136 EFFICIENCY IN THE OPERATION OF STEAMSHIPS. 
body else, and I have never been able to come within 20 tons of a just delivery of the 
fuel—that is, my calculation did not agree with the calculation of those who sold the coal 
within 20 tons. 
The cost of operation of an American ship and the cost of operation of a foreign ship 
over the identical run are practically the same. We will take a ship, say that runs from New 
York to Liverpool, and one under the British flag and one under the American flag, and the 
only difference in the cost of operation is on the ship itself{—stevedoring and labor charges 
about the same, port charges a little different, and the loading and unloading of the cargo 
about the same, and fuel is the same; the only difference is on the ship, and that is where you 
must study the possibilities for making improvements. I have maintained for years that these 
great organizations are wonderful successes who pay men for their brains and ability and 
require them to work. I do not wish to say anything that would reflect in any way on the 
character of the men whom we employ on shipboard, but we must pay sufficient to get the 
proper type of brains to operate these ships, so that we may get the results, and we 
must go to it. 
I do not think the time will ever come when you can build a ship in America as cheaply 
as you can build it abroad. That is because the American workmen receives more money, 
and his work is better than in many other places. 
It may be of interest to you gentlemen, who think it is a simple matter to compare costs 
of operation, for me to say that I took a cargo of 200 tons of grain to Hamburg, and the 
American longshoremen got 80 cents an hour, and the German longshoremen got 450 marks 
per hour, and over here the rate of exchange for the mark was 3,000 marks to the dollar. 
A doctor came on board my ship and said “Captain, can you give me a little some- 
thing to eat? I get 15,000 marks a month, and I have a wife and three daughters.” That 
is one reason why we cannot compete with such conditions. 
Tue PresiDENT :—Gentlemen, I am sure you have been interested in hearing the paper 
which has been presented to us by Captain Sullivan, and the most interesting discussion which 
has followed it, and on behalf of the Society, I extend the thanks of the Society to Captain 
Sullivan for his valuable paper. 
The next business will be paper No. 8, “A 1,650 Horse-power Gasoline Fire Boat,” which 
will be presented by Mr. Arthur D. Stevens, a member of the Society, who comes from Jack- 
sonville, Florida. 
Mr. Stevens then abstracted his paper. 
