New-York tribune., 1918-12-20

wholly self-reliant in labor matters,
and later merely had advantage OF the
Fleet Corporation's general propaganda
to attract men to the snipynrds. 1hat
propaganda had been extensive ana
successful.
Questioned by Senator johnson in
regard to the Quistconck, the first ship
launched at the Hog Island yards, on
August s, Mr.. Piez said that the rivet-
ing WAS only 65 per cent done at the
time. The launching should have been
deferred two weeks, but the date had
been fixed early and arrangements had
been made for great public celebra-
tion, and it was, therefore. not deemed
wise to postpone the launching. He
was not aware that any special amount
loss occasioncd by the premature
launching was due to the fact that
riviting in the wet basin is slower
than when the ship is on the ways
1t had taken 1870 days to complete this
ship after launching, as against an
average time of 81 to 81 days in Ameri
can yards, but it must be remembered,
he SAID, that this was the first ship
and was expected to take longer. There
was a general tendency in all yards
IN the haste of war work to launch
prematurely.
Good Service From Wooden Ships
Answering Senator Calder. Mr.. Piez
said the 7,5O0-ton tyne of ship-th
smaller Of the two types building at
Hog Island was a very satisfactory
and economical type. Mr.. Calder was
under the misapprehension that these
ships were of 5000 tons.
AS to wooden shipc M, pioz said
they were originally resortcd to as an
emergency measure and az such were
justified. The 134 completed wooden
ships were giving very good service in
the coastwisc, West Indies, South
American and Hawaiian trades. Their
defects were not due to the material
but to their small size and their in
ferior carrying capacity as compared
with steel ships. Their utilization had
permitted the release of many steel
ships for trans-oceanic service.
In addition to the completed wooden
ships, 1873 had been launched, 169 were
on the ways and 100 had been can
ccllcd. The Shipping Board had de-
cided that $50 wooden ships were all
that could be economically utilized
commercially in peace times. 1t was
the intention to sell the rest abroad,
anu Nii L 'Cl tiO uA ~ WOuiti nc JuoIl-
fable to dispose OF them at a loss. A
consideration in placing the limit for
American use at 800 was that so many
superior steel vessels of about the
same size, mostly 4,20O tons, were
building on the Great Lakes. These
vessels were oil burners and had a
much greater stcaming radius than
wooden vessels of their class.
Steel Contracts Cancelled
Mr.. Picz said that there had been
some steel contract cancellations. The
yard at Alameda, San Francisco Bay,
estimated to cost $20C00,000 and in
tended to take ship contracts amount
ing to $40,000000, had been cancelled
and some twenty ships elsewhere. One
hundred wooden barges had been can
celled and ninety seagoing tug con-
tracts had been suspended.
Protesting against tendency to
criticise in view of present conditions,
Mr.. Piez asked the Senators to project
themselves back a few months when
the submarines were sinking 100000 to
100000 tons deadweight a month and
recall the pressure the Shipping Board
was under to produce anything that
would float and move itself AS soon
rs the armistice was signed the board
had revised its building programme to
suit permanent instead of emergency
conditions.