Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1919-01-03
No Shortage of Ship
Tonnage, Says Hurley
Correspondents Associated Press

| Correspondence Associated Press,1
J London. Dec. 6.--Therc will be no
! shortage OF cargo tonnage for supply
| ing world needs during the first half OF
! 1919 in the opinion Of Edward n. Hur-
| lev chairman OF the United States
shipping board. It is passenger space
| for transporting troops home that Is
occupying attention Of the allied ship
ping controllers. No nation can have
as much OF that as it wants now.
After comforting with industrial and
shipping heads in England and France
and viewing large part Of the battle
areas Of France and Belgium. Mr..
, Hurley stated that it would take at
least six months, possibly more. for
! Franco and England to rehabilitate
their industries to the point whore
large amounts of raw material would
! DC needed.
I 1t is pointed out that ii 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
! nystern now is n huge munitions pro-
ouction machine virtually idle. Until
! it is transformed to its prc-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. Mr.. Hurley
| believes.
! The thirty-two German PASSENGER
vessels in German ports have been the
I 80 81 oil S1,inr ~ o
discussions on this side for weeks
Americans want all of them they can
get to send home roughly 100000
men as soon as possible. England must
send home to Canada about 100000. to
! Australia about 100000. to New Zea-
! land $4,000 or more and bring to Eng
| land thousands from Mesopotamia
| Palestine. and other places. Obviously
! the American problem IS the greatest
and it is understood, that, in pressing
! for ships. Americans generally have in
sisted that the United States, with less
than two years of war, is in better
position to assimilate returning troops
than is England whose Industrial con
! ditions have been more disrupted.
! With the rapid increase in Amer
| lean tonnage it is expected that who're
! than 40 per cent of the American forces
, will go home in American ships. 1t is
! the desire OF American army officers
aand shipping interests that as many
as possible of the balance be carried
home in German passenger vessels
| thus releasing large number of Brit
ish bottoms.
| If the demands of Amepfcans. heard
here, that the troops be sent home az
rapidly as they were brought over be
! comes insistent 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 OK.
tent of discomfort. Loss of tonnage
caused by lighter loading however will
partially be made up by greater speed
Fast vessels will not be compelled to
conform to convoy speed and the elm
nation Of zig tagging will save much
| time.
| While a great many mon are being
sent home now and the number will
constantly increase 1t il not believed
the real homeward movement will be
| inaugutated before February 1, Wheth-
er then It will be on the suggested basis
Of 100000 month depends almost en-
tireiy upon decisions Of the allied ship
ping conferences which began soon az.
ter the asu,lstice was signed.