Evening star., 1941-09-14

although there has been very great
Improvement in our losses at sea in July
and August" said Winston Churchill in
the House of Commons last Tuesday, "it
would be very foolish and great mis-
take to assume that the grave dangers
which threaten us are at an end.
We must expect further increases.
Meanwhile, let us hear no vain talk of
the battle of the Atlantic having been
Won"
The relative optimism shown by the
British Prime Minister elsewhere in this
speech is the more encouraging because
he is not given to painting prospects in
roseate colors, or to Understanding the
blood, sweat and tears" involved in
course of action. The battle of the At
lantic is not yet won. But. in recent
weeks, it has for the first time become
apparent that the chances Of victory
have begun to balance those of defeat.
One factor in the change for the bet
ter is the sharp decline in the sinkings
of British h-controlled merchant vessels.
The losses have declined from the enor-
nous figure of approximately 100000
tons in April, the month that Greece was
evacuated, to little over one-fifth of that
amount in August In the spring of this
year Axis submarines, airplanes, mines
and raiders were destroying merchant
shipping at an average rate of three YES
sells a day. That rate of loss has now
fallen, according to current information
in Washington, to between four and five
ships week
Ship Construction Increases.
For this improvement two major rea-
sons other than British effort are vouch-
safed. One is the various forms Of
American assistance, particularly the
airplanes provided for scouting purposes
and the naval patrol which is success
fully endeayoring to curtail German at
tacks in the area between Iceland and
Great Britain. The other is the concen-
tration of German striking power against
Russia, which has withdrawn many Nazi
submarines and airplanes from the battle
of the Atlantic.
The stubborn resistance and the strong
stand taken by President Roosevelt in
his radio address last Thursday both
indicate that the rate Of sinkings
may be kept low in the months ahead.
But since reliance cannot be placed on
| this hope, the increase in ship construc-
| ton is factor quite as important as
the decline in ship destruction. And
that is where the work of the Maritime
| Commission comes in.
Should Germany lose the battle of
the Atlantic. and as result be compelled
eventually to sue for peace, no small
share Of the credit would accrue to this
| agency. 1t is providing the ships,
smoothly, efficiently and in rapidly in
| creasing numbers without which the
whole program of aid for Britain would
be futile
If the Maritime Commission had not
already been well established when the
support of Britain became a settled
American policy, some such govern
mental organization necessarily would
have been rapidly thrown together. But,
fortunately, the agency had already been
set up by the r-sighted Merchant Ma
rine Act of 1886. The stated aim of this
legislation was not merely to eliminate
the decay which had overtaken American
ocean shipping, but also to construct a
first-class merchant feet capable Of
serving as naval and military auxiliary
in time of war or national emergency" !"
Stepping-up Only Problem.
The shipbuilding program of the Mari
time Commission, inaugurated in 1887
under the energetic Craftsmanship of
Joseph P. Kennedy, called for the con-
struction of so merchant vessels a year
over a 1o-year peeriod. The first of
these contracts was let on October 81
1887, not quite four years ago. BY the
end of August, 1889. when Hitler invaded
Poland, nine ships built under Maritime
Commission auspices had already gone
into service.
The recent problem in the supply OF
ships, therefore, has not been to throw
together an emergency organization and
endeavor to achieve mass production in
hasty, scrambling fashion. 1t has been
the simpler, more satisfying task Of step