Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-09-26
|SkTPYARDS HUM
|AS U. S. PUSHES
HUGE PROGRAM
f,onstruction Policies Take
shape in Development of
Merchant Marine
VAST PROBLEMS SOLVED
~ WILLIAM ATHERToN DU PuY
WARRINGTON. sapt. 2s.

IN. smoke Of battle has cleared away
Il ,..r, the headquarters Of the United States
sn,rp,uR Board and the Emergency Fleet
. c.rnoratIon, where General Goethals and
cn.lr,nan Denman lately were oamounaginE
"a smoke bombing each other. and Il is
. -, possible to state definite governmental
a .o,eIss on wooden ana steel ships and take
. q. measure Of the advance toward their
. FABRICATION
| In the first instance, was told today
:, the Shipping Board that few or no
rooden ships would be built after the COM
II nlstlon Of 400 now under contract. This
rould indicate that General Goethalss
eounsel had prevailed in the argument as
. h.tween wooden and steel ships. Still, there
4 considerable concession In favor OF
. ,hs penman idea, for 400 wooden ships Of
teoo tons each make no small item In the
4 american marine Of the future. Incident
silv IL may be stated that the work 10
4 ,esr along on many of these vessels, and
,hey will be taking to the water within five
months from date.
4 The second question at issue between
General Goethals Of the Emergency Fleet
corporation, and Chairman Denmsn, OF the
ehIpping Board, was one OF authority. Gen.
,ral Goethals took the position that he was
10 proceed with his plans without the advice
j n the Shipping Board and Chairman Dem
man insisted upon passing on the program
N the builder Of the Panama Canal. In
the midst Of the bitter controversy that en-
.ued the President asked both to resign and
appointed Edward N. Hurley and Rear Ad-
mlray Washington Lee Capps as their sue
cessors.
SHIPPING BOARD IN POWER
THE Emergency Fleet Corporation" it
IS now said and uncontradicted at the
chipping Board, as q subsidiary Of the
board The latter has the direction of the
building plan. as well as that of the opera
don Of the ships when they are ready to be
put into commission"
So, in the second contention between
Denman and Goethals Nle former chairman
seems to have won the day As the mat
Ter has worked out It was within his prov
ince to exercise authority over the work
Of the builder of ships. Rear Admiral
Capps admits that authority, which sits
lightly, and is proceeding with the work.
These vast enterprises of the Government
IN meeting the war situation contain much
of Incidental news from day to day, but
m the mass OF II the whole plan and the
extent to which II is being accomplished
are difficult to follow. I therefore asked
at the Shipping Board that / be helped to
picture the status Of our shipbuilding pro-
gram as 1t exists today.
In the first place there is the measure
OF the job In the light Of appropriations
from Congress. Early in the game the
Emergency Fleet Corporation vGs formed
under the authorization of Consress which
provided it with $4,000, 900. protesting at
the largeness of the amount. Then, after
we were we'll into the war and the SUBJ
marines were sinking many ships a new
measure of the situation appeared to Con-
gress and authorization was given for the
expenditure of $750,O00, 900, or fifteen times
fOin al fuAf
been let that will absorb that $3.50, ,00O, 900,
and Congress has provided for an addi-
uonal billion in legislation now pending
but scheduled to pass within a few weeks
80 the authorizations for ships is nearing
the two-billion mark.
The first $760.O00, 900 is now being spent.
Next to the 400 wooden ships progressing
toward completion, there are eighty COM
posite ships building. These vessels are
part wood and part steel and are OF 5000
tons each or thereabouts. Some Of them
viii be ready in six months.
FABRICATED STEEL SHIPS
The third venture in building is IN fsbri.
Gated steel ships. There are 14O of these
now contracted for. T1ey are Of tonnage
ranging from 5000 to 7oUO. They are the
shlps that promise to be standard for future
construction. They are being puilt through
system OF eo-ordinating production that
n
ousir7. but which waits practical demon-
suauon spson The vessels are Quilt in parts at
anerent places, numbers of great indus
uiai plants being assigned the manufactures
~. 'ne sections OF the ship that fit best
rHI Vhelr capacities. These various parts
NJ, NJ pe assembled at Hog Island and
BRISTOL on the Delaware River. ana ~
mrh, a.SI, n. j. When once this .piece OF
sanizatlon Is In operation each OF thesa
g plants will be able to turn out
ThAso Soiupiete se ship once every two days,
anese fabricated ships. the prospectIve mas
Ttsrpleces of the Whipping Board and the
emergency Fleet Corporation. will begin tc,
80 INTO service in ten months to a vasr
if1m 9L1 the present date.
.hiau completes the building plan for
H.. 'n a money Is already available. The bill.
non that is to como will probable he ussd
hgely in these fabricated ships and nossS-
~ IN limited number of Composite WOOD
ahu steel ships N
100000 TONS OF SHIPPING sE1zpn
another vast undertaking Of the shippinS
A. was the communicating of ships un-
fw..s "S.ruetlon. Ttlon. In all the shipyards be-
eh portland, Me-, and Portland. Ore
.he. shipping Board has seized the ships
were being built without regard TO
S"nersnlp. 1t has paid for these ships and
- sNen instructions to their builders as
y, oouipietion OF work. Many of them haya
t,.S. seh completed. AS they have been
tey 10 enter the trade the Government
assigned them to duty with the army
navy or has leased them for operation
=, such way that it would be most bene.
eu' only vessels of moro than 25OO tons
:, eso thps seized, but the total has amounted
~ q tonnage Of 100000, and the number OF
ps 5n 20 something like a hundred.
me next step after Communicating ships
s1nuer construction Is that of reuuisItIoninK
sose already upon the seas and flying the
srk, ana Stripes. Every American ship is
.sDlect to this sort OF communicating AZ
ny moment It's owners are, OF course
seeompensed The army may want trans.
so.ts or the navy may want colliers. There
- DC call for ten OF the former and six
.ne latter tomorrow. The Shipping Board
anines its shipping map II notes that
ste.n sn ships are coming to port at certain
svlhts today and that certain others have
..ecently docxed and unloaded. It selzes
e sixteen ships. that best suit its purpose
80 are most available. II turns them Inn
sososstey ne over to the service that has called
GERMAN INEFFIcIENOY.
Then there are the German ships that
NV nr4ve been interned in American waters
-nere were about 100 Of these. all Of which
rele more or less damaged. The Navy