The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-08-02

coming out with maybe 1900 vessels. most of which win be relatively old. slow and inefflcient.
 The small. densely- populated British isles cannot survive without thriving Rcrld trade. Britain made herself Queen of the Seas because otherwise she would have been a second or thirG-rate poger. She has to regain at least a con- siderable part of her maritime posi- iton. But how can she. competing with 1900 inferior ships against the United States 25O0 ultra-fine craft7
 When peacetime readjustments are made, it is a thousand to one bet that the British are going to demand some arrangement to com- lpensate for the fact-and 1t is a fact-tkat Brftain's weak maritime position is due to her all-out de- fense of the world against Nazisrn. To begin with. she was losing shipping from l959 to lssl while she alone of the great sea powers was fighting Germany. On top of that, she made a grand-and potentially suicidal-gesiure when she agreed to concentrate on fighting craft while the United States built mer- chantmen that can be used aftei the var.
 THE BRITISH GET
 THE LIBERTY SHIPS
 We are launching the C-types, Victory ships and fine new tankers for ourselves. We are turning a few Of them over to the Dutch and Norwegians, who have large pools of skilled seamen but no ships for them. To the British We are giv- ing the anachrOnistic Liberty Ships which are mighty useful in winning the war but won't be worth wharfage space in postwar cargo competition.
 It is no wonder. then. that tfe British are peSsinaistic about what may happen to them if We use our enormous fleet of efficient shipping ruthlessly after the war to take and hold all the ocean cargo business We can get.
 Before Britain can replace much of her obsolete shipping with con- petitiyely capable rev craft We could quite possibly sew up much of the worlds carrying business. That problem was posed recently to representative of American ship oD- orators.
 Hell said he. i've don't want the British carrying trade. We don't need it. Give us a cilance-gors out some method of overcoming the higher operating costs We are up against-and we'll keep our postwar fleet busy without interfering with the British at all.'
 How do you figure that?" he was asked. We didn't do it before the war. We'll have to pick up 10 to IS million tons Of business somewhere or lay up some of our nice new ships. or cut in on the British, won't We?"
 sgE WANT BUSINESS VERBOTEN TO AXIS, HE SAYS
 Not at alI." said this expert. Let our Allies have back their trade. AZ We ask is to take oyer the business that the Allies can't possibly permit staE fAAAD tAAkA1ttD AO tNBAbU.
 ln 1888, according to President Prank J. Taylor of the American Merchant Marine Institute, Axis ships carried I2 per cent Of all U. s. toreign-bound shipping. while our ogp craft handled only 25 per cent.
 Deliberately. on the other hand each Axis nation made it very difa, cult for us to handle any Of their foreign trade. Japanese ships ear- Tted almost 70 per cent Of Nippon'g cargo, Ea1 ships 58 per cent of Ger mapy's, and Italian ships 46 per cent of their nations.
 This enabled them to build up the merchant fleets they have turned against the peace Of the world American shipping interests demand that Axis merchant fleets shall be deplobilized along with their armies and Dayies.
 Jf that is done, OUT shipping men sag, We shall be able to utilize cur huge postwar fleet without ipterfeT- ing with Great RritaiD's maritime lifeline, And the peace Of the world will be promoted by holding down fine Axis nOWeFS