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Ne NAA 2 HE shipping problem has been dealt with by Lord Eustace Percy since his arrival in the United States with the British war commission. Shipping, he declared, dominates all trade and _ therefore it is at the root of all our troubles. He pointed out that at the end of March last the British tonnage was divided up into various services, and that approximately 22 per cent of it was at that time withdrawn for mili- tary service, 34 per cent was under requisition by the government to carry military supplies, 32 per cent under obligation to the allies of Eng- land in carrrying supplies and only about 22 per cent was free from requi- =| sition. Of the ships free from requi- sition the majority are passenger vessels. All the foreign trade be- tween British colonies and _ foreign ports must be included in the free tonnage, and at present there are only about 200 of these vessels used in this trade. The British empire alone could be made “very comfortable” with the British tonnage now available, but it is recognized that there are outside obligations on this tonnage. Lord Percy declared that approxi- mately 15 per cent of the British tonnage is in the direct service of the French nation, among which he counted about 200 British vessels now ‘carrying oats, wheat and steel from the United States to France. This direct service is supplemented by the indirect service in which the Brit- ish tonnage is being used for the account of. the allies. In view of the enormous number of ships which are being sunk, the situation becomes very grave. The balancing factor will be the tonnage which the United States can supply. England, he said, is at present standardizing the construction of mer- chant tonnage. She is fabricating and assembling the steel parts, and inas- much as they are standardized this makes speedy work possible. The American yards are probably not turning out ships as fast as are the British yards, although the detailed statistics on this point are being withheld by both the British and United States officials. Lord Percy said that both the British and Amer- ican yards must do_ considerable ee Interesting Sidelights on the World War Gathered During the Past Month and Condensed for the Busy Reader a Ue speeding up. Even then he doubted whether all the allies’ yards com- bined can turn out merchant ton- nage as fast as the German sub- marines are sinking ships. When the war is ended, he said, there will be an enormous shortage in the world’s tonnage. At present there is a race between the German sub- marines and the construction work on merchant tonnage in the yards of the allies. The French and Italian yards are doing the best they can, but their tonnage is looked upon as negligible. The ultimate salvation rests with American and British ship building. Japan is building some ships, but Japan is dependent largely upon the United States for her supply of steel. Lord Percy made it clear that- each ally controls its own national ton- nage under the pooling agreement entered into. by them. The British tonnage, being by far the largest, it is used to supplement the tonnage of the other allies. British ships are, therefore, licensed for each voyage and in this way their service is di- rected by the government. All the allies, however, are centralized in London and _ their - shipping needs pooled there. They have organized what is known as the _inter-allies’ chartering executive, which has the duty of chartering all neutral ship- ping available and. allots such ton- nage to each of the individual allies according to the urgency of their needs. RS ok The United States steamboat inspection service, in a circular letter dated April 18, 1917, addressed to inspectors of the service in districts affected by the seamen’s act, directed that, under in- structions from the President given to the secretary of commerce on April 17, 1917, they will not issue, until further advised, certificates of service as able seaman to persons who are enemy aliens. * *K * A bill has been introduced in con- gress to extend the powers of the government’s war risk insurance bu- reau. The bill has been referred to the house committee on _ interstate and foreign commerce and is unani- 210 AANA ec mously recommended by the advisory board of the bureau, consisting of Hendon Chubb, William N. Davey and William R. Hedge. It has also the active support of William C. De- lancy, director of the bureau. The bill in question provides for the re- ciprocal reinsurance of cargoes and merchantmen by the United States and the other allied powers. PS les Further survey of the seized Ger- man and Austrian ships shows that 71 will be ready for sea within five months. Only the discovery of con- cealed damages will delay the work beyond that time given. The smaller vessels will be ready for sea in less than four months. Only the great liners like VATERLAND and AMERIKA will require more time. The steamers CLARA MeENNIG and PorrTonta have al- ready been commissioned, the former to the Italian and the latter to the French government for one voyage. ee Sate oe Plans to withdraw gradually from the coastwise and West Indies trade such steam vessels as are suitable for the trans-atlantic trade are now being perfected by the United States shipping board. The sub-committee of the council of national defense on shipping has submitted to the board a list of those vessels now in the coastwise and West Indies trade which are willing to go into the Atlantic business. The board has determined to make a survey of the _ business which is now dependent upon these vessels before permitting them to be diverted. A means of taking care of the coastwise and West Indies business interests by substituting sail- ing vessels has been under discussion, it is understood. There are.a number — of sailing vessels now in the Atlantic trade which might more economically be placed in the coastwise trade, be- cause sailing vessels have little means of defense against submarines. Sa ee The shipping question has been reg- ulated largely by Great Britain for the allied governments, because the greater part of the tonnage of the — world is transported in British bot- — toms. It is understood at Washing- ton that the United States shall go