Norwich bulletin., 1922-12-07

tahltshment of extensive passenger ser vices in the North Atlantic, tho Pacific and to South America, and stabili8ation of the govcrnmcnt's shipping venture ion a strictly business basis, are pointed 10 as the years outstanding achievenencs In the sixth annual report of the Ship ping Board.
 Reviewing at length the functions of the board since its inception to carry forward the nations tremendous efforts to transport food, troops, and supplies overseas during the war, and the Nario1S changes in policy incident to the arm istice, Gle, report shows that the exist ing boards functions relate not only to the physical running of ships, but range over the entire field of nation's mer- chant marine. Labor, port facilities, and commerce and discussed in detail .'-
 .The board,s the report says. '.is re- ut,ired not only to aid in the develop nlent of ships and skipping, companies, but alyo to assist in planning the inn provement and development of ports and transportation facilities in connection with water commerce
 Altogether the Shipping Board has had during it's career S,444 ships total- Ing. about 1s.5sS,s00- dead weight tons, These were obtained from various sourc- es. Some have been sold, and many are now tied up idle. The report SHOWS hat notwithstanding depression in ship ping. there were at the close or the ns- eal year on June 30, 1S22s approximately 50 ,O00 men engaged on vessels of the American merchant marine and larger number of longShoremen employed III loading and unloading. More than $10'- OOO.00O annually has been saved in the reduction of marine and longshore wag- es Of Shipping Board vessels alone. Re ductions were effected after strikes and negotiations ranging from IS to 20 per cent s -.. z, ,, ss,. a.. ..e. ,.z
 The policy of the board regarding making wage readjustments, is declared Ia the report to be based wherever pos sible '.upon collective bargaining which has resulted in. allaying' as far as pos sible the1 dlscuntelt and. desentment dghich oaualfy follow wage reductlons-
 i. DuFinE. Inc. last hseaI year. the report isRs. IheFS WeFE . 3liaf arrivals +stade de uaes of pe fnBaged In foreign trade agGregating. -SD.23t.ooQ long, tons oes cargo. or this total 52 per- cent. moved iEf Aulericau bottoms In relative Sllciency indicRted by the relation of Ioad, to deadweigiit tonnages the report says. It found that no one was willing to buy In large quantities. at anything lilla A fair price under present eofsear Elons. At the close ef the nsral yeaf he effort 10 ind lbuyerl was epntlnqing, but..the board still had for sale s ;sEs vessels. totallinE I0,s0s,172 deadweight inns. :. or theae ,256 were steel cargp Shins and 225 were wooden carSo ships while the remainder were of various steel, woodens composite and concrete iThe immediate prospect is not ia yorable to the early disposal of the aset," the report declares. "Feirst and foremost comes the necessity for Iegis- lafion. Even with this legislation the transfer of the fleet to private hands, IL is 10 be accomplished as part of the building up of the American merchant marine. must be a slow process.
 "Perhaps one of the most favorable factors that will help in the gradua WoY4xine out of the problem is the fast lhat a large percentage of the worlds tonnage is now over IS years of age anC h approachinZ that period when the cos' of maintaining the highest classification beocomes SO serious a factor in opera tion as to influence operators to, pur chase other tonnage rather than to pa! me heavy cost of keeping up golder yes sels. While a much greater percentag' of foreign tonnage Is approaching th' lke when 1t will be desirable to. replace t with new tonnage, than is true in tn .asa of American vessels, the difficultie of the present situation are largely caps cd by an excess of world tonnage ant any absorption, whether in this marke Dr. in foreign markets. tends to remoy lhss excess to establish higher value Tor all vessels. M ,5 es~.
 eThe increase in value of the vessel due to the demand that will come in tn next few years as a result of the grow ng age of the worlds tonnage should rGn eost of upkeep during the period tha must ,elapse before these factors becom controlling ones" ,..
 During the year. the wooden fleet va reduced by 256 vessels, and the cost c YhS upkeep of the fleet was reduced b tlf.O0O The Hlaintenancea cost stii rtood, however, at an annual .avefaa; of SIS per vessel. z
 Tho amount received from sale . outlying projects'' belonging / to th board during the year was Sl;S54,75t rspresenting return from propert which had been given present fal Vnfue', of s2,113,e00. The report say thak Fin accordance with, agreemer urndo with the office of the chief co-ol alnator,'' sAJes and transfers were mad It prices IS per cent. below present ia! valueS Sales from real estate hrougf in ar additional s&o9s. .722.s Notatl, nmonr inc economies recorded was ! teaucffol of $1,043I075 in salaris through reduction of the personnel of tt tyaiutenance and repair department D G2S employees.
 Greatest care was exereises,f the r bo.t aays, in authorizing transfers.
 Tsels to foreign registry and the sti aie Iadnber so trznBferred, during q
 Sr was only -15s, representing 12l
 ..i s,rn.ua 46,s afthough applications fl
 .nueh greater yumber were hled. E -'Ik kS noted by the board that the ye' " osrnpletion of the wartime bull
 ow pFugramme, the last ship built < sCeWrnrnnnt account, the Western Wcrl
 0fnR been delivered on May g.. the { n number of snEps delivered dnil
 se year was ga, as compared to q
 n fnsf and 1909 in 1S3O. sgsg sr, 2
 gunmAry of the amount of cor se-rs borne in American bottoms du s- tfe year yudroiped that Shipping Boa ,rsrsIs handed A,s13, ,e13s cargo tons
 r1p6sts and s,e34,ssI cargo tons of e Dorsa opersftng through forty thfs Pntted States ports The total tonpa
 tha Amsrican merchant marine W lxea at 3TTB4,ees deadWetght tons, {. ,stsparsd to 37,53e, ASA year ago. < hia trtai. is, ,17e,37l. tons was employ lt Ina end of the 1s22 hscal year
 c-Slrp trade, compared with 1e,sisss A. thS end ef tlss previous twelve mont
 s last fiscal year, tho report sa,
 ssGaAs1ntn .deefsne in frsigi