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Prssident Taylor in Aundal Address Urges Fullest Co-operation of Employers and Em- ployes in Carrying Out Shipbuilding Program--Analyzes World's Ship Construction ' dent's address were given his summary of the conditions of shipping and shipbuilding throughout the world. The statistics then given were to his. satisfaction and ap- parently were received with satisfac- tion by. all parties interested. Not only has much. water passed under the bridges in that brief year, but great floods have passed and still are passing, throwing all of those calculations into the discard. At that time, though there were many who thought our own beloved country should have previously en- tered into the world war, it really appeared as though we were to be free from any active participation. The renewal of ruthless submarine warfare last February made this im- possible and whether we should have been in the melee before or not is not a question for discussion before this society. United States Justified It is sufficient that the United States of America has for good cause joined the allies who are fighting the central nations of Europe, and one of the means to be used by this country is the building of many new ships in the old and in many new yards as well as the taking over of all ships previ- ously under construction. Your President, now a naval officer _ by one of the exigencies of war, is properly forbidden to give any in- formation that may come to him by virtue of his commission. He has, however, no claims to any special in- formation and in this address will use only statements that have been pub- lished in the public press presumably by authority, -- ~ Taken from last year's address, we find the total capacity per annum prior to 1916, of shipyards for build- ing merchant vessels, to have been as follows: Je one year ago, in the presi- Registered tonnage 'United Kingdom, Colonies and Can- AOA ects es ae Dusen eel 1,984,000 United States, including the Great Lakes 555 DO ao Ane ae 540,000 Germany and Austria-Hungary...... 527,000 pe eeper COUntTes 7s eee ss 634,000 Total capacity per annum of the shipyards of the world........ 3,685,000 Presented by Lieut. Commander Stevenson Taylor, U. S. N. R. F., at the recent New York meeting of the Society of Naval Archi- tects and Marine Engineers, of which he is president. By Lieut. Commander Stevenson Taylor, U.S. N. R. F. Notwithstanding the decrease shown in merchant shipbuilding in the United Kingdom and Germany caused by the necessities of war, owing to the. in- crease in capacity of United States yards (about 100,000 tons) and else- where in the world (about 76,000 tons) Building and Operating Our Merchant Fleet "The announced program of the United States shipping board for a merchant marine at the end of the year 1919, shows a grand total of 14,500,000 deadweight tons ca- pacity, approximately 9,600,000 reg- istered tonnage. This includes all new construction for the Emer- gency Fleet corporation, all alien and United States ships under con- struction and commandeered, and the enemy ships that have been seized within our ports. "To bring to a successful conclu- sion this program and the success- ful operation of the ships as well, 1s a prodigious task requiring all of the energy, enterprise, foresight and earnest activity for which American leaders are noted. That the board may be assisted in its desired accomplishment, the whole- hearted support of the members of this society, a unit of men upon whom so much depends, must be given without limit of service or reserve of any sort. "In order that the successful operation of the contemplated enor- mous fleet may follow after the war, tt will be necessary that some existing shipping laws be modified so that the shipping board may be enabled to compete with all of the other nations, for doubtless follow- ing this war of force and destruc- tion there will come a commercial war, a war of the flags upon the seas,'--Lieut. Commander Steven- son Taylor. the total production of merchant ves- sels in the shipyards of the world during 1917 will be approximately 3,250,000 tons--almost as much as dur- ing the banner year of 1913, when there were launched about 3,300,000 registered tons. But there has been in this country a great change during this same year. In November, 1916, there were about 66 shipyards in the. United States in 27 of which were built wood ships. At this time, November, 1917, there are about 142 shipyards in the United States, 59 of which are building wood vessels and four of which are building composite vessels. With the tremen- dous program of the United States shipping board, to which must be added the 787 new ships for our navy at a cost of $1,150,400,000, from dread- naughts to submarine chasers--"'mak- ing the navy the most powerful in the world, second to none," and the necessary additions to our shipyards to accomplish these feats, you may be sure there will be no idle days, but many busy days and nights for several years to come. It is to be noted that the increase in the number of new wood shipyards is' great, but their 'capacity. is" uot nearly so great as the total capacity of the new steel shipyards. Whether after the completion of the many wood vessels now under contract for delivery in the next two years, there will be any demand for wood ships » from these new yards is extremely doubtful because in normal times there is no question concerning the superior-. ity of the steel ships. ' Loss of Ships The amount of destruction of ves- sels by German submarines is un- certain. British authorities give the net loss of British vessels over 1600 tons, from the commencement of the War. to Oct, 31, J917, as- 2,500,000 registered tons. Other authorities say that neutral nations, including the United States, have lost about 1,700,000 tons, making a total of 4,200,000 tons, which is probably too low; certainly much lower than claimed by the Ger- man government. It is clear, however, that the special efforts of tie naval vessels of the allies have succeeded in keeping within control the destruction by submarines. British authority also states that be- tween 40 and 50 per cent of the German submarines operating since the war commenced have been de- stroyed. One of the great difficulties that faces everyone interested in the build- ing of ships is that presented by the