The Devils Lake world., 1922-07-19
ARTICLE 2.

ARTICLE z.
''ships. more ships, and again more
ships"
"A bridge Of ships to Europe"
Build ships and win the war"
These are familiar cries that will
remain indelible in the minds of all liv.
Ing Americana, reminiscent Of one Of
our major war programs, and needed
as one of the main factors that con.
tributed to the ending Of the war in
the fall Of 1918.
True, hardly any Of the Govern.
ment-built ships found their way in.
to commerce until after the conclu.
sion Of the war; but the knowledge
on the part Of Great Britain and our
other Allies that renewals and re-
placements were so soon to come
from American yards, led them, in
spite OF Germany's submarine war.
fare, to profligate use Of their own
tonnage; for they knew that, while
Germany was destroying their bot.
toms in increasing ratio during the
spring and summer of 1918, by the
fall Of that year American ships in
an unending stream would be ready.
For ten years, prior to 1914 our
total annual production of ships in
American yards averaged 466,O00 d.
". t. tons. In the period of 1914 to
1917, because of orders for ships
placed with US by the Allies, our
average annual output had increased
to 100000 d. W. t. tons. In April OF
1917 the Shipping Board began its
plans for the building of the present
0ovsrnment-owned feet, and the in
crease in American production of
tonnage was so rapid that in the last
SIX months Of 1918 and the first six
months of 1919 our yards produced
q total Of 4,553,298 tons.
Vision OF Marine Power Lacking.
How did we accomplish this mir
acle of production? First, let it be
said, to the unending glory Of the
spirit of our nation, that we gave un-
s&intsd of our treasure and of our
men to the building OF the much
needed merchant marine feet so es-
sentially needed for the winning of
the war. Had we had in pre-war
days the vision OF what such a feet
would have meant to us in war, we
never would have had to make this
great sacrifice of treasure and time,
for we would, in large part, have
possessed the ships ready for peace
or wartime needs.
But neither the sacrifice of money
nor the time of men could have re-
suited in the creation of so vast a
feet in 30 short time had we not
been willing to utterly disregard one
prime factor in the manufacture. of
ships, to wit: the peace-time value
Of the ships we created.
War Fleet Badly Balanced.
BY this I mean that our whole
effort was directed-and for war
purposes, properly-to the creation
Of the maximum tonnage in the
shortest time-anything that could
carry men and goods, regardless Of
cost Of construction and operation.
This, while exactly right for wars
pressing necessities, left us at, the
conclusion of our building program,
with vast tonnage united in large
measure for peace-time needs; be-
cause for peace needs, tonnage must
be measured by two factors; econ
omy of operation and fitness for
varying trades and purposes. Our
war-built feet could obviously take
neither factor into consideration.
This. while resulting in the produc-
tion of ships az If by magic, had the
grave disadvantage of creating the
most sadly balanced merchant feet
the world ever knew.
That the reader may better understand !
balance" let me liken ships to railroad
equipment, with which all are familiar. A
railroad, to operate successfully, must have |
nat cars, must have inclosod freight cars
to take regular mixed freight and larger |
cars to carry automobiles and the like. 1t |
must have special cars to carry coal, and |
still other cars fitted for express purposes, |
1t must have refrigerator cars capable Of
taking care Of varying types Of commodi- !
ties. 1t must have highly specialized |
equipment for passenger traffic, day |
coaches and parlor cars Pullman sleepers
and dining cars.
Must Nave Pssssaser ships.
The same sense Of balance and equipment |
must obviously exist in q merchant 6eet. |
To compare the ships which The Govern
ment owns to railroad equipment, We