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UNOMLTUNAATUNI WAATLT L i IUONUNTILUTTUUTAEUTUU TUT TT I i AA [ HTM CLEVELAND MARCH, 1917 NEW YORK No. 3 American Ship Yards Are Turning Out Vessels in Record-Break- ing Volume But Sales to Foreigners Offset Most of the Gain ship building in American yards have led to a false conception by many persons of the real condition of the American merchant marine. Fortunately, the general indifference of a few years ago toward anything relating to a merchant marine has been replaced by a more active interest in this great question, but it is essential that this interest be nourished properly and not overfed. As good Americans, we are accustomed to think of our country in superlatives. Consequently the general public probably feels little surprise, when ‘it hears at monthly intervals that American ship build- ers are leading the world. Such a condition is merely what we have learned to expect, as in most lines of industrial activity we talk easily of “leading the world” and in many cases we are telling the truth. However, a few years ago we shut our eyes to the condition of our ship building industry and talked of something more pleasant. Now that these same ship yards have been revivified by a trans- fusion of some of Europe’s golden life blood, we fall naturally into the habit of thinking of them as leading the world and, as a careless corollary, of our merchant marine as a problem that was troublesome for a time, but which has been solved. Where Are the Ships Going? Without discounting the work being done in Amer- ican ship yards, it should be beneficial for Americans to learn just what is happening to the ships that are being built, and whether or not our merchant marine is measuring up to the expectations of 30 months ago. The vessels built in American ship yards in the year ending June 30, 1916, aggregated 325,413 gross tons. This exceeded 1915 by 100,000 gross tons and also surpassed 1914, 1912, 1911 and 1909, but was smaller than any other year since 1898. It barely exceeded 1848 and was less than in 1852, 1853, 1854, 1855, 1856 and 1857. Yet the total increase in American merchant ship- ping during the year was only 80,220 gross tons, while Wi stio circulated reports about the boom in 85 in 1915 the increase was 460,741 gross tons. The 1916 increase was the smallest of any year since 1898 with the exceptions of 1909, 1912 and 1914, despite the fact that the world was crying for more and more ships, that opportunities for profit were never greater, and that months before, a hope that America was again to have a merchant marine worthy of her had begun to spring up. : The gain in tonnage during 1916 included, in addi- tion to the ships built, 83,480 gross tons transferred from foreign flags to the American; 2,726 gross tons sold to private owners by the government, and 492,999 gross tons which is listed by the bureau of navigation under “other sources”, a total increase of 904,618 gross tons. While this is the greatest gain of any year on record, it is only 326 tons ahead of 1915. The decreases during the year included 136,293 gross tons lost; 56,811 gross tons abandoned; 102,479 gross tons sold to aliens; 24,433 gross tons sold to the government; 20,027 gross tons exempt under the act of April 18, 1874, and 484,355 gross tons listed under “other causes”, a total decline of 824,398 gross tons. With the exception of 1876, this was the greatest decrease in any year in our history. What Influences Growth or Decline? As the bureau of navigation points out, the growth of our merchant marine is the net result of the influence of four principal factors: The building of American ships at home; the transfer of ships from foreign to American registry; the loss or abandon- ment of ships, and the transfer of American ships to foreign registers and flags. We find in studying these principal factors that the tonnage built in 1916 increased about 100,000 gross tons over 1915, while the tonnage lost decreased 18,000 gross tons, a net increase of 118,000 gross tons; that the tonnage transferred to the American flag decreased about 440,000 gross tons, while the tonnage transferred from the American flag increased about 84,000 gross tons, a net decrease of 524,000 gross tons. Thus the net loss, considering these four factors only, was about 406,000 gross tons.