The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1945-10-01
Observations
Salute to Admiral
Land as Maritime
Commissioner
By HELEN EssARY

While the greattul pubic is PIN
ming medals on the fiuttering chests
of,var heroes, there is one worthy
chest that remains undecorated-
the chest OF Vice Adm. Emory
Scot. Land
You know Admiral Land, chair
man OF the United States Maritime
Commission, administrator OF the
War Shipping administration and
United States member OF the com
bined shipping adjustment board Of
United States and Great Britain.
Everybody knows the admiral.
He's Jerry Land to the world OF
ships and politics, and TO half the
rest o. the American eitiEenry.
But for all this large acquaint-
ance, his great achievement in the
Allied war effort has not yet won
him a postwar ribbon OF merit.
Nor enough praise TO be heard
above the din Of parades honoring
the returning conquerors.
Men who know ships are en-
thusiastic about Jerry and his Job.
They say that without him and his
War Shipping Administration, the
war. certainly the Pacific war.
could not have been won.
For no matter how many guns.
men and supplies, and how much
food this country had to offer, the
guns, men, food and supplies were
useless unless they could be trans
ported to the theater OF battle &C
ton.
Our merchant fleet was in q sad
state at the outbreak OF the war.
The state got sadder by the day
almost b. the hour.
German submarines were sinking
our merchant ships fast. The
mssts OF destroyed vessels stood
up like porcupine quilts along the
Atlantic coastline.
What was to be done? on and
food simply had to be got TO our
feet and Allied fleets in distant
waters at oncel The only way
these necessities could be sent
there was in ships.
But how to combat the. U-boat
and its deadly aim? There was
just one way. said Jerry Land.
Build ships faster than the Ger
mans could sink them.
Admiral Land set TO work with
a flourish. Swishing in and out
Of shipyards. Alternately sizzling
with praise and profanity. He
. didn't grunble because, at first.
he was given almost no guns with
which to man the new boats.
The guns that Land did receive
were OBJ olete. They couldn't COM
pete with enemy aircraft. Down
went many of the new tankers and
supply ships, unprotected as they
were.
But the Maritime Commission
and Admiral Land undauntedly
kept both feet on the accelerator.
Full speed ahead in all the ship
yards. big and little, was the order.
During the war years, from Janu-
airy, 1919, until September, 1945,
the commission built 81, 406, 444 ship
tons. Or about 1904 ships.
Think of the triumph-5,304
ships in less than three years.
Now that this superb achieve
ment has reached its climax, and
the war is won, some people are
saying:
I'VE don't need all those ships.
What use have we for such a man.
sized merchant marine? Let's
scrap most Of IT,"
Silly. wicked talk! So It seems
to me, a layman. The United
States Navy could not have worked
so splendidly without the aid OF the
merchant marine. The Navy and
the merchant marine are part
ners. Or should be.
And what about our peace-time
trade? Don't we need ships for
that?
I'm a thrifty soul. I'd keep every
ship VIC have. Obsolete or brand
new Navy or merchant marine.
Where would / keep them all;
oh, I'd run them up here and there
along the creeks of the Chesapeake
Bay. IL I couldn't think of any
other calm beach in this puny
country.
incidentally, Admiral Land, con-
trary to rumor. IS not going to re-
sign from the maritime chairman
ship. He has, so he says, an al
most bigger job now, fighting to
keep a merchant marine alive than
he had bringing one TO life.