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308 and the rivet driver in Japan with pneumatic tools averages about 250 rivets per day. American ship owners state that it is difficult, if not imposible, for them to compete with foreign owners on account of high wages paid, and more men required. connection to note that the wages of seamen constitute probably from 7 to 12 per cent of the cost of operation of a vessel, whereas in the building of a vessel in a shipyard from 40. to 50 per cent of the total cost is labor. We will more likely compete with foreign shipbuilders in the design and building of special vessels for a given service than in building what. are known as "tramps." If we are to have a maritime nation and a real Merchant Marine of our own it is necessary that we build up strong insurance and_ classification agencies in this country, as they both form vital parts of the merchant ma- rine, and also that we take advantage of our unquestioned prior rights to carry our own products to our own customers and bring back their goods to our own country in return. It is not my purpose to discuss the disposal of ships now owned by the United States shipping board. The ships will undoubtedly be used DWARD N. HURLEY, chair- E, man of the shipping board, holds optimistic views re- garding the future of the American merchant marine as evidenced in his speech at the Chicago foreign trade convention. "Ships are the controlling factor in the development of a foreign trade," Mr. Hurley said. "Before the war only 9.7 per cent of our total exports were carried in American bot- toms. It is our hope, if our program is completed, to have sufficient ships to move 50 per cent of the total com- merce in American bottoms." In speaking of the situation as he found it in Europe, Mr. Hurley said: "Here in America we- find some cloistered critics asserting we will never be able to compete with British shipping. Over in England you will hear English critics telling their gov- ernment that Great Britain will never be able to compete with us." At the recent convention of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States held in St. Louis, April 30, Chairman Hurley also expressed bright hopes for the future of the American merchant fleet. : "With the closing down of the tre- It is interesting in this. THE MARINE REVIEW whether they remain the property of the government or are sold to Ameri- can citizens. If this first fleet of mer- chant ships is to be kept in being, and and the trades in which they are en- gaged are to be kept up, it: will be necessary to build over 1,000,000 gross tons of merchant ships per annum in order to replace the inevitable depre- ciation through ordinary wear and tear, collisions, groundings, etc. Faces Serious Problem A serious factor which confronts those shipyards which for years have engaged in naval work, and which work at times furnished the greater part of their reasons for existence, is that the government has equipped dur- ing the war a large number of navy yards for building vessels and has built a few vessels. If the present policy of the government is continued it is likely that the navy department will build the greater part of its fu- ture vessels, even if they cost more than private builders would ask. American shipbuilding at the pres- ent dime is practically at the very Deak Of its productive capacity. Whereas in August, 1914, the seagoing merchant marine of the United States amounted to less than 2,000,000 gross tons, the total construction already Success for U. S. Ship; mendous energies which built up an American merchant marine in so short a time, the talk about war prices for ships has brought up very vividly two questions with reference to America's ability to maintain her place upon the seas. "One of these is that American shipyards cannot hope to build ships in competition with foreign yards; the other is that the high cost of operat- ing American ships so heavily handi- caps our merchant marine that after they are built they cannot compete wth ships under foreign registry. "The first question was answered the other day when the Submarine Boat Corp., Newark Bay, N. J an: nounced its readiness to contract for 12,000-ton steel ships at $149 per dead- weight ton. There are reports from abroad of prices quoted lower than w190 a) ton, bit: we can discover no contracts which have been: placed. "One of the pioneer shipbuilders in this country, Homer L. 'Ferguson, had advised us that on future orders which we may desire to place for 12,000 and 15,000-ton freight ships he will quote us a flat price lower than the $149 offer we received from the Sub- June, 1919 added in the United States during the war has amounted at the present time to about 3,000,000 gross tons. When all vessels under construction have been completed, the gross tonnage of merchant seagoing vessels for the. United States will amount to between 11,000,000 and 12,000,000 gross tons. The productive capacity of ship- yards in the United States has reached such a point that there is no possi- bility of that capacity being fully util- ized as they can produce ships at a rate equal to more than the world's requirements before the war. An American merchant marine can- not be permanently established and maintained without an American ship- building industry, and it seems prob- able that the American people intend to have their own merchant marine. Shipbuilding in the future will depend largely upon the kind of merchant marine policy we adopt, as ships can only be sold to those who desire to employ them in remunerative trade. If it is worth while for the United States to expend nearly $4,000,000,000 to build a merchant marine in time of © war, it is worth something to build one in time of peace and it is thought by competent observers that $100,000,- 000 spent before the war would have later saved $1,000,000,000. marine Boat Corp. and he has also agreed to cancel the cost plus, a fee contract which we have with him and give us a flat price per deadweight ton on these ships. "The question as to whether Amer- ican ships, after they are built, can be | operated in competition with other na- tions is a vital one, and the following information may be of interest. "Great Britain is paying her seamen $72 per month, which includes a. war bonus of 20 per cent and which, I am reliably informed, the British seamen will never relinquish. We are paying our seamen $75 a month, a flat scale without war bonus, and will continue to pay that wage. The French and Dutch are also paying high wages to their merchant crews. "Mr. Rosseter, former general man- ager of the Pacific Mail Steamship Co., and vice president of W. R: Grace & Co., wrote as follows in re- sponse to my request for his views on the question of ship opetation: et the outset"I wish 'to state with utmost emphasis and firm con- viction, that there are no insuperable obstacles to our success in competi~ tion with other nations.' "