Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-07-21
HOG ISLANDS GREAT DAY

Az UNFORTUNATE name clung to
"A Hog Island from the first and
through all tho days when the world
was looking toward it with anxiety. awe
and unbclcf. So it is Of the Tie des
Cochors Cthc isle Of the pigs) that tho
fr"nch will read when the narrative Of
today accomplishments at the big
shipyard reaches them. and in Germany
the account of an unparalleled triumph
Of imagination in industry will seem. 10
some iuinds at least. little less won
drrfuI because it relates to place
designated as S"hrCiHinsel in much Of
the foreign literature of the war. Yet
Hog Island is approaching eclipse and
possible oblitCraton in n blaze of glory.
In planning to launch seven big steel
ships in space Of fifty minutes-or in
less time. you may be sure. If the
launching crews can do it-thc men and
tho executives have done something
never before contemplated in the world.
Before the war seven ships repro
Scnted a good years work in the aver
age shipyard. The vessels to be sent
into the river today arc among the last
"f s22 cargo carriers of about 5000
tons tint have been built and launched
for tho government in less than twenty
four months. An average Of loss than
five wording days was required for the
construction of each vessel when the
yard was working with full crews.
Seven ships of the Hog Island type are
equal to about one fourth Of tho ship
t,,I - L. Ii =
from Germany.
Tho allied nations attempted and ac-.
coInplishcd herculcan tasks when the
war was at its height. but nowhere else
in tho world was there scheme so
ambitious as that which was realized
in the Hog Island plant. 1t is unlikely
that the officials of the Shipping Board.
Of the Emergency Fleet Corporation or
Of the government itself will ever claim
exclusive credit for establishing an
eighth wonder of tho world at the back
doors of Philadelphia.
What Hog Island represented was
successful mobilization Of national en-
ergy on a scale that would not have
seemed possible to men who were with
out imagination and limitlcss faith in
American resources and the American
spirit. The great yard has never been
without a chief executive able to under
stand the driving power of common
purposes in men Of all types and
ratings. SChwab made shipbuildng
seem like n sporting event to every man
who had anything to do at the island.
and Brush and his predecessors relied
similarly on the voluntary co operation
Of their working forces, which was as
sured by a general understanding of the
responsibilities involved for them and
for the country.
Money was wasted at Hog Island.
Every one knows that But every one
docs not stop to remember that money
was wasted in vaster quantities every
wlor" in Europe in the days when ma
tiUns wcro willing to gambl" all their
huSsoss siOnS To make the catastrophe of
German victory little less likely.
Ono days fighting in France cost
moro than all the waste effort at the
hiSGost Shipyard in the world.
Great Britain lost more in futile
campaign against Russian Bolshevist,
after tho war ended than was wasted
by the l'nitcd States Government in all
~, var efforts at home.
Hog Island was in many ways a ma =
ti"naI achievement. 1t has been edu e
cG'ioraI The vessels launched there
will form the backbone of new Ameri
can mcr, hant. marine. We probably
would 40 even more wonderful things
in any new emergency.
I'ut tho closing chapters in the story
of tho greet plant show that with peace
there has come an almost tragic slumr
in the American spirit of initiative
We're il otherwise we should not bC
Wondering in a land of great industries
about what to do with one of the great
est industrial plants in the whole world