The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1917-03-29

Mr.. BurglS stated that he would
not make any announcements OF
changes in the employees until after
he takes complete charge on April /
type. Something should have been
done for the local yard along these
lines at the same time, but because
We are not represented on the senate
committee, the attempt to have the
New Orleans Yard equipped for the
construction Of smaller vessels
proved abortive.
NOTWITHSTANDING this persistent
campaign against the New Orleans
Yard. we are now treated to the
spectacle of the army and navy
chiefs fine-Combing the country for
private constructors TO turn out sew
eral hundred small vessels a hun
dred feet long to act as submarine
chasers. 1t is an outrage and a pub
lie scandal that not even a small
fraction of the new naval programme
of expansion is to be the output of
the New Orleans yard
1T should be remembered that
when President Harrison appointed
the Commission to examine the va
fiOus sites on the Gulf of Mexico
and waters connected Herewith
upon which to erect a suitable sta
ton and dry docking facilities, the
naval needs were mentioned as sec
ondary to those of commerce. 1t is
most likely that had our business
men during all of these years exert
q 70 hri N 70
Shipbuilding enterprises to New Or
leans rather than TO overcoming the
subtle and unfriendly influences in
the Navy Department, we would be
in a position TO undertake some OF
the contracts now being let with a
prodigality never before dreamed Of
New Orleans Natural Advantages.
Ever since my experience rela-
tive to the new wharf | have been
consulting with the men who have
the new naval programme in hand.
They, no less than |, have been anX-
iOuS TO find a way TO defeat these
obstructiOnists. We have been work
ing on the matter for some time,
and at last feel warranted in saying
that instead of the New Orleans yard
being continued as the victim of bu-
reau chiefs, developments may short
ly be expected by which this plant
can be utilized for the construction
of merchant craft when not required
for naval purposes. This will pro-
duce the trained and adequate force
of ship builders which is a necessary
cOnComitant before the government
will seriously attempt to expand one
of these stations.
When the Board appointed to
select the best site on the Gulf for
a naval station made its report in
1889, it stressed the fact that New
Orleans was the terminus of six
trunk lines: that its water commu-
nication with the vast territory of
the Mississippi Valley was unsur-
passed; that it had unusual facili-
ties for obtaining every kind of
shipbuilding material: an abundance
OF skilled and unskilled labor, and
finally, that coal was abundant and
cheap.
costs Less at New Orleans"
I'm very recent report TO the
department | understand that not
only was this glowing tribute re-
peated but the numerous facilities
added since that day were empha-
sized. For instance, since the report
of Commodore Mccain and his
board, the Lake Borgne canal locks
have been opened and coal. steel and
other products from the inexhausti-
BILE supplies sof Alabama can be
barged to the gates of the New Or
leans yard. The trunk lines of rail-
road have multiplied and a steam
steel barge service from the upper
stretches of the Mississippi, Missou-
ri and the Ohio has been inaugurated
by which the output of the Pittsburg
steel district may be landed at the
wharf as cheaply as supplies from
the Birmingham district may be
brought by way of the Warrior river
and the Lake Borgne Canal. But
one of the chief facilities to be add
ed since that day is the Public Belt
Railroad. This is a utility that is
acknowledged by all traffic experts
as without peer in the United
States. By its use every class of
material used in naval construction
which must be transported by rail
can be laid down at New Orleans for
less cost than like service at any
other yard.
"PlOt To Strange New Orleans
Yard
"Since the selection of the local
yard the navy has changed its prin-
cipal fuel from coal to oil. and with
respect to this supply our yard is
more advantageously located than
any of the other plants upon which
the government has been lavishing
millions while our enemies in the