The mirror., 1919-03-27
Shipbuilding Sirnplifed
CONTINUED from page one)

to bridge the Atlantic and get our men
across. This, he said, would win the war.
How well the shipbuilders acceded to his
demands is told in various reports.
The steel ship program shows that efforts
of the steel ship construction division have
been devoted to accelerating the construc-
ton of ships; obtaining ships for war pur-
poses and improving the quality of new
During the year ending
August 81, 1918. 500 keels were laid, 35S
ships were launched and 28.. ships were
the 287 ships completed
amounted to 10000 deadweight tons.
Contracts and commitments of the emergen-
cy feet corporation for the construction of
ships made during the year provided for
l 1886 steel cargo ships. The wood and
ship contracts for l81 complete
wood ships, and that since August 1, wood
ship production has averaged at least one
complete ready-for-service wood steamship
per calendar day, and it is said this average
has been limited, because this type of YES
sci is admittedly less efficient than the
steel ship as cargo carrier, and because
the hull producing capacity of the country
in steel and wood ships is in excess of the
producing capacity of various engine max
ers, and machinery for operating concrete
ships could not be made available. How
ever, contracts for construction of five gov
ernment-owned shipyards for concrete con-
struction have been signed and work begun,
and the present construction program pro-
vides for SO tankers and cargo ships of
Z 500 tons; three cargo ships of 5000 tons.
In addition, plans have been prepared for
2, 2,500-top concrete schooner coal barge; it
being intended to build Is of these. In des-
cribing the tremendous fleet now operated
by the government the reports show how
enemy tonnage was secured not only by
taking over vessels interned in the United
STATES harbors but by purchasing and char
tering from other nations which likewise
had seized German and Austrian ships.
The emergency feet corporation of the
board owned on November. .21, a total of
ass new ships; 50 of these were former
German vessels, former Austrian vessels
and 36 other ships. The cost of repairing
the German and Austrian vessels amounted
to approximately $l1, 1,194,862.70. There
were 1928 foreign ships under charter to the
board on this date, and $50 American ships
under requisition. From the time the en-
ergency feet corporation organized, up to
August 81, 1918, the corporation had ne
gotiated 495 contracts aggregating 2,29s
vessels, with a total of IA, l19, l30 dead
weight tons and involving an estimated
cost of $2,319. PIG, ,2O4.
Of the new ships that were built during
the war it is said that many of these
were of poor lot and that more have been
sunk than the public knows about, and
that more 'S. o. So calk would be re-
ceived from these new ships. But now that
war is over, shipbuilders will no doubt
build ships of better quality and the output
will be)much more than before the war.
Our shipping program has not been Inn
pared since peace has been declared but
rather strengthened. The government has
need of every available ship and there is alb
solutely nothing to stop it from getting
them. The United States to-day possesses
one-third or more of the total wealth of the
world, and we have as high as so
launching ways in some of our shipyards,
and we also have shipping material in
abundance. And as for our merchant
marine, it is expanding more rapidly than
any other in the world. We have more
more ship-ways, more ship
workers, more ships under construction,
and are building more ships every month
than any other country, not excepting the
United Kingdom, hitherto the first ship
building power. We have, however, more
than half the ship building plants in the
world. We have the steel, the mechani-
cal power, and the capacity for organiza-
ton. And in August of last year the
United States took rank as the leading ship
building nation in the world. But whether
America will keep the lead is a matter
that will be thrashed out at the peace con-
ference in France.
In conclusion will add that the country
is more progressive and is more prosperous
than ever before, and it is necessary that
America should continue to be generous
and liberal. Foodstuffs, raw material and
other necessities must 60 to Europe. We
must feed the starving and ill-fed people of
that country, and must help in the recon-
struction of that country. We must see
them through and keep alive the spark of
hope and courage through the bitter period
of reconstruction.