The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-03-23

| 545 gross tons; Denmark, 339,922 gross 1 tons. and Sweden, 201.733. ! Every effort is being made by each | of these nations, Mir Hurley asserted, l to regain their former maritime stand | ing.
 The study of the shipping board ex- ! perts revealed a teeming ambition among other powers to achieve a high 1 CT maritime standing" said the repoe.. | Tn almost every country the desil e exists and only to replace war losses, but to add new totals to be used in the work of reconstruction and in develop ing new foreign trade.
 Even Switzerland has not escaped this desire to acquire a merchant ma rine. Ships will be acquired as son as canal improvements are made on the Rhine"
 The chief interest now centers on the question of whether the United States can henceforth maintain her new place upon the seas. or whether she must now disband the energies that brought er"merchant fleet into being. There is every reason" MT. Hur- ley continued, flor believing that America has come back upon the ocean to stay. My observations compel op- timism.
 "The war has brought us into high place as maritime power. I find the people of the world aroused to an in- tense interest and concern as to the use we are to make of this power ELEMENTS OF COMPETITION
 'Tn America you have heard much of British competition. In Great B~i- tain I heard a great deal more about American competition. The truth :s that our friends across the water are for the first time entering upon period of actual competition. In our ofoo Dr;x ,,l, a1... ish operating ability we have been prone to ignore the advantages which lay on the side of the ships which flew the Union Jack.
 'T have no misgivings about the era of competition which is coming. The obstacles of inexperience will quickly give way before American industrial strength and energy. It is new age of ocean transportation as we'll as of public policy. It is an age in which new conditions will rule and old ad- vantages will become imperative. It Is an age of promise for those who would participate in Americas high destiny upon the seas"
 MT. Hurley said prior to August, 1914 both the foreign trade and the ship ping of the United States were domi- hated to great extent by British be- cause American traders and ship op- orators who wished to do business could do so most conveniently through British agencies. In 1915, he recalled only one-seventh of the foreign trade of the United States was carried in American bottoms.
 ''The total exports and imports of the United States for the year 1915 were approximately 50,000.00O long tons," said the report. With average ship ping efficiency the movement of these goods would have required about 9,001,- 900 gross tons of ships.
 Assuming an annual increase in the foreign trade of the United States equal to the average increase for the foreign trade in 1920 would require q greatly increased merchant tonnage If it all were to be carried in Amer;- can bottoms"
 Mir Hurley declared it was an &C., cepted principle that a strong mari time power should carry in it's own ships at least 50 per cent of the aggre- gate of its exports and imports. and in addition some of the trade between countries not yet in the shipping busi- ness.
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 Assuming a total export and import business in 1920 of 70O0O,OOO long tons'' he added, ''it would require a fleet of about 900 gross tons to transport 6g per cent in our own ships"
 TYPE OF SHIP NEEDED
 One of the types of ships most desirable for the new merchant marine, according to MT. Hurley, is a speedy, effective com- bination cargo and passenger liner of from 15,000 to 25,000 deadweight tons, which could be operated efficiently in the transportation of high-c class merchant disc, passengers and mail.
 Shipping men generally agree" he said, that it is not the total tonnage, but the character of the vessels that makes successful fleet. The country might have 100000 tons of shipping which If not of the right sort could not be oper- ated profitably in competition with ships of a better type belonging to another na- tion.
 q have heard a great deal of talk about the construction of junk ships in Amer ica, emphasis thus being laid on the num- Der of small ships we had under con- struction. It was sought to convey tho impression that our new ships would sui fer by comparison with those laid down by our friends and associates overseas.
 Tt may surprise these critics to hear. as I have heard, that British yards had under construction on October 31, 66 ships of 5000 gross tons and over. Our pro- gramme for that date called for 106 ships of 5000 gross tons or over."
 MT. Hurley said three factors initiated most strongly against the natural and desirable expansion of the foreign trade of the United States: First, the necessity for developing men. thoroughly Ameri- can in every way, to handle foreign trade; second, the recruiting of an American personnel for the operation of the ships and the handling of the work at the ports, and, third the extension of banking fla ciilties
 The idea that too high wages are being paid American seamen for this country to compete with other countries success fully was ridiculed by MT. Hurley.
 ''It is time for the public mind to be disabused of this conception" he stated. "The facts will dismay those who are as- itating for lower wage scale of Ameri- can ships. We are paying our seamer s75 a month. England during the wa, paid her seamen $72 month. The French and Dutch are paying high wages. In Sweden the seamen's scale is even higher than in the United States"
 The retention of high wages was inn portant, he added, because men who had labored under great strain yielded their attention more readily to the agitatoc The success of any nation in shipbuilding and ship operating, he said, will be d. termined by the manner in which the la-