The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-07-20
EUROPE Is WATCHING
SHIPBUILDING IN US.
Entente Welcomes New Ton
mage, but Eoresees 1t as o
Factor When Peace Comes.
GERMANS ARE ALARMED
Activity Urged in Kaiser's
Yards, Many New Vessels
Being Under Way.

DUNG UnucT way.
Progress in shipbuilding in the United
States, an incident of which was the
ninety-nve launchings on July Z. has
attracted much attention all over Eu-
rope. as shown by the --latest newspapers
from the other side. Ensfish. French and
other allied writer's look with undis-
suised satisfaction on the additions to
the American mercantile marine. know
ing that without our new ships the En-
tents cause would be seriously handi-
capped.
In Germany note Of alarm sounds
in the writings Of the Junker. and the
shipbuilders are being appealed to TO
meet the Yankee menace after the
war At the same time the Germans do
not appear to be perturbed over the
movement in Entente countries. espe-
cially in England. to boycott German
Ships and German goods when peace
comeA They take the view that II
such q plan 10 carried out the United
States will not Join in II. in which case,
they believe. all such efforts by others
will be nullined.
Germans are being led also with dire
predictions attributed to members Of
the Industrial Workers Of the World in
this country. the general trend Of the
sop being that history has SHOWN that
whenever a nation approached England
In sea power the latter worked In
sidiously to form a pretext for starting
a war with the object Of humbling her
rival. To bolster their contention the
Boches point to the cases OF Holland.
Spain. France and finally Germany.
In neutral countries surveys OF the
situation are being printed assiduously.
the losses from submarines and the post
bellum need of bottoms being argued
from every standpoint. Lack OF raw ma
tertal. however. Is q serious handicap to
the neutrals a. almost invariably some
necessities are controlled by belliger-
ents and their shipment is almost a
hopeless task.
Praise for American Labor.
Speaking OF the position and pros
poets Of United States shipping and ship
building, Engineering, printed In Lon
don. says:
'In view OF her resources up to q
few months ago and her available vol
Juno Of skilled labor America Is now
doing wonderfully well. Thus she is
playing and will play a highly welcome
part in helping to solve the shipping
problem, and II Is not unlikely that
after the war that country will be our
chief rival in tho ocean carrying trade.
as she was in the first half Of the nine
teenth century.
I'm the middle Of the last century the
Americans came near to beating US In
ocean shipping. and history may pos
sibly repeat itself. Ambitious plans are
being made for permanent revival of
the United States merchant marine
but we may rest assured that we
shall not experience from America that
kind OF state subsidized and bounty fed
underwriting OF freights and passenger
rates that characterized the German
competition before the war md will
govern itself again II we take no
measures to check It. American compe-
tition will be fair and aboveboard.
IF, as is probable, American ship
ping Is subsidized 1t will be only to an
extent sufficient to balance the difference
between costs at home and abroad. in
strict accordance with the protective
principle OF the United States law. It
will not be done, as in the case OF Ger
man subsidization, with the set inten-
ton Of destroying our position as a
shipping power.
When war broke out the tonnage OF
United States shipping engaged in for
eign trade was only. in round figures,
100000 tons, though the country pos
sessed about six times that tonnage
employed In the lake. river and coastal
shipping Britain had Is. 900. 900 tons Of
ocean shipping and Germany 100000
tons Only about s per cent. OF Amer
tal L.
American vessels.
Inaugurated Before the War.
The great boom In American ship
building and Its twin trade shipping Is
not however, a creation OF the war,
though It has been accelerated by the
war. 1t is part Of a national movement
for more ships inaugurated before and
apart from the war. More than twenty
years ago merchant marine league
was formed In the United States to ad-
vocate the restoration of shipping.
When 1t was found that the Panama
Canal was at last likely to be opened
to traffic the more ships question be-
came one OF practical politics
III our workmen and their unions are
unreasonable, II our engineers will not
adopt Standardization and other eco
nomical methods, II our builders will not
cooperate and combine and II our
statesmen will not recognise the rights
OF enterprise and stop unfair foreign
competition. then nothing can prevent
such growth OF American and German
shipping and such decline OF our own
as will spell the downfall of the British
Empire.
The central and supreme fact is that
We possess such great natural and eco
homie advantages in shipping and ship
building that we easily ought to main
tain very long lead In these lines. With
our coal and iron supplies. our steel
works and building yards and harbors
all practically side by side. with our
unique geographical situation, with our
great building capacity and inherent
skill in this trade We hold a combination
of special favors These advantages en-
abled us before the war to build and sail
ships more economically than any other
nation.
But what Of the future? Some au-
thorities consider that one result of the
war will be the removal Of the great
difference between British and American
costs which has hitherto existed"
Urges Germany TO Activity.
Gcrmdnd, the Berlin organ OF the
Centre party, Is the most persistent OF
the German newspapers that are urging
feverishly the building OF new ships to
ny the KaIser's flag. Predicated on the
hope that Germany will regain all OF It's
lost colonies Germdnia harps upon the
connection between Colonial policy"
and sea power policy"
German Central Africa" In now a
dominating idea among the junkerdom.
In arguing that point Germ ania, which