The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1919-03-27
Shipping observation-disclosures
from Wooden Ship
building Business All
Yards Affected
Issues Orders to Finish Hulls
Only, which are to be Used
as Barges Claims
to be Allowed

Washington, March 27.-At meet.
ing of the shipping board held in
this city Tuesday, it was definitely
decided to discontinue the building
Of wooden ships for the government.
| Plans were made for the disposal of
the yards now being operated and in
which the Emergency Fleet Corpo-
ration as wei | as the contractors
have invested heavily. In attendance
at the conference were representa-
tives of many yards engaged in the
construction of wooden ships for the
government. 1t was decided that
hulls now being built would be com,
pleted,. and would be used as barges,
as machinery for equipping them as
ships was not available at this time
Reasonable concessions" in pay
ment of claims made for investments
in yards, as we'll as for cancelled conl
tracts, were promised by Chairman
Hurley, and prompt settlement was
assured. General Manager Piez of
the Emergency Fleet Corporation,
will be given authority tomorrow to
close the governments accounts
with the builders as soon as the
claims are properly certified and no
more contracts for wooden shiDs
will be let.
With the Governments retirement
from the wooden ship industry, one
of the developments of the national
emergency virtually will be abandon
ed, according to the builders.
Claims for losses due to the cfea7
tion, as a war measure, of shipyards)
which now will have to be scrapped.
as worthless, are expected to aggre.
gate not more than $5,0OO,OOO It has
not been possible to estimate tie
amount necessary to settle contract
claims, because inventories of expen-
ditures for material and labor OH
ships which will not be completed
have not been made. A total of more
than $l000OO0O0 in contrasts work
has been cancelled, but in many in
stances work had not begun, so the
amount to be paid by the government
will be corresponding1y less.
Ear ~
Chairman Hurley and his assistants
was expressed by representatives OF
the yards, who later, as a separate,
meeting discussed plans for present.
ing their claims. Each yard will &C,
independently, as the Emergency
Fleet Corporation will pass on each
claim on its merits.
The shipbuilders were frank in
stating that the decision OF the Ship.
ping Board to confine its future con-
struction to steel vessels meant that
at least 90 per cent of the facilities'
for building wooden ships would be
useless in the future. A total of 183
ways was represented at the meeting,
nearly all of which will be abandon
ed or torn any to permit the use OF
the land for manufacturing and other
Vessels now on the ways
will not be completed, orders having
been given to finish only the hulls,
which probably will be used as barg-
es. According to figures .}iven at the
there are now 17O wooden
ships for which machinery is not
They will be converted
into barges or sailing schooners.
It was this surplus of wooden hulis
which caused some of the builders
to assert that the industry was "cre.
mated" for some time to come,
Wooden ships, the builders say, adj (
cannot compete with steel |
vessels in general trade, and the de-
mand for barges apparently now is
more than met