New Britain herald., 1917-06-27
1E'lvDS ] HIS SHIP PLAN
M Cd. l'osthals Be. t Is Practicable

StnSton Clark. ono of the
 lssts who hrse proposed the
 ehip building program and
 recent1y boon removed from
 xoenmsutss emerEency fleet
 Hon by Major General Geo.
 lAAIs becauss Of his criticisna
 eral Go1thals' attitude toward
 sships, has writtsn the follow
 sfy Of the wooden ship night
 povuDr. the oncial organ of
 ty league:
 has happened to our plan
 rapid construction Of An emer-
 aest of cargo carrying craft
 which we wers to defeat the
 pf submarips campaign?
 plan was launched iast spring
 s dipping board with the ap-.i al ot &n the authorities in Wash
 anA with hearty endorsement
 4hs prsss and puhlio. It start e1th favoring wind and tide. but,
 " 1t was gaining headway. 1t, xinto m obstruction and stopped
 Fl violent shock. Whether It is
 sfloated off and continue it's voy- sto . successful conclusion rests
 the public. 11e plan was brought to the ship-
 board last March by two en-l 6ts. The board, and especially eEhAirman, Mr. Donman, were ls to sec the possibilities In wood Atp construction and At once re- d the two engineers to make de- Sd investigation as to the coun-
 possible output of ships, en-
 ana accesscries. eAle investigation proved conclu-' ys that the proposed fleet of . 31And wooden ships could easily
 quickly bc built. It h to be nA in mind that this program for
 constructton Of wooden ships 53xtAwed entirely and solely by
 4ippin9 board n . war ener- ~ taeasufe. It vas not content- |Eha& these wooden ships were the
 ohlps obtalnAhle. But 1t was
 fined that they were sea-wor- Ss{hAf they could Ald would carry
 6s fo allied borte ma attain .
 IT Fl . IT kn6t UltA tl1ese few lfAmeift fta, 1Set. tAe ;G10at concern
 sos fppfne board Nas that they Y s built piclkly F1n larSs mum 1vinx leternlaned tho feasibility IF pra3ect from a1ch . war view-
 the shipping board subnitted
 Inn to ths Coancil 6k NatloiiAls i1s and to the pse1 lent. 1t
 npeciiic ically 1ppEoyed by tho
 dent and bN thN orncii Of Na-
 1efense and tlit oafd was aus fkAd to start orlk \.
 &hht hmR con& &ress had placed " disposat ef the board m ap- ton Of $56, 0oo, 900. But this a Ina Adequate and steps were It
 taJfen to ask congress for A larger 0ptiation. which has Aineo .been, AHed. Shfpbuilders w1ro told
 Nhlle to prepare their ways for n construction of these wooden Ifpk And wefA assasr4d that con- t4s would bs givelia them on the cost of construction of the
 pJus . fee amounting to about E TT cont They at once startAd l14ys and periodically to make the iF1 na.y preparationg. x ssi. m some before this tic
 6n 1T tho hest, man to take I0xSe Of thi1 prk was under con- 5orS31ons 2 a6smed to tho board Y 6aj Sn. G. w. Goethals was lSally ntted for the job. He had ex- lo0sed himself as In sympathy with r plan. and his splsndid record on I4 Panama canal had given him the lmAdencA of tho country. When lked to undertake the work, how tee. he refused. saying that he know 3thing of shipbuilding, and felt that ' was not the man for the place. . said that his success on the Canal "a been due to the. one fact. that knAw avery detail of the work Itter than anyone else-tihat he did
 know anything about shipbuild- md that 1t would take him . to learn. When It was urged Do5t him that he could employ ex- lie insisted that no concern Iu1d succeed whose head depended Don suhOrdinates for information. 64 the board felt that he was the se Eaan who should be entrusted tth this work and, a little later. the tesident also requested him to un- srtake 1t. General Goethals there lon patriotically put aside his psr- ,nAl objectionss and acceded to tho .quest, albeit. he did so reluctantly Id under protest.
 The preliminary investigation had Lade 1t evident that wooden ships of fe ordinary gor conventional design. lrze enough for economical trans- tlantic service. would be diMcuit to uild rapidly in large quantities. To uifd such ships requires a large pro- prtion Of highly specialized ship lxp1pters at work on, each hull. and Iera IT today only . limited num- n ship carpenters In this coun- Moreover. only about 15 per I1uk of the cut of lumber can be ln tli4 construction of ships of III design. But fortunately the A