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eM nnn in| yl im Hi | ( oy a oa nT hy 7 il b 7 Q CATT } fl NAG | | Xo | HTM TTT | ' -- W WUE | HATA : VOL. 49 CLEVELAND SEPTEMBER, 1919 NEW YORK No, & Still More Ships Needed be 0 ame Traffic Conditions in Every Port Show Merchant Marine Inadequate-- But Should New Ships be Built By Government?--Board Must Decide NEW shipping board is functioning at Wash- ington. Only one member of the original Denman administration and also, to all prac- tical purposes, only one member of the Hurley regime remains. The majority of the board, includ- ing the chairman, is entirely new. New men mean new policies and in some directions at least, new polices are needed. The essential task of the Hurley organization, namely to build up a huge shipbuilding machine to meet a tremendous war emergency, was on the whole ably performed. But since the signing of the armistice, great changes have taken place in the maritime world and the shipping board seems to still be groping 1n the dark with respect to many phases of the new situation. The new shipping board, therefore, as- sumes the reins of power at a critical moment. The future of the. American merchant marine lies in its hands. Many problems must be solved. The American merchant fleet now totals over 13,000,000. gross tons. This being the condition, it is perti- nent at the outset to inquire if it is necessary for the government to continue to build ships until over 800 more are completed, as announced in our August issue. Among other major problems also up for consideration, are the questions of selling our tonnage to foreigners, the ultimate disposition of the uncompleted wooden ships, the enlargement of dry dock facilties, and the construction by the government of huge liners described elsewhere in this issue. Getting Down to Bed Rock There is some comfort in the statement' of one of the new members of the shipping board that the policy of the reorganized board will not be framed but will evolve and that it will be con- structive, conservative and deliberate. As this member aptly points out, activities can no longer be carried on with the hurrah which the war Spirit permitted; on the contrary, the' work must be done quietly, thoughtfully and 'earfiestly. Insofar as the question of continuing new con- struction is concerned, the point at issue is whether the government or private- parties should do the work. Nearly everyone is agreed that our mer- | chant fleet will be none too large even when com- pleted in accordance with the shipping board's program. Even with practically the entire world's catrying capacity now turned to peaceful pursuits, the demand for cargo space shows no signs. of abat- ing, As our charter market report on the follow- ing pages points out, foreign trade continues to expand, despite the dire forecasts of international bankers. Charter rates are strong and their con- tinued enharicenrent is indicative of the enormous demand for tonnage throughout thé world. Even if there were as many ships afloat as there were in 1914, the shortage under the chariged conditions of commerce would be. serious. In addition, it should not be forgotten that 2774 vessels, aggregat- ing 9,538,000 tons, were destroyed in the war. World Still Cejing for Slits The saturation point of ship construction is still far in the future. The world is still erying, for ships, although as pointed. out in these columns last month, this country is almost universally commit- ted to the plan of getting the government out of industry as quickly as possible. Serious doubts, therefore, may be cast on the plan for continuing to build ships on. a large scale with government money. This fact must be squarely faced by the reorganized shipping .board.. At the same time, the need for the new liners, the construction of which has been recently an- nounced in, Washington, is perhaps even more keen than that for cargo tonnage. The. loss of passenger vessels during. the war was particularly severe and the existing lack of facilities cannot. long be toler- ated.. Although less. important from a revenue standpoint, adequate transoceanic passenger facilties are just. as important in building up,foreign trade as a fleet of cargo carriers.. 407