The daily progressive-miner. [volume] (Ketchikan, Alaska) 1915-1919, 1918-08-29
August II, 1918
Progressive Miner,

|
| Ketchikan, Alaska,
Gentlemen:
Every day here in Washington, I
read current editorials relating to ship
| building and our merchant marine.
These are clipped and laid before me,
and / always want to know what you
! gentlemen say about our work be-
cause your viewpoint helps me stand
aside and look at it whole If l ne
elect your editorials l would soon be
self-centered and dug in
This often leads me to wish that
you might see our work through my
eyes occasionally, especially in the
matter of future possibilities 1t oc-
Cured to me that | might venture to
write an editorial for you, and that
I the reaction in your minds might be
Of decided public service.
We shipbuilders have all been
prominent in the news the past four
months, and editorial comment all over
! the country has been most stimulating
to shipyard spirit We shall be build
.ng ships all through 1919 and 1920
We are building so many ships-three
| thousand of them, twenty-five million
tcns-that it is high time to prepare
for the day, not far off, when we shall
again have a real American merchant
marine.
Much of our thought on the United
States Shipping Board is now direct
ed to the operation of ships and the
arousing of the American people to
the significance of ships This does
not mean that we are neglecting ship
building, of course. THAI IS being
carried on with even greater energy,
and will never be permitted to lag.
The faster we build ships, however,
the more attention must be paid to
operating them. So, in devoting at
tention to our merchant marine, we
are simply working out broad, over
sound policies.
You will soon see our merchant
marine emerging in the news. Ocean
freight rates for our ships are to be
regulated on Interstate Commerce
Commission 1ines-this is one of the
Shipping Boards functions under the
law. When our foundation has been
worked out we shall make the facts
public. We are undertaking broad
studies for the purpose of improving
cur ports to get quick ,urn-arOund
with ships, and provide Org cocks and
repair facilities, and coal and oil
bunkering stations on trade routes.
There will be interesting news along
this line from time to time. We are
charged by law with Investigations in
to ship classifcati marine insurance
and other important matters, about
which will be interesting things to say
later. And as fast as possible, 1--WE
shall put American ships on new
trade routes, giving service to other
nations which have suffered from ship
shortage.
Many of you will find such announce
ments worth commenting upon editor
tally, on the score OF national welfare
or local possibilities. Your comment,
end especially your constructive sug-
gastions, will alwa. have great in
terest for me.
1t may be helpful to you, in watch
ing the news and commenting upon it,
to understand the general policy which
we are now endeavoring to work out
in connection with our merchant ma
rine.
Former neglect of American ship
ping was due to Indifference and lack
CT information on the subject by the
average American. If we are going
to keep the flag flying over the worlds
trade routes we must put ships and
the sea back into the Gaily thought Of
every American, as they were in the
days of the Yankee clipper ship. Our
new merchant marine is to be vastly
bigger, and the interest must be cor
respondingly greater. When "Old
Glory" few over the Yankee clipper,