Norwich bulletin., 1918-04-03
FACTS AND COMMENT,

The first concrete ship for the new
 American merchant marine was
 launched on the Pacific coast March
 13 There are a number of such ves-
 sels afioat in the world and so the Faith, as this latest one has been christened, cannot be called an ex- rerirnent. She is 320 feet long, 45 feet wide and will carry 5000 tons cargo. Her sides are four inches thick, and embedded in the concrete is a contin- uous basket work of steel mesh weighing $40 tons. This will provide the necessary elasticity for the huge structure and enable her to give to the waves. All told the vessel weighs but 300 tons more than a steel steamer of like cargo capacity. The | immediate advantage of this type of vessel is the cheapness and expedi- tion with she can be constructed. The entire plant costs but $25.060 con- l trasted with the half million outlay needfuI for regular shipyard. Con- crete can be had in unlimited quan- titles. and the labor needful is largely
 unsl1illed. There Is no need on this ttvpe of vessel to today to the whins
 and meet the exorbitant demands of 1 the high and mighty structural steel Il crete ship can be built quickly. The
 Faith was launched six weeks after she was begun and the ffty-fellr si;n- liar, though larger, ships ttlas are te 1 follow are all to be adoat within eighteen months.
 1 After months of waiting fer Hell land to give her consent. ksz1sxfass and
 England have seized the Dutch ships that lay i'll their harbors and will thereby add between half a Irslfiicn
 and million tons to the sorsfy needed bridge of ships to France The po- l sition of Holland is anything, but en- | viable. Before the war sEe imported most of her grain like the rest of
 western Europe, and exportas5 dairy products. AS the war weyit or and food became a vital factor iri Ger
 many, an agreement between the two governments was negotiated t:3at sev- enty per cent. of all DutcA experts of butter, eggs and fruit was to sc to Germany, fifty per cent. of the flax and as much meat as was sent to all other countries combined Before America went into the war England had hesitated to interfere with Amer
 ican exports to any neutral country and the trade had increased enor. mously. Goals to Newcastle" didn',
 express it: America was shipping tc
 Holland, a noted dairy country. thou.
 sands of tons of butter, cheese ant
 condensed milk. not to mention tht < doubling of the amount of grain ana
 cattle food exported The result wa:
 that Dutch cattle were fattened or
 American fodder to supply GermanS
 with fats. But with Americas entrl into the war, all this was changed
 [ IfyIr NI1
 refused to Dutch ships in Americal
 waters that were to carry food t, F Holland, and for three-fourths of : year eighty-odd ships have been ly ing in our haroors unable to proceed : Germany has consistently threat 5 ered Holland with dire results if sh l made any agreement with the entent powers whereby they could use he ships The first American proposa
 was that for every Dutch ship aha
 sailed from a United States port wit ! foodstuffs, another ship should sai s from Holland for the United State, : Thus Holland was to be provided wit | food and the allies would not lose tn g use of the Dutch ships. German r blocked this arrangement by her threa
 to torpedo every ship that left Dutc waters under it. Then an offer t n charter the ships was made. A fai
 rental was to be paid wherewith wer = the promise to pay for the ships out t right should they be lost by war C e accident. Germany's reply to this of ', fer was the threat to shut off Hollan entirely by submarines. Thus fc months the Dutch have not dared al ' low the use of their ships and Amer = ica has hesitated to demand it unt 9 now. What Germany's move agains @ Holland will be, now that the shir Q have actually been added to the a, e lies resources, is unknown. TJnfo1 = tunately for Holland she has it in he ' power to exact any penalty si $ wishes. Even if she does not reso1 q to her military force. she can cauS t ruin to the little country by withhold = ing coal. Lying practically at see d level, Holland has no running stream T to furnish water power, and of cour. | she has no mines. Germany has evt l been her source of supply for fue IL and every factory in the Netherlant l. will have to shut down if the flu l. supply is cut off as a punishment f. s something that the little count1 g. couldn't help.
 IL.