Evening star., 1941-03-23

separable problem, but whole interlock-
ing seq qdence of them, in which the sup
ply of ships and the coordination Of
shipping facilities are merely outstand-
ing
The speed-up of construction is diff
cult enough At the end of last year,
under the Maritime Commission pro-
gram, the United States was completing
carefully built ships, mostly freighters
of medium size, at an average rate Of
one week. The program has been
steadily stepped up SO that the rate Of
completion will shortly average two
ships a week, or even slightly more.
But the Germans have lately been
sinking ships at the rate of around
three day, and will, of course, bend
every effort to increase destruction. Even
if every ship constructed for the Mari
time Commission could be turned over
to the British forthwith. the supply
would remain pitifully inadequate.
Our Help.
Our Shipbuilding effort, however, goes,
beyond the Maritime Commission pro-
gram. Three months ago, when it was
seen thai the pinch was becoming acute,
several new shipyards began to be laid
down over here for British account.
These emergency yards are really as
sembly lines at which prefabricated
cargo ships of small size will be turned
out on mass production basis. With
10 nh
some months before the first of the
ships built in this standardized fashion
becomes available
Enlargement of our own shipbuilding
facilities, at present taxed to the utmost
with naval and commercial construction,
is steadily going forward. Yet nobody
estimates that the total American output
in 1941, even if no bottlenecks and no
strikes develop, can even begin to ap-
proximate the sinkings anticipated dur
ing this year. And if every foreign ship
now tied up in this country we're COM
mandee1ed for British service, the bal
ance would still be adverse
The magnitude of the supply problem
makes efficient coordination of Anglo
American shipping facilities the more
important. And it is in this field that
Sir Arthur may be expected to prove
most valuable to what is now generally
regarded as a common cause. He is in
position to put into immediate practice
:. the experience which he gained as chair
man of the Allied Maritime Transport
: Executive in the last war. Fortunately
he long since made the fruits of this ex-
perience available to others by his book
on Allied Shipping Control"
There is bright side to the picture in
the fact that the co-ordinating effort
will be much simpler now than was the
case in 1918. Then a single executive
body had to be established to control the
diverse and often conflicting shipping
policies of Great Britain. France, italy
and the United States Now it is merely
matter of merging British and Ameri-
can policy.
Machinery Is Ready.
Furthermore both the British Ministry
of Shipping and our own Maritime
Council have far more authority and are
much better equipped for the job, than
were the governmental agencies charged
with control of shipping during the other
war. The machinery is in readiness and
there need be no repetition of the system
of trial and error which the name of Hog
Island helps to recall. We can be very
grateful to the Maritime Commission,
established by the Merchant Marine Act
of 1886, that there is available a Federal
agency which has won its spurs and
proved its efficiency for the present
crisis.
All who are interested in the per1na-
nent development of closer Anglo
American relations will follow Sir Ar
thurs work with particular attention.
The theory of organization which he de-
veloped in the other war was made the
basis of the technical activities of the
League of Nations. The task of co-ordi-
mating Anglo American shipping which
he is now about to undertake is likely to
lead to equally permanent cooperation.
For Sir Arthur Salter now a. in 1918 is
interested in national victory primarily
as step toward better international
order.