Newspaper Page Text
PAGE TWO
U. S. TO BE GREATEST MARITIME
POWER, SAYS HURLEY IN REPORT
WASHINGTON, Mar. 22. Shipbuild
ing facilities acquired during the war
have made th3 United Slates the great
est potential power of the wt r’d as
serts Chairma i E. N. Hurley of the
Shipping Board, and will enable it to
outdistance all other nations in the
race towari replacing a sh irtage of
16,225,000 grass tons of shipp.mr lost
as the result of unrestricted German
submarine warfare and of the failure
of normal increase by new production.
Mr. Hurl')/ male this assertion to
day in a report of his trip to Europe
where for three mouths he was in dost
touch with the shipping interests of
foreign nations. The report will be
used in working out a policy of own
ership and operation of the Amreican
Merchant Marine.
Mr. Hurley estimated that in July,
1914, the sea-going steam bottoms of
the world totaled 41.225,000 gross tons
which was reduced by w r ar to 37,000,-
000 gross tons, a net loss of 4,225,000
gross tons. In addition, he stated, war
had not stopped the normal increase
in production, making a total loss of
16,225,000 gross tons.
The Allies and neutrals suffered a
total loss by enemy action, marine
risk and capture of 15,218,000 gross
tons, Mr. Hur'ey said, and gained by
new construction and seizure o' enemy
ships 14,249,000 gross tons, leaving a
net loss of 969,000 gross ions. The
net loss to the Central Powers was
«ven greater since they lost 3,016,000
gross tons and gained only 740,000, a
difference of 2,276,000 gross tons.
Only two countries, the United
States and Japan, have a larger a
mount of tonnage now than when the
war began. Japan showed a net gain
of 25 per cent, Mr. Hurley reported,
while the United States jumped far in
the lead with a net gain of 125 per
cent.
“The United States forged anead
as rapidly as Germany fell behind,”
said the report, “In August, 1914, the
United State’s seagoing merchant
marine, 500 gross tons and over, in
cluded 624 steamers of 1,758,465 gross
tons, and 870 sailing vessels and
schooner barges of 947,852 gross tons,
making a grand total of 1,494 seago
ing merchant vessels of 2,706,317
gross tons.
“On November 11, 1918, at the epd
of the war, the steam-going merchant
marine had increased to 1,366 vessels
of 4,685,263 gross tons and the sailing
vessels and schooner barges had de
creased to 747 vessels of 829,917 gross
tons, making a grand total of 2.113
seagoing merchant vessels of 5,515,-
180 gross tons.
“This does not include the seized
enemy vessels, which at the end of
the war aggregated 88 vessels of 562,-
005 gross tons, of which number 81
of 546,210 gross tons were steamers
and seven of 15,795 gross tons were
sailing vessels.
“The total construction in the United
States added to the merchant marine
during the w r ar amounted to 875 ves
sels of 2,94,1845 gross tons. The pur
chase from aliens of 233 vessels of
833,845 gross tons, the move
ment from the Great Lakes to the
ocean of 66 steamers of 139, 469 gross
tons, and miscellaneous acquisitions
amounting to 31 vessels of 39, 219
gross tons are other sources of ac
quisition.
“The loss of 114 vessels of 322,214
gross tons by enemy action, of 278
vessels of 405,400 gross tons by mar
ine risk, of 130 vessels of 268,149 gross
tons by sale to aliens and of 64 vessels
of 149,761 gross tons through the sale
abandonment and other causes, ac
counts for the decreases. Losses of
15 German and requisitioned ships
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| amounting to 112,248 gross tons are
not included.
“Today we are potentially the great
; est maritime power of the earth, for
the reason that we possess the great
est shipbuilding instrumentalities.”
Mr. Hurley stated that Great Britain
suffered a net loss in the war of 3,440,-
000 gross tons, amounting to 18 per
cent of her entire tonnage. Other
nations which suffered heavy losses
include Norway, which lost 1,178,325
gross tons; France, 907,168 gross
tons; Italy, 852,124 gross tons; Greece,
337,545 gross tons; Denmark, 239,922
gross tons and Sweden, 201.733 gross
tons.
Every effort is being made by each
of these nations, Mr. Hurley asserted,
to regain their former maritime stand
ing.
“The study of the Shipping Board
experts revealed a teeming ambition
among other powers to achieve a
higher maritime standing.” said the
report," In almost every country the
desire exists not only to replace war
losses but to add new totals to be used
in the work of reconstruction and in
developing new foreign trade.
“Even Switzerland has not escaped !
this desire to acquire a merchant'
marine., Ships will be acquired as!
soon as canal improvements are made
on the Rhine.”
The chief interest now centers on
the question of whether the United
States can henceforth maintain her
new place upon the seas, or whether
she must now disband the energies
that brought her merchant fleet into
being.
“There is every reason” Mr. Hurley
continued, “for believing that Ameri
ca has come back upon the ocean—to
stay. My observations compel opti
mism.
“The war has brought us into a high
place as a maritime power. I find
the peoples of the world aroused to
an intenser interest and concern as
to the use we are to make of this
pow r er.
“In America, you have heard of Brit
ish competition. In Great Britain I
heard a great deal more about Ameri
can competition. The truth is that
our friends across the water are for
the first time entering upon a period
of actual competition. In our praise
of British seamanship and British
operating ability, we have been prone
to ignore the advantages which lay on
the side of the ships which flew Union
Jack.
“I have no misgivings about the era
of competition which is coming. "The
obstacles of inexperience will quickly
give way before American industrial
strength and energy. It is a new age
of ocean transportation as well as of
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public policy. It is an age of promise
for those who would participate in
America's high destiny upon the seas,”
Mr. Hurley said prior to August,
1914, both the foreign trade and the
shipping of the United States were
dominated to a great extent by British
because American traders and ship
| operators who wished to do business
i could do so conveniently through Brit
-1 ish agencies. In 1915*, he recalled, on
! ly one-seventh of the foreign trade of
the United States was carried in
American bottoms.
“The total exports and imports of
the United States for the year 1915
were approximately 50,000,000 long
tons,” said the report. “With average
shipping efficiency the movement of
these goods would have required about
9,000,000 gross tons of ships.
“Assuming an annual increase in
| the foreign trade of the United States
| equal to the average increase for the
I five years preceeding August, 1914,
our foreign trade in 1920 would re
quire a greatly increased merchant
j tonnage if it were to be carried in
I American bottoms."
j Mr. Hurley declared it was an ac
cepted principle that a strong maritime
j power should carry in its own ships
i at least 50 per cent, of the agregate
i of its exports and imports and in addi
! lion some of the trade between coun
tries not yet in the shipping business.
“Assuming a total export and import
business in 1920 of 70,000,000 long
tons,” he added, “it would require a
fleet of about 7,500,000 gross tons to 1
transport 60 per cent, in our own
ships.”
One of the types of ships most de
sirable for the new merchant marine,
according to Mr. Hhrley, is a speedy,
effective combination cargo and pas
senger liner of from 15,000 to 25,000
deadweight tons which could be opera
ted efficiently in the transportation of
high class merchandise, passengers
and mail.
“Shipping men generally agree,” he
said, “that it is not the total tonnage
but the character of the vessels that
makes a successful fleet. The coun
try might have 10,000,000 tons of ship
ping which if not of the right sort
could not be operated profitably in
competition with ships of a better
type belonging to another nation.
“I have heard a great deal of talk
about the construction of ‘junk’ ships
in America, emphasis thus being laid
on the number of small ships we had
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under construction. It was sought to
convey the impression that our new
ships would suffer by comparison with
those laid down by our friends and as
sociates overseas.
"It may surprise these critics to
hear, as I have heard, that British
yards had under construction on Oct.
31,066 ships of 6,600 gross tons and
over. Our program for that date cal
led for 106 ships of 6,00 Ogross tons
or over.”
Mr. Hurley said three factors 1 mili
tated most strongly against the nat
ural and desirable expansion of the
foreign trade of the United States:
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First, the necessity for developing men,
thoroughly American in every way,
to handle foreign trade; second, the
recruiting of an American personnel
for the operation of the ships and the
handling of the work at ports; and,
third, the extension of banking facili
ties.
The idea that too high wages are
being paid American seamen for this
country to compete with other coun
tries successfully was ridiculed by
Mr. Hurley.
“It is time for the public mind to
be disabused of this conception,” he
stated.“ The facts will dismay those
SUNDAY, MARCH 23,1919. '
who are agitating for a lower wage
scale of American ships. We are pay
ing our seamen $75.00 a month. Eng
land during the war paid her seamen
$72.00 a month. The French and
Sweden the seamen’s scale is even,
higher than in the United States.”
The retention of high wages was
important, he added, because men whe
had laborded under great strain yield
ed their attention more readily to the
agitator. The success of any nation in
shipbuilding and ship operating, he
said, will be determined by the manner
in which the labor situation is han
dled.