THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



209 



divisions of crack Prussians, but sent an 

 electric thrill of hope and youth and the 

 fighting spirit through the war-worn Al- 

 lies. That was an achievement, not of 

 numbers, or equipment, or advantage of 

 any kind, but purely of morale. 



And in thinking of the American mer- 

 chant marine as it will be tomorrow, I 

 feel confident that we will back up our 

 ships with something of the same spiritual 

 quality. There may be difficulties and 

 limitations we do not yet know. But I 

 believe the American way of overcoming 

 them will be to exert our national genius 

 for invention and organization, holding 

 our own through the development of new 

 methods. 



SHIPBUILDING COMPARED WITH THE 

 automobile: INDUSTRY 



Fifteen months' experience as Chair- 

 man of the United States Shipping Board 

 has made me somewhat wary of proph- 

 ecy. Yet I feel safe in predicting that 

 a year from now, provided we give the 

 necessary thought to this great question 

 of the merchant marine, we shall have 

 as great confidence in its efficiency and 

 its future as we have today in our army 

 abroad. 



Comparisons between the American 

 automobile industry and our new mer- 

 chant marine are natural. We are build- 

 ing our fabricated ships on the standard- 

 ized quantity production plan, like Amer- 

 ican automobiles. Our automobile in- 

 dustry has become what it is, first, through 

 the average American family's need for 

 an automobile and the ability to buy it ; 

 and, second, the splendid spirit of the in- 

 dustry. The average American producer 

 needs ocean transportation just as much, 

 and it is reasonable to assume that when 

 the need is realized we will generate a 

 merchant marine spirit comparable with 

 the automobile spirit. 



SKILTv AND TRAINING ESSENTIAL, IN OUR 

 MERCHANT MARINE SERVICE 



Given the ships and the merchant-ma- 

 rine spirit, only one other element is 

 needed — that of technical training in 

 shipping and foreign trade. 



People think of seafaring men as more 

 or less unskilled laborers. They admit 

 that the old-time salt on a sailing ship 



was a man of many trades, knowing how 

 to knot, splice, reef, and steer; but they 

 have heard that the modern tramp 

 steamer requires chiefly deckhands and 

 coal-passers. 



Nothing could be further from the 

 truth. The men who man and command 

 modern steel ships are divided into three 

 classes — deck department, engine-room, 

 and steward service. Deck duties call for 

 skill in navigation and lead to posts of 

 highest command. The engine-room of 

 a modern steel steamer carries possibili- 

 ties for learning a half dozen trades ; it 

 has boilers, engines, dynamos, motors, 

 lighting, refrigeration, machine - shop 

 work, and so forth. Even the steward's 

 department on a passenger liner calls for 

 knowledge and skill comparable with that 

 needed for running a modern hotel. So, 

 in the operation of ships, we find a whole 

 bundle of interesting technical crafts, 

 with possibilities of rising in the mer- 

 chant marine or fitting one's self for op- 

 portunities ashore. 



TRAINED MEN REQUIRED ASHORE AS WEEIy 

 AS AELOAT 



And this is only a beginning in the tech- 

 nicalities connected with shipping. Ships 

 are loaded and unloaded at our ports. 

 That calls for dock management — ware- 

 housing, conveying machinery, stevedor- 

 ing — all technical in their nature. Ships 

 must be insured and cleared, cargoes 

 must be routed, with shipping and ship's 

 papers — the documents connected with 

 ships are many and technical. Freight 

 must be organized and assembled for 

 quick handling on regular routes covered 

 by schedule. If ships are to make money, 

 that calls for skillful handling of outgo- 

 ing freight in this country and expert 

 selling and service in foreign ports. In 

 fact, there is another compact bundle of 

 technical crafts connected with the mer- 

 chant marine ashore, at home and abroad, 

 and beyond these crafts again we find the 

 foreign branches of American exporters 

 and manufacturers and banks. 



Even to man our emergency supply 

 ships to France we have been compelled 

 to recruit and train officers and seamen 

 at the rate of several thousand weekly. 

 Unless we can train men and have them 

 ready for the American merchant marine 



