face Is. whether. on the basis of the
shipbuilding preparations she is now
making. it will be possible for her to
SEND any substantial force to France
next spring without such a drain on
the worlds shipping as will subtract
Just as much from the fighting
strength Of the other allies as her own
forces will add.
However large and powerful the
Army which the United States trains
during the winter, 1t may be rendered
absolutely useless as an addition to
the nghting forces against Germany
II there are no ships to transport it
except at the cost of stopping the flow
of vital necessities to the present
armies.
The loss of SHINING since tho ba-
ginning of the ruthless U-boat war is
now roughly equal to the total losses
prior to that time. BY next spring
Germany may be expected to destroy
In the meantime.
Food Will Be Necessity.
Next spring this years harvest will
be largely exhausted, and the need of
supplying Italy, France and Great
the same moment the United States
VIII need large increase in vessels
to transport its Army and to maintain
What must be the program of the
United States? 1t must be large enough
to ouebuild submarine destruction.
Even II this means the building of
100000 tons year. which is three
times the best the British have done
and FIVE or six times what the United
States has previously done, this is not
impossible If the United States puts
into it an effort comparable with the
efforts the allies put into creating
their armies. navies and munitions To
build 100000 tons of shipping would
require about 100000 tons of steel. or
less than 10 per cent of her output.
1t would take not more than a half
million men, the majority unskilled.
What Allies Have Done.
'The task thus outlined is small COM
pared with the effort put forth by the
principal belligerents in other direc-
tions Great Britain, for example, in
creased her army from a quarter of a
million to over FIVE million. and she
added a quarter of a million men to
her navy and trebled it in size, while
in munitions the British effort whether
measured in money, men or material, has
been greater than what is needed for an
adequate American shipbuilding pro-
gram.
Before the war all the shipping in
the world was only worth about the
same capital as the two big English
railway companies. 1t would be the
most incongruous thing in the history
of warfare if the war, which such i'm
mensely greater strength had beet
exterted IN other directions, should have
the issue decided by failure to solve
the problem of building six million tons
of shipping year in country with
such vast resources as the United
States.
what is the present situation re-
gardtng U-boat losses? 1t is clear that
the submarine war will fail in it's main
intention. 1t will not starve Great Brit
ain and 1t will not interfere with the
adequate supply of munitions But Brit
ish shipping strength still is being con-
stantly reduced and we have not yet
reached the point where building equals
the losses.
Under the circumstances Great Brit
aims position as the sUpplier of the
allied needs is handicapped. But OF
main Importance is what it means to-
ward the efforts of the United States
in the war and unless the situation is
faced the great military effort of the
United States will be crippled from the
start.
Minimum Margin of Safety.
'There is today a shortage in ship
ping to meet the material needs of the
aliies-namely. the supply of raw
materials for manufacturing muni-
tions. the supply of finished munitions,
the supply of fuel for the navy and the
supply of food.
"Ar these supplies are now being
maintained at the minimum margin of
safety and in some cases below that
margin.
1T must be remembered that when
the war began the allies had to throw
their full strength into an increase OF
their armies, navies and munitions, and
1t IL because Of the strength. especially
Great Britains, expended in these di-
rections. that they cannot now outbuild
the submarine destruction. 1t was only
in the third year of the war that
merchant ships became a factor quite
as vital as the armies. navies and
munitions. Fortunately it was at this
stage that the United States entered
the war and her entry was mainly the
consequence Of Germany's submarine
war"