Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1917-05-08
TUESDAY, NAY s. 1917.

tBro0klvn Eagle.

brooklyn Eagle.)
The one overwhelming necessity. of war
efficiency in succoring the glies' cause
is the Multiplying of ships on TIC Atlantic
through new construction Ia America TO
overslcngh the U-hoat menace. 10 evceod
the tonnage of vessels tia. the submarine
May sink. to the end that British and
French. soldiers and civilians may not
Starvc.
This l. the plain truth of the situation
A. revealed IN the rcw- ihat German sub
marines last week sank l0l,3 q tons NJ
shipping. This astounding news far over
shadows al other factor IN the war situa-
ton. Ii upsets al previous calculation
and should arouse this nation as nothing
else has done. The destruction Of tonnage
at this rate e~rayelv menaces ENGLAND and
France, and puts the cause Of the entente
allies in peril a. 1t has not hccl siace The
first days Of the war.
What, ihcr, i the duty ~ the United
Statesl Manife,tiy 70 rush -hiphuilding
on both the Atlantic end Che Pacific
coasts, to carry out swiftly and cnn~cicn-
iiously the wooden-ship program. and ~
construct also, and simultaneously. az
many steel ships n possible.
Charles W. Morse. who j. a building cx-
pert, believes and perhaps General Goeth-
ais agrees with him that we can put into
commission five thousand ships, steel and
wood. in a year. Mr. Morse also insists
that wooden ships can he made with bulk
I.,la fl, Ill -. Ms,f-.a - .4
marine almost Impossible. ne realizes.
however, that the government must COM
mandeer the wood and steel for The YES
scl- To bc hnilt and that nc labor problem
viii be serious.
Some attention ought ~ ho given d, the
view Of Lewis Nixon ~ the possible iu-
crease in steel ships. Mr.. Nixon. who i
an Annapolis man, who doigred the bat
tleships Indiana and NJ massachusetts,. who
built the first modern submarine for the
United State navy ard the first for the
Russian navy. and who has uperintendcd
the construction If pretty nCarlv every
sort Of craft afl3a.. thinks 4 ncw tonnage
Of 2,000. 900 III lar-c tcal ec el- i no--i-
BILE within the mex wear. lIa is not
'burkcine'' the wooden ship idea. But bin
view j. that the wooden ship cnnuot wen
he made large enough I'D carry more than
1900 tons. and will hc useless or nearly
50 after the war Is over. The steel ship
carrying three times - much win bc more
useful now and hereafter.
OF course the vast demands Of al sorts
on steel producers at the present time are
recognized by Mr. Nixon. Nevertheless he
is confident that ii government comman-
deering Of steel for ships put \ stop tp
the construction III new steel frame build
ingS, of bridges. etc. III over The United
States no great harm win III dome to the
country. and wc shall have done our fun
duty to ENGLAND and France.
The Eagle wishes ID iay empha-.- on
the relative unimp1rtancc of everything
SAKE getting - many scaworthv ships
afloat as is humanity possible. Even the
question whether tie craft can 10 used 70
keep our ocean trade after the war need
not he discussed save IS = subordinate
matter. We are not selfish. We are not
looking to later trade conflicts with Eng-
land or any other mower. We have Tho
single purpose ~ feeding The pcpTlc and
the fighters ol thc entente power.
The task ~ industrial reorganization i-
tremendous. tConerc-- must give the adj
ministration the fullest power and the
people must hold the administration to the
sarictest responsibility for the way those
powers are exercised. A. for labor. we
do not want. and coula not have slave
work ON ships or on ANYTHING o,4c. But
we may hope for n newly Developed con
science in organized and unoreanizcd labor
thni viii rise "a this emergency. Aud III
iha. hope j. justified all The predictions ~
Morse and Nixon viii ~ outdnne IN \ vig-
orous and single handed democracy.