The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-07-09
SCOPE OF SHIP
 BUILDING PLAN
 TO BE DOUBLED
Tonnage of 5,0Oo,Oo0 to G. 100000 in IS Months
 Now Proposed.

|
 |
 l Washington. July 9--An increase
 of 100 per cent. in the magnitude of
 the shipbuilding programme originally I regarded as the limit of the capacity ] of American shipyards and a propos- | al by the United States Shipping
 Board to ask another s4Oe,00O,00O or | $500, 100000 from Congress for con-
 struction work were announced last night by Chairman Denman
 | Instead of building 2,50O,000 or B. 000,000 tons of steel and wooden ship
 ping in the next eighteen months it | is now the confident expectation of the Shipping Board that the tonnage will run from 5,00O,000 to 6,00O,OOO. The board has been authorized to contract for tonnage to the limit of $500, 100000. Chairman Denman said last night that contracts for this amount now had been made or were in early prospect, making necessary the additional half billion abpropria- tion if the programme is to be carried to it's maximum possibilities. It Is believed President Wilson prob ably within the present week will is-
 sue an executive order giving to Ma jor-Gen. Goethals all managerial DOW CTS necessary to the execution of the vast programme, both as to wooden and steel ships. It IS reported Gen, Goethals has been won over to the
 wooden ship idea, which so bitterly op- posed earlier in the history of the ship building campaign. He is understood to have indicated to several persons ,, his willingness to build wooden ships to the limit of the country's capacity, an attitude considerably at variance
 with that which he held at the time he made his famous steel dinner speech in New York.
 An explanation advanced in some Quarters for the return to favor of the wooden ships is that the steel men are not nearly so enthusiastic in their cooperation with the government since 1t became apparent they are not
 to get the $95 g. ton originally agreed on between them and Gen Goethals,
 but are instead to receive $56 as a minimum, with a possib ble advance to
 $65 or $68, which approdmates the price the navy is paying ton.
 Chairman Denman said last night:
 s'All the Shipping Board feared in
 February as to the effectiveness of
 the submarines has been realized. The present appropriation of $500, ,00O, 900
 will not replace in IS months more
 than four-f1fths of the German de- struction since February 1. It is to America that the bulk of the replace ment of the submarines destruction.
 Since our original project was framed the United States has entered into the war and our army in France will require an enormous fleet to transport men, supplies and munitions. 1 Submarines may reasonably be ex- pected to appear along our coasts and l
 zx t--- ance In European waters.
 sThe member of the board have l under discussion the investment of an-
 other o0.ooo.ooo or $500, ,ooo. .oo0 in vessels. Such a proposal requires the | approval of the President before pre- senting 1t to Congress. If Secretary | McAdoo can suggest a reasona ble l place for it in our. general scheme Of | financing for the war and the Presi- | dent approves, Congress may be asked | for a further appropriation of this | amount,
 z Chairman Denman reviewed the his tory of the efforts to get materials and l yards for the building of ships with | which to nullffy the effects of German submarine destruction and insure sup plies to the American forces and to | the Allies. The steel men at first, he said, expressed their inability to aid the government because of their commit | ments to other nations, but later, r,when | the suggestion was made that the gov i ernment commander the steel plants, they offered to discuss the matter with i the shipping officials. It was at this time, according to Denman, that he asked Gen. Goethals to confer with James A. Farrell of the United States Corporation, the conference which re- suited in an offer to supply the gov ernment with as much steel as it [ needed as the tentative price of $95 a ton
 In the meantime. said MT. Den man. the wooden ship plan was origin ated and approved by Gen Goethals, G. w. Spragues graduate of Annapolis and noted electrical engineer; Capt. w H. Il Stayton and Rear Admiral Vain wright U. s. N., retired; F. w Woon, ironmaker and shipbuilder; I. N Hol- lis, graduate of Annapolis; Herbert Hoover and W. L. Saunders, engineers. : The board prepared a report of it's project with the suggestion that Gen. Goethals be asked to manage It. This was turned over to the Council of Ma tional Defence, which after investiga- ton approved it and returned 1t to the II President. The President gave his ap- H proval and adopted the boards sugges- ton that Gen. Goetha1s be made the manager of construction and he was | employed by the board In that capac-