New Britain herald., 1919-01-06
PASSENGER SPACE
 LACKING ON BOATS
No Shortage Of Cargo Tonnage,
 Hurley Says

London, Dec 5, Correspondence of
 The Associated Press. There will be
 no shortage of cargo tonnage for
 supplying world needs during the
 first half of 1919 in the opinion of
 Edward N. Hurley. chairman of the
 United States shipping board. It is
 passenger space for transporting
 troops home that is occupying atten-
 ton of the Allied shipping controllers.
 No nation can hare as much of that
 as 1t wants now.
 After conferring with industrial
 and shipping heads in England and
 France and vewing q large part of the
 battle areas of France and Belgium,
 MT Hurley stated that 1t would take
 at least six months, possibly more, for
 France and England to rehabilitate
 their industries to the point where
 large amounts of raw material would
 be needed.
 It is pointed out that it would be
 useless to send industrial machinery and raw materials to France until
 her destroyed factory buildings are
 made ready to receive them.
 Almost the entire British industrial
 system now is a huge munitions pro- ductiOn machine virtually idle. Until it is transformed to it's pre-War state raw materials would be a burden. It will be necessary to import some ma ChinerY for the transformation but not enough seriously to tax cargo space for the next seven months, MT. Hurley believes.
 The $2 German passenger vessels ill German ports have been the center of most of the allied shipping discussions on this side for weeks. Americans want HI of them they can get to send home roughly 100000 men as soon as possible. England must send home to Canada about 300,000, to Australia about 200, ,000. to New Zealand 75, 900 or more. and bring to England thou sands from Mesopotamia, Palestine, and other places. Obviously the Amer , ican problem Is the greatest and it is understood that, in pressing for ships. Americans generally have insisted that the United States, with less than two years of war, is in a better posi- ton to assimilate it's returning troops than is England. whose industrial con- ditions have been more disrupted. : With the rapid increase in Ameri- can tonnage it is expected that more than 40 per cent. of the American forces will go home in American ships. It is the desire of American army Of ficers and shipping interests that as many as possible of the balance be carried home in German passenger vessels thus releasing large number of British bottoms.
 If the demands of Americans. heard here. that the troops be sent home as rapidly as they were brought over be- comes insstent. it will take more ships to send them back than to bring them over They were brought over under the stress of necessity and in some instances ships were loaded to the extent of discomfort. Loss of ton mage by lighter loading, however, 1 will partially be made up by greater l speed. Fast vessels will not be cono- pelled to conform 10 convoy speed, and the elimination of zigza aging l will save much time.
 { While a great many men are being sent homo now and the number will { constantly increase. it is not believed 1 the real homcward movement will he l jnauRurated before February l. 1 Whether then It will he on tho Sug~ | gested basis of 300, GOO a month de- 1 bends almost entirely upon decisions l of the allied shipping conferences. which began soon after the armIstice 1 was signed.