Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-10-17


industry will be Philadelphia, thus em.
phasizing the fact that the Delaware Is
rapidly becoming the first shipbuilding
river in the world. Fortunately for the
Delaware, few wooden ships are TO be
built here. The wooden shipbuildnE pro
gram is destined to be one Of the greatest
disappointments of the war and, not
being an expert I'm building wooden ships
and not being acquainted with them, it
this theme.
Standardizing Shipbuilding
The standardized ship has been the
dream Of shipbuilding architects and en-.
gipoers ever since the first steel ship was
built. The best results, up to the present
time, have been obtained by the yards on
the Great Lakes in building ore ships for
a given fixed trade with virtually standard
loading and unloading facilities. The
standard ship has also been developed to
a certain extent by individual merchant
yards in Great Britain.
All of the shipyards have naturally, In
the course of years. built up standard
methods Of doing certain things, such
as standard fittings, valves, flanges,
drop forgings and deck and en-.
gineroom fittings of all kinds, but,
except for the Great Lakes, the yards
have not been able TO adopt standard
huls, which is the main essential differ
ence between the proposed new vessels
being built for the Government under
most urgent necessity and vessels built
heretofore to the individual taste and re.
quirements Of scattered owners.
The designs of these fabricated" ves-
sells are such as to permit of the use OF
the most modern shop methods in prepar-
ing the material in order that the mini
mum amount Of work may remain to be
done in the assembling and launching
yards; but, no matter what the type of
vessel to be constructed, the crux of the
shipbulding question lies i'm the amount
of labor that may be made available for
this building. Steel material of course, is
a most important factor; but there is no
doubt in the minds of the men best able
to Judge that the steel output of ship
building steel material is at present far
ahead of the shipbuildng capacity. If
our shipbuildinE program is to have any
reasonable assurance of success, it is nee.
ossary that the output on this coast, for
instance, be doubled within the next
twelve months.
As men skilled in shipbuiding are not
available and as shipbuilding communi-
ties are now crowded to the doors for
housing accommodations, it seems fairly
clear that the problem narrows down to
the question of breaking into shipbuilding
of providing these men with suitable
housing facilities.
May Have to Draft Workers
At present there are employed in the
shipyards on the Delaware and on the
Chesapeake Bay and tributaries about
80 900 men. These shipyards are planning
improvements which, when completed, in
about one year, will provide for $4,000
men. Their present capacity, as matter
of fact, would employ 10000 men if the
yards could get them.
The new shipyards contemplated for
Fabricated" ships in this district will re-
quire from 10000 to $4,000 additional
men. The extraordinarily high wages
being paid at the present time have, un-
fortunately resulted in decreased pro-
duction, due to poorer attendance. That
is the experience of virtually all shipyard
managers at this time. If the war is to
be won by ships or, to put it in another
way if, of all the elements entering into
the winning of the war, the production of
sufficient ships to win the war is the one
element for which no satisfactory solu-
ton has yet been offered, does not ship
building assume a newer significance and
is it not time that it should be considered
not only an act of patriotism but bind
ing duty upon every man engaged in ship
building to remain in that service con.
tinuously?
The drafting Of men for the work of
shiphuilding, in one form or another, will
probably become necessary, and II is TO
be hoped that the necessity of meeting
this question in time will become ap-
parent before our soldiers in France need
either food or munitions.