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hy Stop at Scrapping 200? ping 200 ships. This is a good start on a policy steadily advocated by MARINE REviEw. But why stop at scrapping 200? Are all of the remaining 1000, good ships? Asked what effect scrapping of vessels would have in maintaining a sufficient reserve for na- tional defense and for commercial purposes, Chairman O’Connor said on May 19: “In April of last year a committee of experts representing the war department, navy depart- ment, department of commerce, together with rep- resentatives of the shipping board and the Emergency Fleet Corp., after a survey of the gov- ernment fleet, made to me the following report concerning this phase of the question, which cor- roborates my estimate of 400 vessels in operation; 400 in reserve, and 400 to be scrapped as useless: A Surplus of 521 Vessels Entire Fleet Active and spot Ships ........e 360 B. NOW bids have been received for scrap- Biivat TOSOVE © skesscisvvedivssesscsicnncoes 187 SECON TOCSCTVCE .csredescccccccsccccessseses 4112 SURPLUS. cvssccsscecassncsasenscosssencerenecnonsen 521 Aes eee h be si 3 Sale ORC ir rare aE Sn peers 1180 “Under the conditions out- lined above the following cargo vessels listed according to deadweight are in excess of the commercial needs and are not required in connection with the military services: Cargo Vessels Vessels 10,000 and above.......... 3 Vessels 9000 to 10,000................ VAT Vessels 8000 to 9000..........0+ 55 Vessels 7000 to 8000..........0+ 5 Under 7000 except “Lakers”... 129 Vessels known as “Lakers” ...... 802 Total 243 pases 20% ms ale iN HENRY WILL TRY ANYTHING ONCE —Smith in the Providence News “Under the assumed conditions this number of vessels represents a clear surplus which are not required for either the national or commercial needs of the country, which are expensive to maintain, which are continually deteriorating and which should, therefore, be disposed of as early as practicable under whatever general policy may be adopted.” Don't Leave the Job Half Done It has been the consistent: endeavor of this publication to point out the futility and colossal economic loss to continue government ownership and direct operation of a hurriedly designed, poorly constructed, and lopsided merchant fleet, built during the exigency of war for the sole pur- pose of providing bottoms of any kind that would float and move to take the place of ships lost. The present chairman of the shipping board has_ shown commendable energy and de- cision in initiating action to partly relieve this situation by making a start in scrap- ping the surplus useless ships. He should however, stick to his guns and insist on getting rid at once of the remain- ing 821 ships which his own statement quoted above de- clares are a clear surplus and which cannot be _ absorbed either by the national or com- mercial needs of the country. Public opinion is clearly unan- imous in this first step in solv- ing our shipping problem.