The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1919-06-21
Great LAKES
LEADS Them ALL
Nine and Three-Tenths Miles of
Ships Produced in District
in Year.
HIGH SPEED FROM START
One Hundred and Twenty-Five More
Cargo Ships Delivered Than From
All Other American Ways in
the Same Time,

s'S So'uS UnSs
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. and three-tenths
miles of clean-cut cargo ships. That
IS the latest official report on the con-
tribution Of the Great Lakes district
yards to the American merchant ma
rine. Held by canal restrictions to a
lighter type of vessel than that made
on the coasts the district did not pro-
duce so many net tons as certain other
sections. But it built more ships than
any other district in the United
States.
On September 1, 1917, the Great
Lakes started to build for the govern
ment. The first ship turned over to
the United States shipping board
came from Great Lakes yard. She
was the Limoges, a 2,93O-ton cargo
carrier, under construction for French
operators by the Toledo Shipbuilding
company. On August "a, 1917, the
Ninth district was created. It turned
the Limoges over to the Shipping
board on August 30.
They had not permitted the grass
to grow under their feet for some de-
cades in that region of busy commerce.
Now they saw to it that the ice did
not grow under their ships. To beat
not only the Hun but also the winter
season was the first big task which
the Ninth district faced. BY almost
superhuman effort the yards finished
!, 70
the canals froZe in 1917.
Production Rose Steadily.
When navigation opened in 1918
another fleet Of 20 ships slipped newly
built from the yards and went through
the canals to the sea. From that date
the Great Lakes production rose
steadily until month after month the
district turned out half the steel ships
built In the United States, and some
times more than half. Efficiency and
energy combined in a veritable cru
sade Of endeavor, and in November,
1913, the district touched the high
point of it's capacity. In that one
month 1t built fleet Of % ships
nearly a ship day.
This astounding output brought the
total for the year up to 1853 cargo YES
sells, one of them wood and the rest
steel. In II months the Ninth dis
trict had produced just 125 more
ships than all the American yards de-
livered in the year before America
went to war.
Any narrative of the Great Lakes
work Is progress from one shining
triumph Of this sort to another. The
smallest yard of all, fitted with only
three berths, actually delivered 10
ships in 1918 and finished fourteenth
only little too late to get it out be-
fore winter. Between the end of No.
vember and the end Of March it
launched six ships more. Four of
these are now completed and fifth
is almost ready for service. They are
all of the 4,2O0-ton type.
Another yard built a 3,500-ton ship
in 81 days. Another launched 2,4OO-
ton ship in % days. And a fourth
yard broke the worlds record when it
launched 3,500-ton ship in II days
livered it completed to the shipping
board in II days after the launching.
"Team Work" the Secret.
The ingenuity and cooperation
which made such accomplishment pos
sible were also what made the yards
expand rapidly enough to meet. war
time emergency and peace time neces-
sity. There are 112 berths in the dis
trict now, II for cargo ships and 80
for tugs. The American Shipbuilding
company has yard Of ten ways at
Detroit, Mich; Of five at Superior,
Wis; Of three at Buffalo, N. Y; Of
six at Chicago, ILL.,. of three at Cleve-
land, O.; Of eight at Lorain, o.; the
Great Lakes Engineering works has a
yard Of four ways at Ashtabula, O.,
and another of eight ways at Ecorse,
Mich; the McDougaR-Dul COM
pany has yard Of nine ways at Du-
luth, MIMI; the Manitowoc Shipbulld-
ing company has a yard Of six ways
at Saginaw, Mich; the Toledo Ship
building company has yard Of six
ways at Toledo, O., and the Globe
Shipbuilding company has a yard Of
five ways at Superior, Wis. -..
At all these yards the records for
riveting, fabricating, tonnage per man,
stand out like mountain peaks For
example, the average total number Of
rivet gangs in the district is about 10
per cent of the entire country, yet
District Manager Benton points out
joyously that the average output Of
these gangs enabled the lakes to de-
liver 80 per cent of the counry's
total ship tonnage.
''Team work" is the secret, accord
ing to the district executive, the
builders, and the men. The district
has been untroubled by strikes or
other labor disturbances, or by dis.
putes with builders.
Starved to Death.
ST. LOuiS. -HDied Of lack OF