The Washington herald., 1918-08-29
SUGAR SHORT
ASSHIPS FEW
Supply Would Be Album.
dant, II Transport AIDE.
quate, Says Holland,

II We cOuAQ only redCu Java WIN
abundant ships u would not be nec-
essary for Mr.. Hoover so to limit
the use Of sugar in the United
States as to make IL almost as
scarce as II Is said to be In France.
According to excellent authority
Java last year had a surplus Of
considerably over 100000 tons of
sugar and there Is sure to be a
large addition to the surplus this
year. But there the sugar lies In
the warehouses Of Java because
neither the United States nor Great
Britain can send any ships for its
transportation to this. country and
to Europe.
Some Of the government author
tiles at Washington have recently
heard that in view of the sugar
situation IT Is now the purpose OF
some OF those who are developing
Florida agricultural possibilities to
begin the cultivation OF sugar cane
in the expectation that II may
ultimately result In securing as
large q crop as Is furnished by the
Louisiana sugar plantations.
There seems now to be no doubt
that the American wheat harvest
this year will amount to approx
mately 500 200. 900 bashels. We shall
have therefore a much larger amount
OF wheat available for export this
year than was the case last year.
And we shall have also in addition
more ships than were available last
year for the transportation OF our
surplus wheat. principally In the
form of flour, for our allies across
the sea.
More Ships Needed.
- In a recent statement made by
the Emergency Fleet Corporation
IL was said that the United States
will continue to be the great res
ervoir from which supplies needed
by the armies In Europe can be
furnished to them.
And in order adequately to trans
port these supplies we need more
and more ships. How great the in
crease in our international COM
merce has been in the last three
years Il illustrated by the fact that
in the first year of the European
war the money value of our exports
was about S2.50O, ,O00. 900 whereas in
the year 1917 the money value Of
our exports was in Ivund numbers
Ss.25o. 900, 900.
or this total amount of g. 900, 900, 900
exported In 1911, wood stuffs and food
animals were Of the value OF s, ,SOo. .CoO, :
COO
Many million tons Of shipping, In
addition to the ships needed for the
transport Of the army and the navy,
wiz be required for movement of
supplies and for bringing back from
other countries raw material such
as sugar from Java and coffee from
East India. \ vast amount of coffee
was badly damaged upon the
vharves OF East India because II
was impossible to obtain ships wits
which TO transport this coffee to Eu-
rope.
One or the essential materials need
ed for the manufacture of munitions
: of war is pyTites. It was a cheap
and almost yalueisss mineral until
the men of science showed how n
! could be utilized for certain war pur-
poses. We have some pyrites mines
which Is Of considerable size in the
Adirondack region Of Northern New
York But for the most part We
have been compelled to rely upon
Spain for our supply of pyrites. Yet
any Of the Spanish pyrites to the
United States becaust no ships could
be found for this service.
In Australia there was before the
. present harvest began a surplus of
three hundred million bushels of
wheat That would have been sum-
r cient TO feed England and France for
"A year. Australia Is 10 add very large
sly to this NIrplus by her harvest of
this year. But there the wheat lies
because no vessels could he spared
for the transportation OF it to Eng
land. and in fact there were not
enough vessels to bring this wheat
from Australia to our Pacific Coast.
In another year We probably shall
have ships in abundance. The Ship
ping Board has given out contracts
Tor considerably more than eight mill
Jon tons dead weight of ships. We an.
ready have about two million dead
sweight tons of neutral and ally ships.
70 that within a year we shall have
the largest mercantile marine in the
world
After the war is ended ships will be
needed for the purpose of bringing
hack our soldiers from Europe, and
when that Is accomplished. then the
United States will be in position TO
meet from our resources and bv util-
fzfng our mercantile marine all OF the
demands for tonnage which NAV be
made The leaders in our export trade
say the demand upon this country for
raw and manufactured material of an
kinds viii be enormods. and cali at
tention to one fact which has hither-
to escaped notice, namely. that II win
be necessary to replenish the depleted
herds Of cattle in Europe from our
own 1--we cattle stock.
The leaders in our Industries who
are looking forward to the day when
The great struggle for the markets Of
the world will have begun and who
have been much encouraged by the
passage OF the so-called Webb bill
which permits our exporters to conn
bine. speak with qualification Of the
fact that although the wonderful de-
velopment OF our ship construction IA
due directly to the exigencies of the
war. nevertheless when the war IA
ended these ships will be available for
peaceful commerce There was a
time before the United States became
. great shipbuilding nation when our
manufacturers were fearful lest we
should not have ships enough to
makeit possible for Us 10 carry our
commodities to the worlds market
Vow there Is no longer apprehension.
They are certain that we shall have
the greatest mercantile marine in the
world HOLLAND.