Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-03-27
CHAIRMAN HURLEY TELLS
OF VAST SH|PbU|LD|NC
Paints Glowing Picture OF Accom-
plishmcntS During Past
Three Months.
IN DIRE NEED OF VESSELS
1--WE Have Men, Guns and Supplies, e"
Said Speaker, but No Ships in
Which to Transport Them to the
Front"
IN DIRE NEED OF VESSELS

NEW YORK. March 26.--Chairman
Edward y. Hurley. OF the United
States Shipping Board. addressing the
National .l.rinc League here tonight.
drew a glowing picture OF the ship
building program. and for the first
time made public information regard
ing new shipyards and launching ways
already built and under construction.
Nearly as much tonnage has been
constructed III AmerieaI~. waters in
the past threa months as In the other
maritime nations OF the world COM
rincd," declared Chairman Hurley.
IF by tire exercise of magic Il bridge
could be thrown across the Atlantic.
over which GU" armies. their artillery
ana supply trains could move rapidly
and umhampcged to the battle lines
of France, would any military man III
Rome. Vienna. T'aris. London or Wash
ington have any doubt bu; what the
world would be made free for dcmoc-
racy before this year goes out? We
have the men, We have the guns, VIC
have the supplies. Blu, without means
oc getting them TO the front we might
as well be without them, and unless
we get our men 10 the battle line VIC
will not win this war.
portation-;o the vital need OF ships.
Fail there and We fail utterly. Upon
the Shipping Board has dcvolvcd the
responsibility OF supplying this need,
and supplying it under the most extra
ordinary conditions that ever existed.
When We took hold Of the job OF
shipbuilding," continued Mr.. Hurley.
1--WE found that there were no ship
yards in existence with which We
could place an order. We were facing
necessity OF creating an entirely new
industry.
There were thirty-scvcn steel ship
yards III America at the time We en-
tered the war. We have located
cighty-cne additional steel and wooden
yards, while eighteen other yards have
been expanded.
GIVES FIGURES SHOWING
WORK NOW GOING on
I'VE arc building in the new and.cx-
pandcd yards $50 new steel shipways.
or twentysiX moro than at present
exist in all OF the Shipyards Of Eng
land. II we had been content with
doing the job in Il small way, We might
hay" hnlt few new yards ana added
little TO our capacity. \ few ships
might have been flushed more quickly
y
lea 10 do the job in big way and
the judsmcn; OF tho country will be
vindica;ed by tho results when all
these ncw ways cre completed and are
turning out ships. Many of these ways
havc actually been finished. The new
industry We have created will make
America the greatest maritime nation
in ihc history OF the world
~ took Germany forty years to
hui>d up her military machine. In less
Ihan eight months wc have built up
Shipbuilding machine which when IL
gets into fun swing. will defeat the
military machine Of Germany.
1T took Henry Ford. with ali his
genius for organization and Standardi-
Zatton sixteen years in which to do
Fc!op his enormous production. IT has
required twenty years for tho United
states Steel Corporation TO develop it's
activities to the point where they rep
resent an organization onc-half as
largo as has been undertaken by the
Emergency Fleet Corporation.
AMERICA HAS BEGUN
MOST COLOSSAL JOB
The American government backed
by the American people. has under
taken " mightier job. and Will pu,
il throu
"StruE s&fng against something that
cannot be avoided is more battling than
struggling against something that can
he You can appeal to striking men to
30 back to work. but YOU can make no
appeal agains; zero weather. We did
what we could. We told the new ship
yards to go ahead and use dynamite in
locating their pilings. The men In
those new yards fought tho bitter
Continued on Fifth Page)