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MITTAL ULV NM | R IIIT LAUT HMA LTT ( h ’ HATA VOL. 47 CLEVELAND JANUARY, 1917 NEW YORK No. 1 While the United States Has Talked the Norwegians Have Been Busy—So Once More We Ask, S THE American merchant marine really growing? | This question is not as foolish as it sounds. We are all familiar with the customary newspaper story about the tremendous boom in shipping accom- panied by unparalleled ship yard activities, and soothed by the externally graceful picture thus laid before our eyes, we have gone about our business complacently assured that the stars and stripes are rapidly regaining their lost prestige on the highways of commerce. But let’s tilt the lid a little. “Steel merchant vessels building or under contract in private American ship yards on. Nov. 1, 1916,” according to builders’ returns to the bureau of naviga- tion, department of commerce, “numbered 417 of 1,479,946 gross tons, an increase of 25,676 tons over returns. for Oct. 1.” “Fine,” says our complacent citizen. But wait— about half of this splendid fleet of ships is listed as “For Foreign Account”, mostly Norwegian. In other words, instead of there being 1,500,000 tons of new American ships under contract, there are only about 750,000 tons; instead of over 400 ships, only about 200. The complacent citizen is beginning to sit up and take notice. Perhaps the explosion of a few more mines will jar him into sensibility. The Ubiquitous Norwegian Since the war started, a goodly fleet of American vessels have been sold to foreign owners, mostly to the ubiquitous Norwegians. In all of these cases old glory has been furled for keeps and stowed away in the flag locker, while a new strip of bunting floats at the masthead. This situation is summed up succinctly by an eminent authority in the following words, “Of late our flag has probably been losing tonnage, or at most barely coming out even.” For in addition to sales, our merchant marine is depleted through the . natural ravages of the elements and the unnatural - reactions of the torpedo. Our losses from the latter cause, although slight, are not inconsiderable. It is the same old story. We are not yet awake. While we have been talking about upbuilding our merchant marine our Scandinavian friends have been ‘‘Are We Really ‘Up to Snuff’?” out grabbing the tonnage right out of our own harbors and in our own ship yards. While we dwaddled and debated over whether the government should spend $50,000,000 for a dinky fleet of 50 ships, the hardy Norsemen spent $150,000,000 right here in our own market and apparently they are only about half through. Norway’s merchant marine is a fact. Ours, comparatively speaking, is still a hope. Now, why is this? The biggest reason—the one that sticks up like a sore thumb—lies in the fact that in Norway private enterprise is encouraged to go into the shipping business, while over here the government tries to hog the whole game and any private citizen who risks a dollar in the business is a grafter and an enemy of the republic. That, in brief, is the whole | story. Where Everybody is Interested Contrast the two policies. In Norway nearly every- body has a direct interest in ships. It may be nothing more than an undivided one sixty-fourth in a floating coal scuttle or one share in the Hardanger Fjord Soforsikringsselskab, but the connection is vital and tangible. But in our own United States, as a result of constant government meddling, our people; as a whole, are ignorant of or indifferent to shipping ventures. And right here we put our finger on another vital weakness. We will never have a strong merchant marine _ until investments in shipping securities become popular. Even if governmental restrictions were removed, the people and the banks would have to be educated. The average American banker classes shipping securi- ties with Bolivian rubber shares—beyond the pale of financial respectability. ‘Fortunately there is a leaven of better sense along the Great Lakes and from this center we hope en- lightenment may spread. Bankers in Cleveland, © Detroit, Buffalo and other lake centers aren’t fright- ened when asked to negotiate an issue of steamship bonds. As a result of conservative financing of local issues, shipping securities are held in high esteem along the lakes. May they soon be so everywhere.