THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



197 



© Committee on Public Information 



FINISHING THE BOW FLATUS OF A MODERN FREIGHTER 



One of the vexatious questions which has greatly perplexed the directors of the ship- 

 building programs in Great Britain and the United States has been the problem of "overtime.'' 

 Many industrial relations experts maintain that the payment of time-and-a-half or double- 

 time for Sunday labor is one of the chief causes for absenteeism in the shipyards. The tempta- 

 tion is strong to work on Sundays and lay off a day during the week, thus securing seven days' 

 pay for six days' work. Both from the standpoint of output and of the workmen's health, 

 the seven-day week is being frowned upon in many quarters. 



40-minute sailings do not include ships in 

 the service of the army and navy. 



In the new order of the day, there is 

 no such thing as a loafing speed on any 

 sea. Formerly, nitrate ships bearing that 

 essential ingredient of explosives from 

 Chilean ports to New York made four 

 voyages a year ; now the "turn around" 

 between New York and Iquique is made 

 in 44 days, while the trip from New York 

 to Valparaiso has been made in 18 days. 

 The round-trip voyage between Rio and 

 New York, for ships bearing manganese 

 for the manufacture of steel formerly 

 averaged from three to four months ; a 

 Swedish vessel under charter to the Ship- 

 ping Board has made it recently in 55 

 days. Ships bringing oil from Tampico 

 to Galveston now average 11 days for the 

 round trip, while some tankers occasion- 



ally make it in a week. Sisal is being 

 brought from Yucatan in ships that make 

 the turn around in two weeks. Out in 

 the Pacific the round trip from San Fran- 

 cisco to China, including time in port, has 

 been reduced to 81 days, while from 

 Seattle to Japan and return is made regu- 

 larly now in 68 days. 



These speeding-up records are an ear- 

 nest of what can and will be done when 

 our ports and harbors are adequately 

 equipped and when the faster and larger 

 cargo-carriers are put into service. 



AFTER THE WAR 



All America recognizes the fact that 

 the chief end of our ships is to safeguard 

 democracy and enable us to enjoy it for- 

 ever. But there are secondary ends also, 

 and the foremost of these is the restora- 



