New-York tribune., 1922-11-20
British Say Most
u. S. Ships Will Not
Gross Ocean Again
Outlook for Supremacy Said
To Be Better Than Before
War; German, French,
Americans Not Feared

The definite prediction that three out
OF four United States ships will never
again be fitted 60 cross the ocean Is
made in che Liverpool journal of Com
merce" by g special writer, e. T. Good.
commenting upon the shipping situa-
tton. American competition on the
high seas in the future is discounted.
and the statement Is made that the
outlook for British vessels and ship
building companies, compared with
those Of other nations, was never bet
ter.
"As for American competition" said
Mr, Coed, "it is not in the least like
ly that more than one United States
ship out OF every four sfioat will ever
be repaired and fitted again to cross the
ocean. The British twin trades Of
shipping and shipbuilding will again
have the chance Of full employment,
Regarding the trade prospects, IL
may be said that shiphuilding will re-
vlve sooner and more substantially
than most people venture to expect il
the Labor and other costs are mod
Grated and stabilized. Less than two
years ago the difference between own
ers' ideas and builders quotations was
ABOUT &l0 ton. To-day, mainly
through steel price reductions, the dif.
ference is less than &3. 1t IL highly
probable that q reduction OF less than
" ton In builders quotations would
oElng out very large volume of cor
tracts. Shipbuuding he's stunned
mainly because there has been Insult
c1ent cargoes for the boats ALREADY
anoat. In normal year before the war
we had about 150,000,0oO tons Of car
goes, inward and outward. We had
| over 100000 tons Of coal export car
goes alone. But In 1920, and again in
1871 We had only 2b,Oo0,0oo tons Of
coal exports. Our iron ore imports and
steel exports were also down. with
cargoes scarce and building costs high.
1920 and through 1921, and. go far' IN
1877; There are now clear sigma Of re.
ylvaL The work Is waiting-waitins
1oT labor and sub-contractora 70 reduce
their charges, As'0'e
! =, To begin with, we have somstb,no
IKE s,ooo,ooo tons Of shipping beyond
twenty years OF age-an abn orma al 4on
| mage of aged ships-waiting To he
oroken up and replaced. We have an
| aonormas percentage of our boats on.
OF repair. II is true we have I9 1000 600
oon oons on OF shipping. compared with 49,
ooo,oao tons before the war. Not
S az eohSiUer3Die DrOpO rtf0n ha-
yond the age limit or out of repair. hn4
Shere Is a potential trade available
more than sufficient to EMPLOY our ay-
sra tonnage. We are already apuroacb.
ing our pre-war coal exports. ana wa
can very soon increase them with het-
tsr working shifts at the coal loading
plants: Europe Is hungry for Britisb
COAL for, Che Continental output Will
NOT reach pre-war levels for many
stroyed oec" oe-
so with steel, another importapt
cargo factor. Our steel prices are
down at competitive levels. We are ex- M
porsing more steel than any other coun-
Try. AS the international steel trade
ooens nrt we shall be able to incresae
our production and exports enormously.
We nave the plants and the men W.
never made more than 100000 tona Of
steel in a year before the war 0nr
capacity al1 Is now equal to IL ,00o 600 tons
oIier countries are already WORKING
luss about up to the full extents az
sneir labor supplies. The bulk of The
coming orders for steel win be PLACED
with British makers" Sss1