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A Study of the Plans of the Emergency Fleet Corporation 4 melt Vhs AR, that crowning paradox _ of the age, at once the most destructive and most power- ful re- energizing force in existence, has. implanted its marvelous leayen in the shipbuilding industries of the United States. As a résult, an Amer- ican merchant marine is coming into being and a new source of national wealth is developing, the beneficial effects of which will be felt long after the terrible struggle in Europe has been brought to a close. Rudely awakened by the. shock of arms, the 'country at last 'realizes the necessity for redeeming its lost heritage on the sea. We have wit- nessed, therefore, in the year just closed, a complete metamorphosis of American shipbuilding. From a com- paratively minor _ station, 'largely to foreign interests, ship- building has advanced overnight to a pre-eminent position in our busi- ness life and at the same time has become the first completely national- ized industry in American history. Almost at one bound production has been speeded up 'from 200,000 to 1,000,000 tons a year, with the goal of 6,000,000 tons a year a measurable dis- tance ahead. © A New 'Standard of Values In any review of the shipbuilding situation as it exists at present, it is clear a new standard of values must be set up. We are confronted with a tremendous task upon the success-. of which depends. ful accomplishment national existence our Tem- porarily at least, all considerations of - economics and business expediency have been swept into the discard. The cry is for ships, ships and yet more ships. We are trying to do in one brief year what in our short- sighted, inward-looking folly we failed to do in the past decade. Therefore, no ordinary, drab statis- tical survey of shipbuilding during 1917 will serve the present situation. We are interested: in what has been done only insofar as it throws any light on what will be accomplished in the months that lie immediately ahead. The main outlines of the problem can be most simply present- ed graphically. ; The shipping board's program, as announced at the-recent hearings in Washington, calls for 1427 ships ag- gregating 8,573,108 deadweight tons. The details are giyen in Table I. catering | How rapidly this program will be executed may be judged by studying Fig. 1, which shows graphically how our shipbuilding capacity of 200,000 tens a year: 'on Dec. 31,1916, has grown to 1,000,000 tons a year and E, N, HURLEY Every shipbuilder, every shipowner and every citizen should read Mr. Hurley's inspiring message on the preceding page. It gives you a glimpse of the great task that must be accomplished to defeat the U-boats and win the. war will reach 5,000,000 tons by the close of 1918. It should be borne in mind also that a portion of the shipping board's task is already finished. This is shown graphically in Fig. 2, which indicates that 18.2 per cent of the Table I SUMMARY OF FLEET CORPORA- TION PROGRAM AS OF DEC, 1,..1917 Num- Total ber deadweight of capacity Type of vessel vessels tons PV OO ees n ie Ree 379 1,344,900 Composites ioe. 58 207,000 Steele 559 3,965,208 Total contracted for.. 996 5,517,108 Total requisitioned... 431 3,056,000 Grand, total .54:.4... 1427 8,573,108 entire program was completed on Dec. 1, 1917. Of steel ships building under contracts let by the Emer- gency Fleet corporation, 4.4 per cent are completed, together with 39.2 per cent of the requisitioned ships, 9.6 38 --Three Million Ton Mark Will Be Reached This Year per cent of the wooden ships and 20.2 per cent of the composite ships. This does not mean that a number of ships corresponding to the fore- going percentages have actually been delivered, but that the proportions indicated of the total amount of work involved in each case were finished ot Dec. 1; 1917. - Expressed in: tone, these figures are as follows: Tons completed up to Dec. 1, 1917 Requisitioned ships 2.0001)... os. 1,180,000 Steel ships. under contract........-. : "174,000 Wooden ships under contract..... 129,000 Composite. ships under contract... 41,800 A otal ie ei eile esate tists eg ee acs 1,524,800 The diagram shown in Fig. 2, from which the foregoing figures and ratios are deduced, is a reproduction of that presented to the senate com- mittee on commerce by Rear Admiral Bowles of the Emergency Fleet cor- poration. The data as to work com- pleted, therefore, are official. The Proper Perspective In order to obtain a proper per- spective on the great problem with which we are now con- fronted, it is necessary to view it in the light of past achievements. this purpose the diagram shown in Fig. 3 has been constructed from the data set forth in Table II. This dia- gram graphically illustrates German, American, British and world ship- building for 14 years. The effect of the war in extinguishing the mer- chant shipbuilding of Germany and greatly expanding both that of the United States and Great Britain is vividly shown. The figures for this year, of course, are estimates based on official data. They indicate that the world's output for 1918 will be about 7,500,000 tons, of which the United States will be called upon to furnish 46% per cent. Against this should be balanced sub- marine losses which it would not be safe to estimate at less than 4,000,000 tons and ordinary losses of 500,000 tons. The net apparent increase in the world's tonnage for 1918 is therefore seen to be about 3,000,000 tons, none too much to overcome the lead gained by the submarine in 1917 and our needs for troop transport. Nevertheless the goal will be reached. A stern chase is proverbial- ly long, but not necessarily endless. There are those in the country For. shipbuilding | ieee rey