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1902. } OPPOSED TO THE EIGHT-HOUR DAY. During the recent hearing in the eight-hour, bill before He? ae committee on labor of the house of representatives, President. lienry G. Morse, of the New York Ship Building -Co.,;°Camden,: ..; N. J, opposed the passage of the bill-for the following reasons: "t. Under the proposed law we would either 'have to refuse to take government work or would be required to do merchant ~ work on the same eight-hour basis, for the reason that it 1s im-° possible to operate a plant excepting on a uniform number of hours per day on eacn class. "2. The cost of war ships built under such oy would be fully 20 per cent. more than at present-and would not result in any. better work. We do not understand it to be the province of congress to give something for nothing. "3. We have taken occasion to obtain the average price of labor, in several of the ship yards of Great Britain and find that we are paying labor in this country-an average of 33 per cent. more than is paid:there...-We. have--also investigated the. cost.. of living and find that there is a very slight difference, from. which we conclude that: laboring men in "this country unter. - present conditions are very much better paid. than in any other country, and any law which would tend to further increasé-this would be very detrimental to the shipping interests in' this coun- try and to the country at large in preventing exportation.' "4. It is desirable for the good of the country that condi- tions should be favorable for ship owners to have their ships constructed at home and that the money paid for ships should . At the present time: the -eost--of- be retained in this country. iron and steel is more than 50 per cent. higher than in Great Britain or Germany. 'The cost of auxiliary 'machinery and out- fit for ship averages from 15 per cent. to 50 per cent. more than in Great Britain and the cost of labor 33 per cent. more; the average cost of a ship today being from 35 per cent. to 4U per: It would there-* fore seem to be against the interests of the ship owner, the ship- cent. more than in Great Britain and Germany. builder and the country at large to pass any law which yon, still further increase the cost of ships. "5. About four years ago the cost of material and labor was | such that it was deemed probable that ai yard built on modern principles, with all possible labor 'saving devices, might be able to construct ships in this country at a cost. of not more than 15 per cent. above the cost of- foreign ships, and it was deemed probable that the owners of ships would be willing to pay this additional cost. With this belief the stockholders. of. the New York Ship Building Co. have expended during: the last four years nearly $10,000, ooo, and have produced a plant which is credited with being the most fully equipped of any in the, world, and under normal conditions would be able to build: ships at°a cost not exceeding 15 percent. to 20 per cent. above foreign-built ships. At the present time the conditions -are abnormal, both as regards labor and material, and any action on your part look- ing to the furtner increase of cost would be detrimental to the best interests of the country at large. "6. Labor is receiving in the shipyards as mie pay as in' other classes of manufacture ; otherwise, it would not be em- ployed in these busy times in constructing ships, but would seek other employment; therefore you should pass no law which is detrimental to a particular industry at a time and under condi- tions when no hardship has been imposed upon ay class by the conditions now prevailing in the shipyards. "7. The writer believes that this effort to pass' an: sinht- hour bill for certain classes of work emanates from the repre- sentatives of the labor organizations of the country, who hope by the passing of this bill to embarrass the shipbuilding companies and eventually to force them to an eight-hour per day basis, with the hope that this may sooner or later prevail in all branches of manufacture. Should their hopes be realized the cost of all that we have to export from this country would increase from : 20 to 25 per cent. and the possibility of exporting would be ef- fectually prevented. No. individual increases his. wealth by consuming all he produces; the same jis true of the country at large. The wealth of this country came from our being able to. dispose of more of our products then we consumed. Why should you take action to prevent shipbuilders from following i in - the steps of other successful manufacturers ? : "We presume that all members of congress understand that labor expects to earn as much in eight hours as it now does inten. Tue navy yards of the country are working on an eight- hour basis and are paying fully as much per a, of eight hours as s the 'manufacturers do for a ten-hour day." UNION STEEL MINORITY OFFENDED, "It appears that some of the stockholders of: the. Union.. Steel" Co. are not at all pleased with the terms of. the purchase of the:. properties by the United States Steel Corporation. Mr. George W.. Darr, president: of the Sharon Steel Co., said :: rane United States Steel Corporation can consider. itself fortunate. in :secur-" ing such a valuable property at-such a low. price. ... The. Union. Steel: Co. is worth a great-deal more than the Steel, Corporation. paid' for it, and it was because of the low figure: set upon. the. property that I cpposed, the transfer. I asked permission™ to remain ing the company on a basis af the price-at which' it-was-taken overi! The net. earnings of the Union: Steel. Co.-at. the- present: .timet far exceed the amount required for the payment of interest of! os =the bonds. to London, thus saving sixteen hours. MARINE REVIEW-AND MARINE RECORD. a1 Earnings, of course, will increase with the advance- ment of the 'work involving the construction of new plants, which were planned by the Union Steel Co., and which will be -completed by them under the terms of the' deal. "furnaces, with a combined capacity of 2,400 tons daily are now 'under constrtction, thus giving the Union Steel Co. five fur- 'naces; with a 'yearly capacity of 800,000 tons. Three new The sheet and tube' "mills now. under construction at Sharon will be started some time next month. The acquisition of the Union Steel Co. "will benefit the United States Steel Corporation in inany ways. In the first place the purchase will obviate the necessity of add- ing to the 'capacity of certain of the old constituent properties of the corporation. The new tube mill of the Sharon Co., which will go into operation next month, will give the Steel Corpor- ation.an additional capacity of 350 tons a day. 'The same can be said of the new sheet mill and other plants that are now in operation or in course of construction. The purchase makes the Steel Corporation's position impregnable from the stand- point of iron ore. It now controls fully 85 per cent. of the iron ~ ore of the' Mesabi range. The deal adds 50,000,000 tons to its: visible: supplies. Then, again, the acquisition will increase the furnace capacity of the combine by 2,400 tons daily, thus obviating the necessity of laying out so much money for new. furnace construction. The present pig iron production of the corporation' is'not sufficient by manv thousand tons to meet the Teunnemanty: a its finishing mills." SHIP BUILDING AT NEWPORT NEWS. - Six new vessels will be launched at the works of the Newport News Ship Building & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Va., dur- » ing 1903. The Pacific coast lumber steamer Francis H, Leggett will be launched the middle of January. The large armored cruisers Marvland and West Virginia will be put overboard in May, ° possibly on the same day. The battleship Virginia, ane protected cruiser' Charleston and the Saginaw Steel Steamship ~ Co.'s '10,000-ten oil steamship will be in,the water before the close of the year. The yard expects to secure some important - ship-contracts in 1902, among them one of the two new armored 'cruisers to be awarded bv the navy department in January. The last twelve months saw the launching of the battleship Missouri and the Old Dominion steamship Monroe, and the completion of the Pacific Mail's 18,600-ton leviathans Korea and Siberia, and the 'United: States monitor Arkansas. Keels were laid during the year for the battleship 'Virginia and the cruiser Charleston; for the government, and the Monroe, the Leggett and the oil steamship. The keel for the new battleship Louisiana will be laid about Feb. 1: 'he battleship Missouri will have her build- er's trial in May or June, and will soon after have her official trial. She will be commissioned the latter part of the year. A number. of improvements have been made at the ship yard in the last: year, the office building being doubled in size, the machine and: joiner buildings being extended, a new galvanizing plant be- ing 'erected and' work Dring started on a large new ship shed and mene loft. ie | MANAGEMENT OF ATLANTIC COMBINATION. "It has been announced that the steamers of the Atlantic Transport Co. «will 'go in the future to Southampton, instead of It is the intention of the International 'Mercantile Marine Co. to separate entirely the pas- senger and. freight departments of the different lines. As soon as practicable the passenger business of all the lines will be concen- trated at the present office of the International Navigation Co., at: No. 71 Broadway, and the freight business at the present office of the White Star Line in the Bowling Green building. Mr. Clement A.:Griscom, president of the company, will have entire charge on this: side of the water, while Mr. W. J. Pirrie, vice president, will have charge in Europe. Mr. James A. Wright, jr,. will: have:charge of the passenger business, as chairman of the passenger board, while Mr. Samuel Bettle will be in charge of the East bound freight business, as chairman of the traffic board, and, Mr. A. Curten Fetterolf will be assistant chairman of the latter board. Mr. C. A. Griscom, Jr., will be the responsible head of the American and Red Star Lines, while Mr. P. A. S. Franklin will.be the responsible head of the Atlantic Transport Line in the United States, and Mr. Charles F. Towey in England. "Mr. Henry. Wilding will be the head of the Dominion_and Ley- land. Lines, while Mr. J. Bruce Ismav and Mr. Harold Sane will. be at. the head of the White Star Line. Shui are at present in both houses of congress to create thie : new:.department of commerce. The senate bill makes the new department avast affair; the house bill is more modest in 'its © transfer: of.. 'bureaus. Secretary Cortelyou, who has been sélected - for the new office, is in favor of a small department. atsifirst:..:° He bélieves thatthe. new department would thrive. better if i: 'did. 'alittle: work and-did it well than if it undertook. to-give 'form toa vast mass' of undigested matter. "At present: no outline of the new department can be given other than that all' departments-will'contribute bureaus to it. Bureaus having to do with ¢ommeree-are pretty well scattered throughout all of them. - There is no doubt that in. time the department of commerce wilt be: the most influential post: im-the 'cabinet.