Milford chronicle., 1954-10-15
We CAN'T DEPEND ON OTHERS


WE CAN'T DEPEND ON OTHERS
Some people may wonder why there
should be so much concern over what hap
pens to the American merchant marine. In
view Of the fact that fOreign-fag ships seem
to be capable t handling our overseas com
merce.
The Saturday evening Post deals with
this IN an editorial, saying: "The availa-
olity Of foreign vessels is undeniable in
peace time. in war time it is no longer some
thing we can count on. Little in the history
Of the past Ell ht years gives assurance that
any new form Of inter-allied shipping pool
would be at once available to us, as it was in
World War II.
It might be argued that we can keep on
relying on the fOrei IN vessels so long as
possible and>then, if war comes, build up our
own fleet agai.l The trouble is that it isn't
conceivable we'd have the time, in this atom
lc era. Once the shipyards were shut down
and their highly skilled labor force dispersed,
~ would take arlong, Wasteful, and enor-
mously costly effort to get construction un-
derWay on any significant scale-even if our
enemies were 2 ) kind as ) give us the OppOr-
tunity.
Moreover, we live in an unpredictable
world IN which the services of many foreign
vessels could be denied to US even without
war on big scale. On the grounds of self
preservation, the only solution is to maintain
large modern American merchant marine
las President Eisenhower and other TOP
authorities have said on many occasions.
$500
WATER CONSERVATION NECESSARY
There is an invaluable natural resource
which most OF u take for granted-water.
Inc nations water supply, obviously, is as
important as its supply of air. So a recent
information bulletin published by the Cham
per OF Commerce Of the United States which
deals with our water situation and some de-
.Veloplng problems is of wide interest.
Our water needs are now four times as
great as they were in 1900 Half of that in-
crease IS accounted for by the fact that the
population has doubled. The other half re-
suits from the fact that per capita consump-
tlon also has doubled and has reached what
the Chamber terms the fantastic figure of
1,100 gallons per day''-yes, that means for
each person! There are three primary. .reas-
ons for this jump. First is the growth of in-
dustry. It takes $4,000 gallons of water to
pfOQuce q single ton of steel, and one LOuisi-
ana OIL refinery alone uses more than the
city Of Cleveland. The industrial demand Is
expected to more than double by 1975-and
shat doesn't take into account the pOssibil-
ity Of new atomic industries.
Second, individuals use much more wa
sucn as washing machines, are big cOnsum-
ers. And people take more bathsl
lnlrd IS the great increase in water for
LIlgauOn. At present, this trend is especi-
ally marked in the East-and most Eastern
crops require far more water than those
produced in the West.
What it all adds up to, the Chamber saws.
greater competition for water between
agriculture and industry town and coun-
try"
So far as the nation as a whole is con-
cerned, we have plenty of water. But many
areas nave been facing shortages pro-
poruonaJely, these have been most FREQUENT
IN the larger communities According to the
Dl!ietln, Of the SO water systems serving
citles Of more than 100000 population. 35
systems We're oveltaxed and experienced
some oegree Of shortage last year. Idaho
hnode Island and Mississippi were the only
states where no restrictions on water use
were reported.
baslcally, water shortage prevention IS
2 gWO-fOid process. The first requirement. Is
better regulation. This means catching and
noiolng more rain where it falls, through
improved conservation practices, and by
ootn natural and artificial replacement of
water ~ the underground reservoirs. The
second requirement IS expansion of cornnil,,-
date. o0' =
flnallys new sources of water are in pros
gecJ AN electrical process for removing salt
from orackisn water is well advanced. Ex-
pefiments are also underway in methods Of
converting sea water into fresh. This was
zone successfully during World War II bv I
lae Navy, but on a small scale. The present
OBJECT Is to discover a large-scale process
mat Is cheap enough to be practical.
resident Eisenhower has said "The
ToAsetN Nati0n and use which we made Of the
water resources of our nation NAV 3, Iaroo
measure determine our future progress and
tne standards Of living Of our citizens That
IS JOB not only for government. but for
private enterprise and private citizens.