New Britain herald., 1919-11-05
1ERCHANT MARINE INCREASE FAVORED
Wallace DoWney Discusses Mat
 ter at C. Of C. Banquet


 nual banquet and meeting of the Chamber of Commerce in the Elks
 banquet hall last night, dwelling at
 length upon the importance of an in l creased |. $. merchant marine and
 discussing shipbuilding in general. Tells of History. starting with the early history ol
 Americas shipping, the speaker told of how the merchant marine increased rapidly until in 1858 76 per cent. of
 the worlds ocean transportation was l handled by American shippers He then went on to tell of the decline nm
 Ill Tn 1913 the sight of an American ship flying the flag of the United States when in a foreign port was a curiosity.
 The need of a merchant marine was brought out strongly in 1904 when the Amerlcan fleet sailed around the world and when the official report of l the trip revealed the fact that it had been found necessary to charter - vessels of foreign countries to travel With the fleet as a sort of merchant marine to- carry coal and other sup plies as we'll as the necessities for liv- ing. This was made necessary because or the fact that a war vessel is load ed as heavily as possible with the mu- nit1ons and implements of battle and the other trimmings necessary to make the vessel a real man of war. There is hardly a single foot of floor I space that can be devoted to the car rying of provisions, not enough for it's own use even, the speaker said. War Caused Change. In 1914 when the war broke out and the vessels of foreign countries were called into their own ports it -Sy1,e. sr,,y1 CjI fnr ho Hnn to charter vessels and the task of building up a merchant marine was started. The task is a big one, the speaker said, but it is absolutely i'm possible at this time to run the Amer ican fleet without a gigantic merchant marine.
 MT. Downey outlined the great pos abilities in the shipbuilding industry. 3 He told of how during the war men were taken from all walks of life and made shipbuilders and of how 90 per ] cent. of the men who did the work on the S. s. New Britain were men who never before lifted their hand in that $ line of work.
 John c. Quinn service manager at the Downey Shipyards talked briefly on that same subject dwelling prin-
 cipally upon the processes and meth ods of building and the absence of labor difficulty in Shipyards now.
 $. s. New Britain Sold.
 Mayor Quigley to whom the meet ! ing was turned over by President E.
 w. Pelton, introduced the speakers
 He expressed his regret that the first trip of the steamship could not be made with a cargo of hardware from the Hardware City instead of one of ; coal. The mayor had been previously ;.Nfp VI Ixy maiden trip of the vessel had been to i Italy with that comm odity. It has since been sold for 1,750 900. a profit of $78.000 for the government.
 Treasurer Joseph M. Holleran pre- sented his report for the year which has just come to a close, reading the l following principal items: Balance on hand, October, 1, 1918, $1,1SS.S9; receipts, $S,244.69; dis bursements. sS,589.90; balance on , hand, October 1, 1919. $S43.6S
 Five new directors were elected as fellows: George W. klett, Frederick A. Searle, George H. Dyson, Freder- 1ck s. Cham berlain, Ernest w. Pelton.
 President Pelton's report follows:
 'The fifth year of the New Britain
 Chamber of Commerce closed last
 month. The secretary's report will
 give you detailed account of the
 activities of the Chamber of Com
 merce and of the broadening of it's
 Influence.
 Our secretary, Leon A. Sprague,
 has been with us for one and a half d years and we have learned to love
 him, to trust his judgment, and to ! depend upon his untiring energies to
 narry through many an undertakings
 We are most fortunate in having him.
 md every one must back him up with
 hearty enthusiasm Miss Curtin, as-
 sistant secretary, also deserves much
 credit for her loyalty and ability.
 "It is impossible for me to mention F all who as chairmen or memb bers of l committees have helped to make this i year banner one in the life of the Chan1ber of Commerce. Mr. Poteet
 on the traffic committed, and Mir
 Holmes on the Americanization com
 mittee, I must mention as their work
 has been steady and long and the
 results show how very valuable it nas been.
 The Chamber of Commerce Build Ing company has closed it's business
 with remarkable record. The stock holders have received per cent on T the money invested and have been paid off in three years and eight ! months, instead of five as was orig \ inalIy intended. Besides this it has brought into town a good industry. The president and MT. Christ. and 8 the directors of the building company deserve our congratulations. The merchants have had d very < active year with many innovations < s1ch as dollar day" etc. They have \ shown real desire to keep trade in q New Britain by attracting it with bona fide bargains and good service '"The work of the civic bureau has