Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-10-02
HOG ISLAND IS
GREATEST ship
YARD IN WORLD
"A Year. Ago, It Was but Des-
olate Waste, Scarcely
Accessible.

Philadelphia, Pa, Oct. 2.-Trans-
formed in less than a year from a
d%esolate waste, practically inaccessible,
into the greatest ship yard in the
world is the story. in brief. Of Hog
Island. It was hardly more than ten
months after h first surveyor ran a
line through the length of the island
that Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, wife of
b PreAident. cnristened the first ship
to pe launched ut the big plant. From
its fifty ways, very soon, If the pro-
gram is carried out, three fabricated
steel cargo carriers a week will slide
into the Delaware river with a splash
that soon must swell into a tidal wave
rolling in the direction of Germany.
With two vessels already launched
and forty now on the ways in pro-
gressive stages of construction, the
yard today virtually is complete. Be-
fore the end of the year, according
to officials of the American Interna-
tional Shipbuilding Corporation, there
will be fifty ships on the ways and
tw~enty-eight more, already launched,
in h finishing basins, or seventy
eight under construction at one time
NOR than two miles of ships.
AS fast as the vessels are launched
other keels are laid and as fast as
they are delivered other will pass to
the Quitting piers. In twenty-five
contract was signed on Sept. 13, 1917,
Hog Island, these officials say, will de-
liver to the government 1886. 900
tons carrying capacity of ships at a
cost considerably in excess of $780,
100000. When the yard is in full OPP
Grafton it will have a capacity of
10000 tons a year more than three
times the entire yearly output of
America before the war. About
t~hirty-one thousand men are engaged
In the work.
The fifty a at the yard, which
is located on the Delaware just outside
of Philadelphia, extend for a mile and
a quarter along the river front and are
completely equipped with a high flex-
ible system Of derricks for assembling
the fabricated parts. These ways are
! each with auxiliary buildings and tool
shops, is an Independent ship as
sembling unit. Adjoining them and
forming a continuous water front of
another mile and a quarter are the
! ship Quitting basins with seven piers,
each 1000 feet .long, and Quitting
berths to accommodate twenty-eight
vessels at one time during the period
between launching and completion.
la oAA l hOodI u pClI Id
o. buildings in the yard. They cover
approximately twenty-five acres and
include a central administration build
ing housing 1850 persons and an en-
gineers' building for $50 engineers
n draughtsmen. There are barracks
for 5000 workmen, three guards bar
racks, a handsome Y. NJ. c. A. build
ing, a large hotel, a central cafeteria,
mess halls, a mode emergency hos
pital and innumerable auxiliary build
'ings which make up a city within it.
self. There is also a training school
for shipbuilders with $50 instructors.
New men are rapidly trained, 600 at
q time, n most of them, officials
say, are becoming adopts in the new
trade of ship erection and assembly.
The army Of $4,000 workers at the
great plant include men of all ma
tionalities and all occupations. Near
1y 1000 girls are also employed and
many of them are doing work former
~ done by men. Most of the COM
mon labor was obtained in and around
this city, but the skilled mechanics
and office employees hail from virtual
ly every section Of the country. The
payroll averages close to $1,000, 900 a
week..
Virtually no labor trouble has been
experienced at Hog Island, the few
minor grievances of the employees be-
Ing quickly adjusted. After a recent
inspection tour Of the yard, Charles M.
ySchwab. director general of the En-
Urgency Fleet Corporation, said that
everything was "most harmonious"
The only thing needed, he added, was
additional experienced riveting gangs
and these soon would be turned out at
the training school.
/, Buy Liberty Bonds
WHAT is THE LIBERTY IOANo
It's forts and it's ships and it's shin
It's squadrons that sweep the sea,
It's all of the circling band of steel
That sha keep all the home shores
free.
It's grub and it's warmth for the
), sailor lad
Far out on the wintry foam,
Fol- the brave jack tar, as he fights
It's the good old money from home"
It's rifle and helm and it's bayonet.
It's shovel and shard and she'll
For the soldier boy in the olive drab.
Out there on he edge of hell.
planes
That battle on high alone.
Fol the lad who is daring "over
It's n good old money from home,
It's succor and life for a bleeding
world.
It's the glimmer Of Peace at dawn.
It's the strength of a mighty arm to
strike.
It's the CLEAN OF a great sword,
drawn.
But. more than all. it's the pledge Of
To the lads whom we call "our own"
To the boys On land. afloat, on high.
It's the good old money from home"
Ralph r. McMillin.
Buy Liberty. 1onds-
h mayor Of Virginia, Mimi. when
application was made for a license
for a soft drink parlor, rose in his
place and remarked that he could
not believe it possible for a man to
pay 800 a month rent and 1925 for
g bartender and sell nothing but pop
-