New-York tribune., 1918-01-25

number Of most able speeches on the
subject. We would have had a number
Oh very, profound arguments, and they
would have been going on now, and
the Panama Canal would be in the dim
iuture yet. | preferred We should have
the Panama Canal first and the half
century OF discussion afterward And
now instead Of discussing the canal
Ie1ore 1T was built, which would have
Deen harmful, they merely discuss nc,
discussion which | regard with be-
nign interest.
Every man Of US in the country
needs to understand that the first
lequ's'te is to get the ships. There is
no no use whatever in preparing every
'hlng on this side Of the water If We
cannot get it across. There is no use
or h'iing up the bottle unless you take
the obstruction out Of the neck of tho
bottle. The failure to build sufficient
Sn'ps means that we leave the neck
OF W the bottle cloggcd, and that VIC are
tncrciore unable to do ANYTHING until
the &c obstruction has been removed.
Inc submarines during the past
&c" months have destroyed greater
quantity Of tonnage than is being built
If that situation is not reversed. sooner
or later we shall be in the direst
straits to feed our allies to feed our
own army. to send over men or muni-
t'ons. Certain things should be done
ut once.
Shipping Needs
"Onc Of the great needs in establish
ing the war board is that we should
es'abilsh some man who should have
complete control of the shipping opera
tons. we have excellent men now en-
gagged IN the work of ship construction.
put we have no shipping expert. no
man who is a trained expert. cngaoeG
II, IN directing the shipping operations.
1hey are conducted under three or four
connecting organizations or bureaus.
here | speak not only of what I
know and of what you know, but of
things that have been told me in the
last forty eight hours of ships sent
abroad without manifests, because the
excellent army officers who were sud
denly plunked down in the business of
sending them did not know about mani
rests; ship sent over with steel rails
ana returning with the same steel rails
Tor ballast; of cargoes sent over and
not unloaded; of ships needed by one
department and seized by another.
~ could give you a concrete instance
OF that which they were trying to rem
edy just yesterday in order to keen a
snip that was needed to send over food
to our soldiers. Instead of having three
or four organizations each fighting the
other in order to get ships away from
1T and each doing the work more or less
lnefhclently, get organization with
one strong, trained expert to handle all
the shipping operations and co0rdinate
all the work. If that was done it would
mean an increase in efficiency. which
verify believe would be the couivalnnt
OF the addition of 100000 tons to our
sh,ppng facilities at the present time ;"
cannot overstate the Importance
and the vital need of speeding IN the
snip industry at the present moment
Inc Dig steel manufacturers should he
appealed to to drop all less important
work and to devote their whole atten-
tlon to building frames, plates and
angles, the essential components Of tho
ships. Their mills should be turned
purely to war purposes, and this is the
most important war purpose. Our
house is afire, and we are not to he
excused II we fail to try to put it out
Win every means at hand.
Let the government supervise the
work of the ship construction. let i
see that no improper profit is allowed
to the big man. Shame and disgrace be
the proportion Of any man who makes a
fortune out of this war. Allow no nri
vate gain. Allow simply the profit
necessary in order to run the business
to ADVANTAGE