The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-08-21
Fitting Up the Sims.

A call for the loan Of sextants to the
government is i'm line with the explana-
ton recently made of the delay in fin
ishing ships Launchings have temporari
ly run ahead of the completion of yes
sells because of the difficulty in providing
the necessary equipment. The shortage
Of marine engines, it is promised, is in a
fair way to be met, but QUILTING ships
requires an immense amount Of miscel-
laneous articles which have not been
made on a large scale in this country.
Even to provide the needed instruments
of navigation is great task, as the pub
lie began to appreciate when the call
went out for field glasses and telescopes.
These are not precisely an essential for
navigation, but they are of vital impor-
lance in waters where submarines patrol,
Strictly speaking, the essentials might
be reduced to compass, log and lead, for
with these navigators made their way
through uncharted seas before modern
methods were devised This, however,
would be taking great risks, and losing
much time; in our day ship cannot at
ford to grope its way about the seven
seas.
In the old days before chronometers
came into general use, a ship coming to
this country from Europe would sail
obliquely until it got the right latitude,
and then feel its way in until land was
sighted the skipper might not know
whether he was 20 miles OF 200 off shore,
and naturally had to proceed very slow
", sometimes heaving to at night Mod
ern methods are immensely more efficient
but they require delicate instruments,
which cannot be improvised Many non
essentials, of course, have come into gen
eral use. The patent log, the sounding
machine, the aizmuth instrument, the
gyroscope compass, the thermometer
what is useful but not necessary. But
even the barometer are examples Of
every ship must have several good com
passes, one or more good sextants, and
at least one reliable chronometer, and
all these are things that need to be made
with great skill and care. They can be
made of frst-rate quality in this coun-
try, but the demand for them has been
| limited, and the kind of skill needed for
their production has been called upon for
all sorts of work since the United States
entered the war The supply will gradu
ally be met; in the meantime old sex
tants like old binoculars viii be Of val
ne; there must be many families with
nautical instruments inherited from
seafaring past, that can make a useful
contribution But at present instruments
which need considerable repairs are not
desired, no doubt because of the short
age Of skilled workers.
! But nautical instruments, indispensa-
bic as they are, make but one item in
the huge list of essentials, small and
great, in the Quitting of the ships, and
the problem is the more difficult because
Of wartime drain upon labor In "all
round" mechanical skill America has
been deteriorating in an age of machin-
cry No doubt the old talent still exists,
| but it has not been adequately eultiyat-
ed Specialization and quantity produe
ton, while they have increased efficiency
| in fields to which they were applicable,
| have admittedly somewhat impaired tie
hardness Of the individual War has
been great educator in this respect ii
has got multitudes out Of their grooves
and shown them that they can do well
what they would never have dreamed Of
doing.
A big army, too is in high degree a
standardized product, and the new
America when once it has got the great
machine set up can operate it with high
efficiency. It Is the odds and ends, like
this Of outntting the ships, that make
trouble, When the quantity production
Of airplanes gets into full swing, the re-
suits may be sensational; in the mean
time we cannot compete With France,
Italy or Great Britain in the manufae-
ture Of handmade machines, because
we have fewer skilled workmen who can
turn their hand to a new thing and do
it well Those we have are unsurpassed,
but we need more of them, and this must
be one Of our educational ends after the
war But while the completion Of ships
Is being temporarily retarded by small
things, the big job of finishing the hulls
is proceeding at a gratifying rate, and
one of these days we shall hear that an
lamazing number Of them have been sud
denly finished and put into service.
Springfield Republican.