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Build New Cargo Vessels to Relieve Unemployment N EMINENT publicist recently A proadeast his idea of relief for the unemployment situa- tion in this country. This was given a great deal of space in the daily press on the following morning. Briefly, his scheme was for the Goy- ernment to issue five billion dollars worth of bonds, the money to be used in. erecting public buildings, digging canals and making new high- ways. While ‘he principle of this may be fairly sound, his scheme would hardly be found satisfactory, even if congress should take the matter seriously. The federal gov- ernment has already made large ap- propriations for public buildings and there are at present new roads build- ing and contemplated for the cur- rent year amounting to one and one- half billion dollars, to be financed by the federal and state Govern- ments jointly. In the State of Loui- siana alone, authority has_ been granted to build 3,200 miles of new roads. While no one can decry the great usefulness of the fine highway system which we now have and hope to better, there are other more urg- ent needs for the expenditure of pub- lic money which will be of the great- est assistance to the industries of this country. Notably among these is the urgent need for a number of car- go vessels and, after all, ships on the ocean are but an extension of roads on the land. The vast fleet built for the ship- ping board during and after the war has now practically disappeared, as only 200 idle and practically obsolete vessels of over 2,600 built during that program remain in the hands of the government. The best of the fleet has been used in establishing steamship lines to various ports in the world, the majority of which are now in private hands. While the Jones-White bill has made a splen- did start in providing modern and efficient ships of the combined pas- senger and freight types, nothing has been done thus far towards re- placing our antiquated cargo ships with fast modern freighters, which after all must always form an inte- gral part of a successful merchant marine. The problem has received the attention of shipping men and of the maritime branches of the goy- ernment but no real solution has yet been reached, although agreements have been arrived at as to the type This statement by Capt C. A. Mc- Allister, president of the American Bu- reau of Shipping, is quoted in full from the July-August Bulletin of the Amer- ican Bureau of Shipping. 54 desired, and preliminary plans drawn up to meet the general requirements. In the interests of the farmer and the manufacturer, there must be pro- vided in a very short time a consid- erable fleet of these modern freight- ers to meet the demands of our for- eign trade. There are certain seasonal movements of commodities which must be provided for, notably grain, cotton, fruits and sugar. If such a fleet is not soon built in the United States, we will once more be depend- ent on foreign carriers to help us out of the urgent conditions which arise periodically. In the highly competitive grain trade of the world, we cannot afford to rely on foreign ships to market our surplus wheat and other grains. There is no branch of industry which has so many ramifications as the building of ships. It helps the miner, the steel mill employees, the farmers and the manufacturers of almost an infinite number of the va- rious items which enter into the con- struction of a ship. The benefits to be derived by our workmen, skilled and otherwise, would be widespread, covering practically every state in the union. Eastern Yards Fairly Busy The eastern shipyards are fairly well provided with work at the pres- ent time but all the yards on the Pacific Coast which played so impor- tant a part in the construction of the wartime fleet are now idle and hun- dreds of the skilled workmen which they once employed are out of work. Owing to geographical conditions, it is impossible to build any large ships on the Great Lakes at the present time but the same conditions of un- employment obtains in the great ship- yards in that region. While it would be impracticable to build ships, then cut them in two and transfer them to the seaboard, these yards could be given employment in building ma- chinery and other essential parts of freight vessels. On the return of prosperity, which we all agree must before long take place, there will be a pressing de- mand for a number of up-to-date cargo vessels. It would seem, there- fore, a matter of good business at the present time for the government to authorize the construction of 100 modern cargo ships at a cost of $125,000,000. They could be built now for much less cost than when prosperous conditions return and would furnish occupations for thous- ands of the unemployed during this MARINE REVIEw—August, 1931 present state of depression. The goy- — ernment would not stand to lose any money eventually on an investment of this kind, as there would be q ready market for such freighters when prosperous conditions return, either by sale or bare-boat charter, to shipping firms. Incidentally, they would furnish a much needed addition to the means for national defense. While eon- gress and a large portion of the pub- lic evidently look upon large expen- ditures for purely fighting ships at this time as an uneconomic proce- dure, no such eriticism could be made of a fleet of merchant vessels such as suggested herein, as the ultimate cost to the taxpayer would be prac- tically nil. The benefits to be de- rived on the other hand would be far-reaching, not alone in tending to give employment where now greatly needed but for the ultimate economic needs of the entire country. If we can spend vast amounts for emergent conditions during wartime, we should have no qualms about making appropriations of this kind for the emergent conditions of peace. Record Time Made in Great Lakes to Seaboard Haul Prompted by the success of its test shipment by water from Sheboygan, Wis., to the Atlantic seaboard, the Kohler Co., Kohler, Wis, on June 24 sent its second shipment of Kohler products, about 20 carloads of enamel- ed and vitreous china plumbing fix- tures and plumbers’ brass and wood- work, over this route to New York. The cargo was carried in steel mo- torship BucKEYE STATE, which navi- gated the tortuous 1,250-mile journey through the Great Lakes, the New York barge canal and the Hudson river in the record time of -7 days § hours. Motor trucks hauled the products from the factories in Kohler village to the dock in Sheboygan and from the dock in Long Island City to the Kohler company’s Long Island City warehouse. Loading and unloading of the boat were by large cranes. One of the earliest shippers in the Middle West to take advantage of the new Welland canal, the Kohler company May 4 sent a test shipment to the eastern coast to prove the commer- cial value of all-water transporta- tion from Wisconsin. Like its sister ship, the EMPIRE STATE, the BucKEYE STATE is one of the largest boats afloat capable of navigating the barge canals. An in- teresting feature in the construction of both ships is the fact that the pilot house can be lowered, the two masts. telescoped and the two stacks tilted to provide clearance for low bridges. on the New York barge canal.