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June, 1921 the business his plan must include more than mere operation, however efficient and however supervised. Ships, like men, are mortal, and have their little day, at the end of which they go to Davy Jones' locker,. or the scrap heap. Therefore, the owner who is in the business to stay must include in his scheme a definite plan of re- placement. This will be especially necessary in the case of the shipping board fleet, since so many of the vessels, being hastily built under pressure of emer- gency, are already unseaworthy.. Many more, perhaps it would not be too much to say most of them, will pass out of the profitable class within six or seven years of their launching. Furthermore, many of these ships have MARINE REVIEW and greater economy. In the course of five years any ship will be put at a disadvantage by younger and more economical competitors. For this reason, the matter of replacement must be as keenly watched as the matter of operation, if the business is to sur- vive. This question belongs to the owner. He must place it in the hands of experts who are constantly in touch with the results of that experimentation in ship construction, equipment and propulsion, which is always in progress here and abroad. This suggests that the engineering department be appointed and organ- ized with this duty in view. Its im- portance can hardly be over-rated. It is almost certain that; ten. years from now, few of our present fleet 255 other types may virtually supplant the marine steam engine at no dis- tant date. The change will at first be slow, but, if present indications prove reliable, fundamental changes in ship propelling equipment will be sure. Obviously if the policy announced by President Harding is to be carried out, an effective replacement program will be a vital factor in the result. And such a program cannot be form- ulated too soon. . Separation of Board's Work When the government board, as su- pervising agent for owners, has select- ed those ships which are. competent, has so organized as to exact from its operating agents diligence, competence and honesty, there will remain, as an Refit Big American Passenger Liner for Atlantic Service HUGE REPAIR JOB The steamship GEORGE WASHINGTON, 27,000 tons, is being reconditioned at the Hoboken, N. J., yard of the Todd Shipyards Corp. for the United States Mail line at a cost of more than $1,000,000. Upon completion, little of the old ship is to be left except hull, engines and some mechanical devices. Refitted, the ship is to possess the attractive features of the best known vessels in the Atlantic service and will provide stateroom accom- modations for 8003 passengers. A motion picture theater, a day and night cafeteria and a tourist bureau are among the features being added. The theater is to have a capacity of 300 persons. The ship is to be colonial in its furnishings and decorations. received bad treatment. Any ship, es- pecially if her original construction was faulty, can be ruined by overload- ing, by lack of experienced care, or by straining her in an attempt to achieve a speed for which she was never intended. Some of our ships have been so strained that they will never again be worth running. A badly Strained ship is like a foundered horse: you may doctor her but the damage Can never be cured. It will appear and reappear in her rising expense bills year by year. Especially will she suffer heavily under stress of weather. Keeping Ships Efficient Again, every ship as soon as she is launched, begins to become obsolete; improved ships will follow at her heels. For in this, as in other things, effort is always toward the production of types which will show higher efficiency will be workable, and those that re- main will be in competition with new- er rivals which can show a profit at rates which older ships cannot meet. The shipping world is already turn- ing with some confidence to the motorship, propelled by internal com- bustion engines. It is claimed by the advocates of this type that it can ac- complish equal results to reciprocat- ing or turbine steam engines on one third the quantity of fuel. It may also be said that such claims have been measurably demonstrated. Not only would such advantage be decisive, oth- er things being even, considering only the saving of fuel cost, but the ship's earning power would be increased by releasing space and lifting capacity for cargo and by greatly increasing her steaming radius. The "electric-drive" also promises well; and it is possible that these or aftermath of war, a mass of wreckage that must be cleared away. The dis- posal of the rejected ships; the set- tlement of outstanding accounts; the adjustment of disputes and suits; real- izing on property, essential to war con- ditions but useless in peace, and simi- lar problems will still require solu- tion. It is argued with some force that these burdens should not be added to the exacting duties of a board charged with responsibility for the active fleet. 'The weight of intelligent opinion seems to favor committing these matters to a special board charged only with their final disposition. To use a com- mercial phrase, this plan is to "cut the account',--and, when the operating fleet has been selected, to restrict the functions of the new board to the current situation and development of the future; assigning to a separate