The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-10-30
HUGE TONNAGE NEEDS
Of OUR ARMY ABROAD
Over 600 ships VIII nc Required Com
stantly to supply American
Force of 900, 900 Men.
GREAT AREA FOR SEA BASE
London Talks OF Our Embargo Ac-
tivIty, New German leaders, and
Our Recruits.

London. Ocf 2S.--Thc American
army in France win need some trans
porting, Here are figures that are at
least approximately correct,
1t is estimated that 100 pounds Of
freight per man per day must be I'M
loaded al the port Of deharkatiou
Therefore, when at the end OF two
years, we have say. one million men
in France. we must unload daily 100
0eo 600 pounds ~ freight or 50.0 600
tons.
Three thousand tons can be unload
ed daily from a good sized shin. hence
seventeen ships at the wh8rves, each
Of them unloading 1000 tons VIII MI
the requirements In the United states
seventeen ships must be loading 60
600 tons a day. This makes Il total
OF thirty-four ships at the docks TAX
ing az basis 5000 ton (dead
we'ghG ship, We see that seventeen
ships must leave New York every two
DAYS ana seventeen ships leave some
FrcGch port every two days m transit
with army freight. Assuming ten davs
as the time Of passage. there would
he 10 ships 5000 tons) en- route TO
and from the United states. which.
adGed to the thirty-four a. the docks.
Will make a total of goa ships. assum-
ing 10 loss or DELAY
To indicate the quantities Of certain
articles required, feel for cooking for
six months on n ba STA OF half cord
per day per hundred men. would
amount to 500 cords Owing to
scarcity OF fuel part q this may have
10 be brought to France
with 100000 men. there WIZ he
approximately 200 600 animals At
fourteen pounds Of hay a day. there
would be required for six months
over 456,0o0,000 pounds Of hay. which
must be imported and also $50. 1000. =
600 pounds Of oats, Rations will re-
quire sl5,0o0.000 pounds Ammunl-
tion Will run into billions of pounds
This freight calculation does not
consider what would be required In
building or rebuilding railroads or
cantonments The space required for
storehousing at the base would be
about ds follows; Rations etc. ESQ
acres, fuel, $50 acres; forage, $50
acres, remount depots ESQ acres: can
comments for casuals, etc, 500 acres.
sick and wounded J 600 acres; eugi-
neer ordnance and signal corps. / 500
acres. Allowing for roads. Office build
ingss, barracks. etc, the total would
be about 5000 acres
Always there IS considerable confu-
sion nbout shipping figures. There Is
no one on this side of the Atlantic, so
far az ! am able to al1d out. who can
tell precisely the difference between
a gross and a net ton. AS a matter OF
taet' net tonnage Is not 8 fixed term.
+ In referring to submarine sinklnga
I gross tons are always used. together
! Wlth-the- English reckoning of 2.24Q
pounds to the ton. In a general way
cargo carrying space is figured in cubic
feet and then divided by 1Co TO get
gross tonnage. Displacement il quite
another matter. That kind Of tonnage
means the weight OF the ship itself, at
l understand 1t. although the word aug.
gests the weight of the water displacef
by the ship. Those who follow the
submarine news should bear In mine
that tonnage given is gross and that
weight OF cargo is not included