The Cordova daily times., 1921-05-11
MUST CUT DOWN NUMBER OF MEN
 MANNING SHIPS
BY COL. WINFIELD JONES

l ly senators and representatives on the commerce committees
 After all the millions spent by the government during the war for ships and the magnificent fleets of American merchantmen that remained after the armistice despite the utmost efforts of the submarine menace, our merchant marine does not seem to be fulfilling it's mission or to be taking the place it should in the ocean car rying trade of the world.
 l Some members of congress are in clined to believe that one of the reasons our merchant marine has not developed more rapidly and more suc- ! cessfully is because of the Hog Isl. and scandal and the pickering and mismanagementi in the shipping board The Hog Island grafters were bad enough, but the mismanagement of the shipping board, as far as devel- opment of our overseas commerce is concerned, has been worse. Hog Isl and is now only a disagreeable mem- ory, but the shipping board is still with us. Efforts of officials of the shipping board to sell ships of the people to British owners for less than | the vessels were worth happily was halted by the patriotic efforts of a certain American newspaper publish CT. Ill that affair the shipping board got suspicious reputation in the public estimation from which it will have difficulty in recovering
 Our merchant marine, after more than a half a century during which it languished, is again passing through a critical stage, despite the fact that we have more than a thousand new deep sea craft.
 One of the big things that is hold ing back our maritime progress is the general paralysis of industrial development, caused by the results of the World war has made shipping conditions so difficult it is now prac- tically impossible to operate ocean | carriers profitably, no matter what their nationality. Even the British ships, the most economically operated in the world, with perhaps the ex- ception of Spanish and Italian tramp steamers, are suffering from these conditions
 The biggest thing, perhaps, that mitigates against the success of our gOver1nent-owned fleets. is the ex, travagant way in which they are one can deny the efficiency of British merchant ships, yet British ships are operated much cheaper than Ameri can vessels of the same tonnage
 The figures speak for themselves On a 7,500 ton oil-burner British cargo steamer the monthly expenses of operation average the world over ST. 794. For operating an American ship of the same tonnage and horsepower the monthly expense average $10,090 the world over. This is an operating advantage for the British ship of $2,. 296 per month. No American ship can compete for long with a Britt ish ship under such conditions. If these conditions continue the result is certain-the British will again drive Ivir,o al If the seas. There can be no other result because ocean freights are the same in every port for both British and American vessels and for all 1 ships of any other nationality.
 An analysis of the comparative costs of operating a typical British and an American ship of the same tonnage shows that the difference in the cost is almost wholly in wages and number of seamen On an Amer ican ship as described above there are 40 seamen, with monthly pay roll of $4,699. On the same sized British ship the number of seamen is 35, with payroll of $2455 per month. This is where the big difference in cost of operation occurs. Provisions stores and repairs on both ships are about the same monthly on the Brit. ish ship this average is $5,250 and on the American vessel $5,400.
 Certainly it would seem to the ordinary observer that an American ship can be managed with the same number of seamen as a British ship of the same tonnage, even if the Americans receive much higher wages, which they do on the average
 The remedy is plain, if it can be called a remedy. This is to reduce the number of hands on the average American ship to the same number 35 instead of 40, as on the same size and type British ship, and at the