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ae Leaders at Washington Outline Views on Future Legislation Needed 8. S| : to Promote American Merchant Marine — Definite Plans Lacking MERICA is offered her choice. Aa real, worth-while American merchant marine! A fleet of ships under the American flag plying the waters of the world. Restoration of the proud title of mistress of the sea, when the Yankee clipper was known in every port. A return, with a 25 per cent improvement, of the days before the civil war, when 80 per cent of our foreign commerce was carried in American bottoms, Or— A beggar of ships, with our com- merce paralyzed, “a fettered and em- bargoed trafficker;’ a changing of the word mistress to vassal. A return of the days prior to the world war when less than 10 per cent of American commerce was carried in American bot- toms, the American flag almost a curi- osity when seen in some foreign ports, and a sight unknown in many others. Draw a diagram showing the order in which different nations have held the supremacy of the seas and the curve will at one point. strike the there. It goes further—which causes humiliation. Before the days of Solomon, we are told, the merchants of Tyre were operating ships and ex- tending their trade to the then known regions. Their supremacy on _ the seas passed, after supporting dynas- ties and building cities by the use of ships, to Greece; then to Italy; then to Portugal; then to Spain; then to Holland; then to England; and then to the United States; but again to England. The past is gone and its recall has only the merit of a spur toga better future. There is little need to re- cite how this republic, with its genius, unexampled resources, its superior advantages possessed by reason of its vast raw materials and its in- dustrial and financial wealth, was forced to turn to other countries to get ships to carry ‘its soldiers and munitions and food ‘to France. PROMPT affirmative is given by every American when asked: By L. W. Moffett Washington Editor, The Marine Review nation, or are we to stand idly by and let other countries outstrip us, despite our many advantages? Every American worth the name says we must build our own merchant marine, a good nucleus for which now has been started. Ask any member of congress and he will agree to that proposition. But how? Politics in the past has made a football of the merchant marine. Probably no subject has been more heatedly and _ frequently discussed during the past 50 years in the halls of congress than that of the Amer- ican merchant marine. Circumstances of war forced the country to its present position where now it has a chance, which ignored might never return, to create its own merchant marine. The way to build up a merchant Marine, to a practical mind, is to build it. But congress, which must shoulder so much of the responsi- bility has no- Sere ideas on the subject. United States, But unfortunately it does not end_ that and cause just pride. W* must now turn our thoughts to economy and efficiency tn pro- duction, more particularly so im _ our business of shipbuilders, to enable us in the years to come successfully to com- pete with the shipyards of Great Britain, Norway and Japan. Within a space of 18 months we have become the world’s greatest shipbuilding nation and the com- pletion of the government's present ship- building ‘program will find us also the greatest ship owning nation. The ship owner of America cannot hope successfully to compete with the European ship owner if the first cost of his American-built ship is appreciably greater than that of a similar sip built in Europe, so it behooves us as ship- builders to formulate some means Dy which we can compete on equal terms with our shipbuilding rivals abroad. At the present time, shipbuilders in Great Britain are signing contracts to build vessels for less than $150 per ton dead- weight, whereas similar ships cannot be _ Accomplish to Are we to have a merchant marine is worthy of our place as What American Shipyards and Shipyard Workers Must Vorld Competition leet BY EDWIN C. BENNETT Vice President and General Manager, Newburgh Shipyards, Inc. a serve that the question of creating built in America for less than $200 per ton deadweight. American shipbuilders will have to come down to a competitive basis with the yards of Great Britain. This can only be accomplished by one of three ways: First, to reduce the rates of labor comparatively to those of Great Britain; second, to increase the output and efficiency of every man in the ship- yard; third, to receive a subsidy from the government. The most acceptable solution of the problem of competition is by the in- crease of output and efficiency of the men working im the shipyards. What we must accomplish in order to offset the cheaper cost of building ships in Europe is to so increase our output of work per man that the greater amount of work turned out at our present high wages is at least equal to. if not better than the lesser amount of work at smaller wages turned out by the workmen in European yards. Nevertheless, it is comforting to ob-