Evening star., 1942-05-21
Submarine Menace
Can Never Be Cured
Completely, Land Says
Steel Boree Prospects
Poor Because Of Metal
Shortage, He Asserts
BY the Associated Press.

Oy ILC accONl6Nu lSoo.
Chairman Emory S. Land Of
the Maritime Commission ex-
pressed the opinion today that
while conditions under which the
Navy was combating submarines
"are constantly improving" COM
plete elimination of the menace
was not to be expected.
"You can't cure the submarine
menace" Admiral Land told a Sem
ate Commerce Subcommittee inves-
tigating the possible use of inland
waterways for transporting petro-
1eum. You can ameliorate it. That's
the history Of the last war and that's
going to be the history OF this wal" !"
He said the Maritime Commission
believed any development of barges
on inland waterways should be un-
dertaken by other government
agencies which already had the au-
thority to do the work, including
the Reconstruction Finance Corp.
and the ONCE Of Defense Transpor-
tation.
Barge Plan Difficulties.
Admiral Land said he thought the
prospect of constructing steel barges
was poor because of shortage of
steel plates, and added that another
difficulty was presented by a short
age of propulsion equipment which
would be needed for tow boats in
the event barges were built.
In response to questions, Admiral
Land said he thought reinforced
concrete or reinforced glass might
well be considered in an emergency
Of this kind" for barge construction.
Il personally have no enthusiasm
for a concrete ship" he declared at
one point, adding that there was a
definite cleavage of opinion" among
experts on the practicability of US
ing concrete for oil carriers.
Senator Maloney, Democrat, of
Connecticut, a member of the sub
committee, remarked that he
thought construction of a pipe line
to the East from Southwest oil fields
had been too long delayed. He said
such a pipe line would require 10000
tons Of steel.
Waste of Time to Delay.
1T seems to me-" Senator Maloney
observed, that 100000 tons of steel
is so insignificant an amount that
it's just waste of time to further
delay building pipe line"
In response to questions, Admiral
Land said he saw no reason why
wooden box cars could not be lined
with an impervious material and
used as tank cars. The committee
heard yesterday that tests of this
nature were being made with ma
terial known as mareng.
Senator Maloney asked Admiral
Land whether the Maritime Com
mission had considered the possibili-
tier of constructing cargo carrying
submarines.
I'VE have seriously considered it
and it can be DONE" Admiral Land
replied, but I consider it entirely
impractical under present condi-
tions."
Pleasure Driving Out.
Earlier, House Interstate Com
merce Committee members said tes-
timony by spokesman for the Office
OF the petroleum co-ordinator indi-
Gated to them that Eastern motor
lists aren't going to do any pleasure
driving for some time to come.
Taking o. P. C.'s own figures and
assuming its program to add 500 900
more barrels of oil daily to Eastern
supplies would be carried out, they
said, the bare essential minimum
needs of that area will just about
be met.
These requirements, the commit
tee was informed by J. R. Parten,
director Of transportation for o. P.
c., are approximately 1857, 900 bar
rels daily and will remain at that
level for the next IL months. And,
Mr.. Parten emphasized, the essen
tial requirements make no allow
ance for pleasure driving or other
non-essential uses of gasoline.
$4,000 Barrels Daily.
At present, Mr.. Parten revealed,
supplies to the Eastern Seaboard
are running at the rate Of approx
mately $4,000 barrels daily and,
with rationing already in effect, are
some 500, 1000 barrels short Of needs.
o. P. c. assured the committee it
had a program that would meet
these essential needs. This program
calls for increasing existing pipe
line capacity and efficiency and
making full use of inland barge
transportation, and construction of
a $95, 5,0OO,OO0 new pipe line from
Texas to Pennsylvania and New
Jersey.
The new pipe line alone, Mr..
Parten claimed, would carry some
300 900 barrels of oil daily into the
East, which, added to 100000 barrels
carried through existing lines and
on barges and additional tank cars,
would make up the 500, ,000-barrel
deficit.
VIII ADD cars.
Forty-five thousand tankcars al
ready are carrying $4,000 barrels
daily to the East, Mr.. Parten said.
and an additional $4,000 cars will
be added shortly to boost the tank
car quota to 100000 barrels. Six
months ago only $4,000 barrels of
oil daily were being shipped into
the East by overland transportation,
more than 95 per cent of the areas
normal needs being filled by tankers.
The War Shipping Administration
announced today that it will absorb,
under certain conditions, war-in-
flated costs of shipping petroleum
products, including gasoline and
light fuel oils for house heating, as
well as the heavier, industrial
crudes. The action is taken to keep
the cost of these products down.
The administration will absorb
the costs over and above the basic
maximum charter rates established
by the United States Maritime