102 AMERICAN CLASSIFICATION OF AMERICAN VESSELS. 



lack of discussion, reference might be made to a point we are sometimes up against in deal- 

 ing with classification societies; not to any greater extent, however, with the American 

 Bureau of Shipping than with Lloyd's or any other society. 



In cases of special construction, not covered by the rule where the scantlings have to 

 be calculated, a much higher stress seems permissible for transversely framed vessels than 

 is allowed for vessels on the Isherwood longitudinal system of framing. Stresses of 10 tons 

 are common with transverse framing, whereas corresponding stresses for longitudinally 

 framed vessels are confined to the neighborhood of 5 or 6 tons. 



It has frequently been maintained that just as light vessels could be designed on the 

 transverse system as on the longitudinal system if the same process of calculating the scant- 

 lings throughout was used. This could only be accomplished by increasing the stresses on 

 the transverse system. If the same stresses were used in both cases, there would be a greater 

 difference in the weights. 



The President : — Is the present status of the American Bureau of Shipping such that 

 no one desires to make any comment whatever as to its excellencies or possible shortcom- 

 ings? There is a list of several names which have been handed to me. 



Commander Stevenson Taylor, Past President: — That remark of yours, Mr. Presi- 

 dent, calls me to my feet, although I had no intention to say anything on this particular sub- 

 ject, being so personally interested in it. I have been rather waiting for something of this 

 nature to be said. I recall being in Mr. Hurley's office some few years ago when he was 

 the head of the Shipping Board, and he asked me that question directly : Were we perfect ? 

 Naturally, I hesitated, and then he said, "You are not perfect?" I replied, "No, 

 not any more than your organization is." The American Bureau of Shipping only 

 wants to do the right thing, first in the matter of making the ship safe, and next to help 

 shipowners, shipbuilders and underwriters principally. I have taken many opportunities 

 in the last five years to repeat that statement, and we are always ready to receive 

 from anyone any hint or suggestion that will make the service better. There have been many 

 criticisms of the service. Well, on March 1, 1916, we had five surveyors in the service, and 

 one office; and a year ago we had 185 surveyors and about twenty-five offices — a very great 

 growth in a very short time, particularly at a time when the sort of men needed to carry out 

 the work of the American Bureau of Shipping was required in the many shipyards in this 

 country. We are not perfect; we are not immaculate; and it would be easy to find some 

 criticism, and I only urge on the friends of the American Merchant Marine the necessity of 

 taking these criticisms to the headquarters of the American Bureau of Shipping rather than 

 to go outside to talk about them. A day or two ago I had occasion to try to offset some criti- 

 cism by getting at the facts. I asked the gentleman who made the criticism if he had ever 

 called our attention to his complaint at all, the source of it, and the cause of it, and he said, 

 no, he had not. I said. "Do you not think you should have done so?" His reply was: 

 "Thinking about it, I believe I have been remiss, but I hated to butt into another man's 

 business." This is everybody's business ; it is no one man's business. 



As indicated in the paper, the American Bureau of Shipping is a corporation without 

 any capital stock, and every man who works for it earns his salary, and the total amount of 

 salaries has been very materially increased in the last five years. For the first month after 

 the reorganization of the bureau on March 1, 1916, the rate per annum for the payroll for 



