Evening star., 1943-07-28
j. ). Charters Ships
To Allies in Move 10
Conserve Manpower
By the Associated Press.

~VitSSis~ 1Iusapo"S
By the Associated Press.
The United States, its merchant
fleet grown to the worlds largest
by a $50 per cent gain since the
Pearl Harbor attack, has begun a
share -the-ships program with mari
time allies.
So far agreements have been made
for the chartering of ships to Great
Britain, Norway, Holland and
Greece, and the door stood open to-
day for other United Nations to
come in for their share.
Rear Admiral Emory S. Land, war
shipping administrator, disclosing
how the feet has mushroomed since
December, 1941, gave no hint of its
present size but left the clear i'm
plication that Britain, long the
worlds No. l merchantmen, has
dropped far behind
AS of January l, 1941, the last date
for which official figures were pub
lished, the American merchant fleet
totaled 1,l50 seagoing vessels ag-
gregating 10,500,000 deadweight
tons. A $50 per cent increase in that
figure would bring the total to more
than 100000 deadweight tons.
Allies Fleets Shrinking.
Admiral Land sent to Chairmen
Bailey of the Senate Commerce
Committee and Bland of the House
Merchant Marine Committee a de-
tailed justification of the share-the-
ships program.
While our fleet has been growing
and is expected to grow further"
Admiral Land wrote, the fleets of
some of our maritime allies have
been shrinking AS result, each
of these nations has pool of un-
employed, experienced seamen and
licensed personnel. Because the
British losses have far exceeded the
losses of our other Allies, they have
the largest pool. 1t numbers about
10000.
1T is evident that manpower will
be conserved and that we will be
provided with sorely-needed in
surance against excessive burdens
upon our ability to provide an
adequate supply of trained men
through the employment of these
pools of skilled seamen."
Curran Makes Protest.
Joseph Curran, president of the
National Maritime Union, CIO, said
in New York he had protested to
Admiral Land the loan" of Amer
lean Liberty ships to the British
merchant marine. He made public
letter which said:
IF the turning over to Great Brit
ain of these ships is predicated upon
a shortage of merchant seamen in
this country. we wish to point out
that any appearance of shortage has
been artifcially created by lack of
perspective in the training and up
grading program
Later in an interview he said that
except for a few skilled ratings.
there now is no difficulty in man.
ming ships, and there has not been
for three or four months. The
present program is taking care Of,
and will take care Of, all needs"
Mr.. Curran said his union wanted
to know why there has not been
any consultation over this transfer
with the industry, the ship owners,
or the maritime unions or any one
else, and why very little publicity
was given to it. I" We believe
that once again the American people
are being sold down the river"
Britain Has Received Five.
Admiral Land told the committee
chairmen that President Roosevelt
had instructed him to charter ships
TO Allied nations for the period of
the war only"
Britain has received ships so
far and will receive Is to 20 month
over a 10-month period. Norway
has received $4,000 deadweight tons
number of ships not specifedl and
may receive more and Holland
will receive ships and Greece 2.
The ships will be operated under
the flag of the chartering nation
but title will remain in the United
States.
Admiral Land made no reference
TO recent expressions of concern in
some British quarters over the grow
ing American fleet. Emanuel Shin
we'll, a Laborite, recently told the
House of Commons that I'VE shall
be supreme no longer after the war.
The ball has passed to the United
States"
Admiral Land said, however, that
Britain had laid out greatly ex-
panded shipbuilding program, but
after the Pearl Harbor attack
Mr.. Roosevelt and Prime Minister
Churchill agreed that the United
States would become the merchant
shipbuilder for the United Nations
with British yards devoted largely