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< re cain Kirst American Ship Builders Turning Out More Ships Than Those y of Any Other Nation—Our Ocean Tonnage Gaining Rapidly HE LATENT ability of the American business a2 men to surmount difficulties is generally recog- nized. In the early days of the republic Amer- ican ship yards hoisted this country to practically the top rank of maritime nations by building better and speedier ships than the yards of any other nation. Since the decadence of our merchant marine, subse- quent to the civil war, this. business ability has been diverted largely to the railroad, iron and steel, coal, lumber and other industries. Official reports made public within the last few days'seem to indicate that the pendulum is swinging back, and that America’s business-developing ability is once more boosting our merchant marine to its proper rank. | The bureau of navigation of the department of com- merce in one of several encouraging reports, states that American yards for the first time in half a cen- tury are building more ships than those of any other nation and furthermore that the 1916 output of new ships in America may exceed the combined production of the rest of the world. Also we learn that American tonnage in the foreign trade increased more than 300 per cent, comparing 1916 with 1914. In value of exports carried in the 11 months ending in May, 1916, American ships regis- tered a gain of 65 per cent over the corresponding period of the preceding year. The following article groups in convenient form the reports recently issued by the bureau and reveals with exhaustive clarity the story of how private capital has rallied to the war emergency. At present the United States for the Germany and Austria are concerned, and was above the recent average first time in over half a century is as those countries have issued no ship- annual output. not only building more merchant ‘ping reports since the outbreak of the shipping than any other country, but war. The belligerent powers, which in Table I gives the gross tonnage 1913 launched 2,798,580 gross tons of the American output for the year of merchant vessels of 100 gross tons merchant ships, launched only 769,875 1916 will probably gross tons in 1915. exceed that of all ene ee ae the rest of ‘the world. The most complete records 1912. ’ : Where built. No. Tons. of the world’s ship United Kingdom ..... 712° 1,738,514 building, uniform British Colonies ...... 84 34,790 ad f Austria-Hungary ..... 12 38,821 for a period ,.Of ; | = Denmark ...c....0+++: og. 26003 are those ge PranCe a he csene ee cles 80 110,734 eu 3 : 1 Gee 165 375,317 published «by CE OSI Oy. 25.106 l ’ ister © JADAN Ga ais ois Mestonaiens 168 9 ¢ 575755 To Metnesiocds 112 | 99,439 showing merchant pe ES eR aN e 89 50,255 Bede! cane cians sary sae 22 * 13,968 vessels over 100 What Seas gross tons launched akat ie ih oe 144. 194,273 _ Table I. Vessels Launched in the World 1912-1915 The neutral pow- ers, outside of the United States, in 1913 launched 257,- 844 gross tons, and 1913. 1914. 1915. Tons. No. Tons. No. Tons. 1,932,153 656 1,683,553. 327 650,919 8 48,339 0 47,534 31 22,014 in 1915 launched 61,757 11 134,335 2 2 254 303 40,932 25 32,815 23 45,198 , gross tons. 176,095 33 114,052 6 25,402 Local 465,226 89 1387,192 2 2 cal causes led to a further reduction in the American output from 276,448 tons in 1913 to 177,460 tons in 1915, 50,356 47 42,981 30 22,132 64,664 32 85,861 26 49,408 104,296 130 118,153 120 113,075 50,637 61 54,204 59 62,070 18,524 26 19,163: 427 20,319 228,232 84 1629374 76 157,167 Great Lakes ........ 30 —- 89,950 48,216 10 37,825 8. aia : each calendar year, Oth. countries ........ 52 46,654 43,455 35 136,148 10 113,641 The total decline not including ves- pigs, OF Ra A oar eter 1,719 2,901,769 1,750 3,332,882 1,319 42,852,753 743 11,201,638 in the world’s ship sels built for rivers, barges, and other unrigged craft. For 1Returns not complete. 2Returns not available. building for 1914 and. .;1915,- ‘both compared with 1913, this reason Lloyds figures are somewhat less than the government returns for the United States, the Netherlands, Ger- many, and other countries, with consid- erable river and canal navigation. Lloyds returns for the calendar years 1912, 1913, 1914 and 1915, as shown ‘in Table I, are the best measure of the effect of the European war on merchant ship build- ing, although changes in the case of the United States are not attributable to that cause. The world’s output of merchant shipping during the calendar year 1913 was the largest recorded, and under normal conditions prob- ably would not have been fully main- tained for two or three years follow- ing: The returns below for 1914 closed with the end of July so far as or over launched in the world during the calendar years 1912 to 1915, in- clusive. Effect of War on Ship Building The first five months of the war did not seriously affect the world’s launch- ing of merchant ships, outside of Bel- gium, France and Germany, although deliveries late in 1914 began to be slow in British yards. In 1914 the United States launched only 200,762 gross tons, compared with 276,448 gross tons in 1913, but the decrease was not a result of the war. The world’s total in 1914, even with the Central Powers excluded for five months, was only 480,000 tons less than the world’s maximum in 1913, 322 was 1,438 ships of 2,611,373 gross tons. To these totals should now be added the decreased output in ship yards for the first six months of 1916, which the bureau of navigation states would bring the total since the outbreak of the war in August, 1914, up to 3,500, - 000 gross tons, notwithstanding the present activity of American, Jap- anesé and Dutch yards. The loss to international commerce through the decline in ship building thus has been greater than the loss through the actual destruction of shipping, although the latter has fixed the world’s attention because of the sub- marine attacks on Passenger steam- ships, Reports recently compiled show that 1,346 ships of 2,713,996 gross 1