The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-11-17
World Not Getting
 Benefit of Shipping
 Tonnage Says Expert

The tonnage of the world is spend-
 ing less than 50 per cent. of it's time
 at sea, according to P. A. s. Frank
 lin, president of the International
 Mercantile Marine. In testimony be-
 fore a committee of the House of
 Representative the director of the
 l. M. M. stated that he did not be-
 Heve the tonnage of the world, while
 more than in existence in 1914, was
 being used more than 40 to 50 per
 cent. of the time.
 ''The tonnage of the world is about
 the same as in 1914" MT. Franklin said, "but a great deal of it is less efficient tonnage than existed at that time. The condition~ the world over in transportation are such that I doubt if this tonnage is being used to, say, 40 or 50 per cent.-or to put it the other way-I doubt if we are getting more than 50 per cent on
 The delays in port, the delays in making repairs. the congestion of ! traffic at the ports abroad that are open, and the shortage of hours of labor are all causing delays and re- ducing the efficiency of tonnage. don't think that you should feel in your mind that this is going to be continuing factor to that extent-that percentage.
 "As the business of the world be- comes more normal, ships get back into. their regular business and the ports become less congested and the l labor more efficient the steamships will be turned around in less time If you will analyze that, you will see very material alteration in the trade Of the world. For instance. take the coal trade to Italy that formerly was carried from England; today it is go- ing from the United States The United States will always have trade there if they take care Of it.
 any extent
 When asked if he did not think that tonnage prices would be ma teria1ly lower than at present if the shipping af1oat were operating on the former basis of efficiency, MT. Franklin stated that it would be considerably below the present abnormally high quotation.
 The views of MT. Franklin regard ing the lowered efficiency of ocean transportation are virtually the same as those previously expressed by Sir Fred erick Lewis, the chairman of Furness, Withy & Co.,. shortly after
 he arrived in New York. The proni- nent British shipper said that the eff ! fciency of shipping had been reduced easily one-third, and pointed to this
 as one of the reasons for the sus- tained high freight rates.
 While the views of various repre-
 sentative men in shipping are that the ocean-going tonnage will recover some of it's previous efficiency, there are some who feel that 1t will be years before 1t reaches the previous level One of the large factors in the problem is that of labor. The Eng fish longshoremen, thoroughly union
 ized, have refused to work more than eight hours day. In the pre-war
 days the longshorenen were willing to work as the shipping companies dictated, and the sole idea govern ing loading was whether it would be to the advantage of the operator.
 One of the officials of the I. M. M.
 recently stated that the cost of load ing a ton of cargo in New York had advanced from 55 cents a ton to s175. One of the items in this rise
 was, of course, the amount of money paid to the 1ongshoremen.