390 ADDRESS OF HON. WILLIAM C. REDFIELD. 



the dock. Is there not some hope that the same thought which has made 

 the American railroad so efficient and has made the American lake steamer 

 so efficient and the American factory so efficient might devise an American 

 steamship that would also be efficient? And if to such a specialized steamer 

 you can add specialized loading apparatus that would measurably approach 

 the results upon our Great Lakes, would not the vessels that had these advan- 

 tages come pretty near to-day to meeting the competition of Europe? The 

 Lakes have worked their problem out despite the fact that their vessels are 

 laid up for months each year while some of their salaries go on and inter- 

 est charges continue. The ship designed for cotton or tea or sugar or coffee 

 might find an all-year-round use in some port or another. 



I have some familiarity with steam engineering, and am a builder of 

 engines largely used as auxiliaries on ships. This makes me aware of the 

 importance of study to the engineering problems involved in the motive 

 power of a vessel. There is much that can be done and doubtless will in the 

 near future be done to reduce the proportion of labor cost in running a ship, 

 through the use of oil fuel on steam boilers or of internal-combustion 

 engines of one kind or another. This path seems now clearly marked out, 

 and yet, though with some diffidence, I venture the suggestion that this 

 leaves out of account two elements of larger importance. We have concen- 

 trated our attention and thought upon the cost of running the ship between 

 ports, and I fear too little upon the cost of detaining her in ports. 



The making of handling machinery, conveyors, and the like is a well- 

 developed industry in which America takes a leading place. Why not aim, 

 with its aid, to cutting down the stops between operations, or, in other 

 words, the time it takes to unload and load a ship? If this requires the 

 adaptation of special forms of conveying machinery, there are those among 

 us ready to do the work. I believe there are those to whom it would be no 

 impossible problem to make carriers of one form or another that would take 

 package freight directly from cars and deUver it at different places within 

 a ship's hull according to its size, shape, weight, or other factors. Possibly 

 we shall have to devise a form of freight car which is not restricted for its dis- 

 charge to two small central doors. Possibly we shall have to modify the 

 ship in the details which prevent a flush lever run from dock to deck. Pos- 

 sibly the whole design of the ship's hull must be modified in respect to its 



