The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1918-02-19
ENROLMENT UNITED STATES
SHIPYARD VOLUNTEERS.


Chairman of the Bourbon County
Council of National Defense, re-
Gently received letter from Mr..
Edward N Hurley, of Washington.
d. c. Chairman of the United States
Shipping Board, in relation to help
ing in the work of enrolling mechan
les in all grades for the U. S. Ship
pink work The letter, from which
the following extracts are taken.
urges the Importance of getting men
for the shipbuilding trade:
United States Shipping Board
Washington, D. c.
February 5, 1918.
Mr.. A. B. Hancock, Chairman,
Bourbon County, Council Defense,
Paris, KY.
Dear Mr.. Hancock:
Because of your official position,
and the vital importance of the work
of enrolling the United States Ship
yard Volunteers, in which you are
engaged, I desire to lay before you
a statement outlining the shipbuild-
ing situation. The information here
in contained is placed at your dis
posal, for use as you may see fit In
obtaining the enrolment of the nee
essary men for the United States
Shipyard Volunteers.
Our shipbuilding program con-
templates the construction of six mil
lion tons annually, but owing to the
want of the necessary skilled men, we
are not under present conditions in a
position to turn out that tonnage. The
Shipping Board has the money. 1t
has the yards. It has the material.
The housing question is being rapid
'ly cleared up. All that is needed is
to obtain the necessary efficient
labor.
It should be brought home to en-
ployers and to the employees of the
industries of the nation that their
own future depends on the con-
struction of these ships. The fact is
that the recent order issued by Fuel
Administrator Garfield, closing the
factories of the whole country, and
the more recent freight embargo is
sued by Secretary McAdoo, tying up
all the freight with the exception of
food and fuel, came not because of
a falling down on the part Of the
carriers themselves, but because of
the lack of ships. The reason for
this is plain. The speeding up Of the
American factories piled in the East
ern seaports, and packed into every
railway siding outside of the seaboard
cities, thousands Of loaded cars of
materials for the war zone. The re-
suit was that even the coal required
for the ships in harbor could not get
through, and even the few ships which
we now possess were held in harboI
by empty bunkers and could not sail.
Until we have ships to clear the
goods, for which our Army in France
and our Allies are in need, these en-
forced holidays and embargoes must
recur, with the result that no factory
in America can be assured of running
full time and no workmen can count
on continuous employment.
If you can drive this home to your
people; if this lesson, through con-
slant repetition, can be thoroughly
learned; there is no doubt that you
will get your quota of the necces-
sary men.
1t IS not mere numbers that count
lit is the efficiency of the men en-
rolled.
1t is as much to the interest of the
manufacturer to send his best men
to the shipyards as it is to the inter,
est of the man himself to 60.
If the use of my name will in any
way help you in your work, you have
the authority to use it, quoting from
this statement, to the end that the
people from your district may realize
once and for all that on labor de.
ponds the construction of the needed
ships, and on these ships depend not
only the war itself, but the present
industrial lift of the nation.
Yours respectfully,
EDWARD N. HURLEY,
Chairman of the Board.