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430 'THE MARINE REVIEW THE MARINE REVIEW DEVOTED TO MARINE ENGINEERING, SHIP BUILDING AND ALLIED INDUSTRIES Published Monthly by The Penton Publishing Company Penton Building, Cleveland. CHICAGO - - - - - - - 1521-23 Lytton Bldg. CINCINNATI - 503 Mercantile Library Bldg. NEW YORK - - - 507 West Street Bldg. PITTSBURGH - - - - - 2148-49 Oliver Bldg. WASHINGTON, D.C... - Aye 44 Home Life Bldg. BIRMINGHAM, ENG. - = : E Prince's Chambers Subscription, $2 delivered free anywhere in the world. Single copies, 20 cents. Back numbers over three months, 50 cents, Change of advertising copy must reach this office on or before the first of each month. The Cleveland News Co. will supply the trade with THE MARINE REVIEW through the regular channels of the American News Co. European Agents, The International News Co., Breams Building, Chancery Lane, London, E. C., England. Entered at the Post Office at Cleveland, Ohio, as Second Class Matter. (Copyright 1914, by Penton Publishing Company) | November, 1914 Our Need of Ships No nation could feel more keenly the need of ships than the United States does at the present time. We are at an enormous handicap in reaching the South American market on account of the want of ships. A golden opportunity awaits that country which can promptly seize this market. South America cannot be expected to be much of a buyer from the outside world until she is enabled to sell some of her own products. Her sales to Europe at the present time must be practically nil owing to the inability of any ships to reach the countries now at war. It would be fine business judgment for the United States to pur- chase liberally from South American markets whatever they have to sell that it can use. By that means we would build up a lasting trade because trade after all is not so much a matter of money as it is of barter. The rub here lies in the fact that we have not the ships to carry the commodities to and from South America. If we had them, we would certainly now be doing a splendid business with this great market which is practically excluded from the rest of the buying world. How many, many times has it been pointed out in these columns that exactly this very situation might some day be encountered. The bill which was intro- duced in congress ten years ago as a result of the tour of the Merchant Marine Commission throughout the country was a very wise measure. It was a far- sighted measure and it would have forestalled the very mischief of which we are now complaining. Some day our congress may see the light. They have dwelt in darkness for a long time but some day, and perhaps soon, the light may break in upon them. Meanwhile all sorts of subterfuges are resorted to except the pal- pable one to remedy the evil. Government-owned ships won't get us anywhere. They would simply drive out of existence the small fleet that is now oper- ating under the American flag. No private enterprise could be expected to complete with a government- owned line. Nor will the admission of foreign-built ships to American register alter the situation materi- ally. The only vessels that are adopting American register are those that are already owned by American corporations and they carry nothing except the prod- uct of those corporations. They do not help in the extension of the American export trade in general. What we want is a great fleet of private-owned steam- ships carrying through the American flag and running to those ports which are not now reached by American 'steamers. We could be doing a big business with Germany today if we had the ships to do it with. No British ship will carry a single pound of our products to Germany but there is no reason why we might not be doing a thriving business in non-contraband articles with that country had we the ships to carry them. Lake Trade No season in lake trade has ended as dismally as the present one. Ordinarily there are very fine finishes in the trade owing to the desire of shippers to have their commodities moved before navigation becomes impossible. Nothing of the sort, however, character- izes the present season. Shippers some time ago began to send their own vessels to dock owing to their inabil- ity to provide them with cargoes. Other vessels are accepting part loads, while the grain rate for prompt loading seems to have got a strangle hold at 1 cent. Carrying a bushel of grain a thousand miles for 1 cent, and paying half a cent of that to get the grain out of the vessel, in addition to suffering a delay of from four to five days at the unloading port, is mighty discouraging business. Notwithstanding all this, lake vessel owners are paying the highest wages ever known in the business and are providing the men aboard ship with creature comforts that are far and away beyond anything known elsewhere. Moreover, through the Lake Carriers' Association they have spent much time and attention in seeing to it that all foodstuffs are pure and clean and that all drinking water is beyond the possibility of contamination. played their part well. They have certainly The United States district court of New York has just handed down a decision to the effect that North Atlantic passenger conference agreements do not con- stitute unreasonable restraint of trade and are, there- fore, legal under the Sherman law. The court has apparently based its conclusions upon the language of the report of the Alexander committee to the House of Representatives on the subject in which the committee stated that if there were no conference the lines would engage in rate wars or consolidate. An appeal will now be taken to the United States Supreme Court. November, 1914 i, Sa ai haath a as