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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



powers have made good two-thirds of 

 that shrinkage (14,000,000 deadweight 

 tons) by the construction of new ships, 

 and have further added to their merchant- 

 fleet assets by taking over 3,795,000 dead- 

 weight tons of enemy shipping, either 

 captured on the high seas or seized in 

 Entente and American ports. Thus, de- 

 ducting the new shipping and the seized 

 tonnage, the commercial world, exclusive 

 of Germany and Austria, has suffered a 

 net shrinkage of a little less than 3,500,- 

 000 tons in four years, due to the "spur- 

 los versenkt" creed of ruthless Prussian- 

 ism. 



Three and a half million tons does not 

 represent the full economic loss to allied 

 and neutral commerce, however, for had 

 the world remained at peace and ship- 

 building continued as during the years 

 immediately preceding the war, there 

 would have been an increase of more than 

 14,500,000 tons instead of a net loss. 



THE shipping board's program 



In order to erase that "overdraft" of 

 3,500,000 tons of shipping and establish a 

 credit balance on the ledger of sea-going 

 vessels, the United States has launched 

 upon the most extensive and most am- 

 bitious building enterprise ever conceived 

 by a maritime nation. The complete pro- 

 gram of the United States Shipping 

 Board on September r, 191 8, provided for 

 2,249 contract ships of wood and steel, 

 having a deadweight tonnage of 13,212,- 

 712; 32 concrete ships of 301,500 dead- 

 weight tons ; 402 requisitioned ships of 

 2,790,000 tons, making a total of 2,693 

 sea-going vessels aggregating 16,305,004 

 deadweight tons, besides 170 barges; 279 

 steel, wood, and concrete tugs ; 100 traw- 

 lers, and 25 harbor oil barges. 



It will take many months to complete 

 so vast a program — how long no one in 

 authority will dare predict. Promises 

 and prophecies are alike taboo in shipping 

 circles, but there is no ban on making 

 public the work already completed, and 

 he who cares to hazard a guess or an esti- 

 mate based on accomplished facts is wel- 

 come to do so. Let us see. 



WHAT HAS BEEN DONE 



Before the United States entered the 

 war, our record shipbuilding year showed 



a production of 285,000 deadweight tons 

 of ocean-going steam vessels of 1,500 

 deadweight tons and over ; during the 

 31 days of August, 191 8, the deliveries 

 to the Shipping Board from American 

 shipyards amounted to 313,380 tons of 

 ocean-going steam vessels — in one month 

 of war-time effort a production 10 per 

 cent greater than that of the banner 

 twelve months before we began to fight. 



That August shipbuilding record is one 

 of which the nation may well feel proud, 

 for it overtopped by more than 17,000 

 tons the best month of any year in British 

 shipyards. But these figures are merely 

 the cheerful beginning of far greater ac- 

 complishments, if all goes well. Our ship- 

 yards are not ever yet all in production. 



In August, 191 7, America had 37 steel 

 and 24 wooden shipyards. In August, 

 1 91 8, we had more than double that num- 

 ber of steel yards and nearly five times as 

 many wooden yards as we had 12 months 

 previously. Today we have 410 com- 

 pleted shipways for steel ships and 63 yet 

 to be finished ; 400 completed wooden, 

 composite, and concrete shipways and 54 

 under construction or to be added — a 

 total of 927 shipways under the super- 

 vision of the Emergency Fleet Corpora- 

 tion. It is conservatively estimated that 

 each shipway, when operating with a full 

 shipbuilding crew, should launch annually 

 three ships averaging 6,000 tons each. It 

 is further estimated (not predicted or 

 promised!) that with 751 of our 927 

 ways used for the construction of cargo 

 ships 13,518,000 deadweight tons should 

 be produced annually when our shipyards 

 attain their full development. 



A CONSERVATIVE PREDICTION 



Such prospective achievements tower 

 so tall as completely to overshadow ac- 

 complished facts ; yet the great gap be- 

 tween what may be done and what has 

 been done to date should not discourage, 

 but rather inspire the nation to redoubled 

 effort. The actual deliveries of sea-going 

 vessels of more than 2,500 tons by Amer- 

 ican shipyards to the Shipping Board 

 during the first eight months of 1918 was 

 1,626,052 deadweight tons — a most en- 

 couraging record when it is realized that 

 this exceeds by 80,000 tons the total pro- 

 duction of vessels of more than 150 tons 



