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October, 1918 character of ship construction, un- doubtedly undergone similar readjust- ment. "The Emergency Fleet corporation has gone through a year of experi- ences, which have demonstrated con- clusively that the hopes and prom- ises of contractors are~- but frail foundations on which to base expecta- tions of output. Statements of rela- tive cost, of rapidity of production, of sections of the country that are available for the production of ships because they are not gorged with war work, all are glibly added to give a semblance of real research and analy- sis to a statement, that, after all, has been prepared after but a superficial review and insufficient knowledge of the subject. "The statement that the Emergency Fleet. corporation and the United States shipping board, while practic- ally doing nothing themselves, are using their large powers to keep others from doing something, and that they actually seem to obstruct con- crete ship plans of the army trans- port service, is wholly lacking in truth. The Fleet corporation has never stood in the way of capital and enterprise in undertaking ship con- struction, unless a new yard _inter- fered with existing contemplated op- eration. "The Fleet corporation has ob- jected to the ship construction pro- gram of the army transport service purely because that program was undertaken without their consultation with or knowledge of the Fleet cor- poration and because several of the contracts were placed in districts Launel gust, comprising 12 wooden vessels and six steel hulls. This total does not compare favorably with July's Tecord but at several of the large steel yards, construction has heen delayed to some extent by the scarcity of material. This handicap has now been well over- come and September is expected to make a far better showing. During August, another new Seattle yard entered the running, this being the Allen Shipbuilding Co., which sent the $800-ton wooden steamer BoswortH into the water. This vessel is of the Allen type designed by Frank Allen, pt of the company, and approved by the shipping board. All the con- tracts held by this yard are for the Allen type, which has a deadweight Carrying capacity of 300 tons greater THE MARINE REVIEW which, by reason of existing conges- tion, were giving grave concern to the officers of the Fleet corporation. It would seem in the highest degree unwise to permit collateral branches of the government to compete with each other for the labor and material entering into ship construction, and this is bound to take place, when two separate branches undertake the same line and character of, construction without consultation or co-operation. The war industries board has ruled that all ship construction shall clear through the Emergency Fleet corpora- tion, and that after a very much fuller knowledge of the facts than was apparently available to the au- thor of the statement." To Keep Wood Yards Busy "It is the intention of the United States shipping board to keep all of the wood shipbuilding plants supplied with contracts enough to keep them in opera- tion at their present capacity for the period of the war," declared Charles M. Schwab in an address delivered recently in Seattle when he and his party paid a visit to that city. Mr. Schwab, Charles Piez, Dr. Charles Eaton, Attorney C. W. Cuthell, Dr. S. A. Brown, KD. Heinl, Cuthbert Maughan, C. J. McCarthy and [7 H. Miller were met following their visit to the shipyards by a committee of the Washington Wood Shipbuilders' associ- ation, headed by Samuel H. Hedges, president of the Puget Sound Bridge & Dredging Co., and Mr. Schwab deliv- ered the promise as quoted above. e ings in Northwest S|! ORTH PACIFIC shipyards launched 18 vessels during Au- than that of the Ferris type. The Chil- man. Shipyards, . Hoquiam, - Wash, launched its first contributions, the auxiliary schooners Apy and Gasy of 500 tons each. These vessels are build- ing for Belgian interests. Of the other launchings, the 3500-ton wooden steamer ToKa was sent into the water by Meacham & Babcock, Seattle, on Aug. 22, the centennial anniversary of the steamer SAVANNAH. This was the occasion of a great patriotic celebra- tion that attracted much attention. With the 8800-ton steel steamer WeEstT- meEAD, the Ames Shipbuilding & Drydock Con Seattle, completed a remarkable 30-day record, in that period launching three big steel vessels of 27,600 dead- weight tons. This plant has now launched eight steel steamers since Jan. 1 and the organization is rapidly hitting its stride. Following is a summary 473 Portland District Busy Figures for the Portland, Oreg. dis- trict show that vessels under construc- tion and contracted for on Aug. 15 totaled 91 wooden ships, 64 steel steam- ers and 5 concrete hulls. Expenditures under way and authorized in that dis- trict amount to $149,599,990. On the same day, at plants on the Columbia and Willamette rivers between Portland and Astoria, Oreg., and also including one plant at Tillamook, Oreg., there are 38 wooden vessels under contract or build- ing, adding $20,750,000 to the expendi- tures or a total for the Oregon: district of $170,349,990. The following record shows what the Oregon district is doing: STEEL PLANTS Ships Ships : del'd bldg. Northwest Steel Co. Columbia River Shipbuilding Corp.. 7 25 Albina Engine & Machine Works..... 6 9 G. M. Standifer Construction Co.....: 10 WOODEN PLANTS Grant. Smith-Porter Ship Co......... 8 18 Supple-Ballin Shipbuilding Co......... ot Peninsula - Shipbuilding Co, .7-. 3, 3, 4 12 Coast Shipbuilding Go. 077,93. 28 G. M. Standifer Construction Co...... 320 Kiernan & Kern Shipbuilding Co...... lies Columbia Engineering Works ....... 62575 The. Foundation Co. ....-,. a Orne ae Sale CONCRETE PLANT Great Northern Concrete Shipbuilding CO, BOSE ae Nee 5 OUTSIDE OF PORTLAND--WOOD St. Helens Shipbmldine Co... 7. Lees McHachern Ship. €o,. 30). 8 10 Wilson Shipbuilding Co... 27.8 George EO Rodgers Co, 4253... 32: 5 Feeney & Breinet,.3-. 0 2 Total ova cia ober ee 75 189 iow Decrease of the August Pacific yards: Aug. 17--Bosrinc, 3500-ton wooden by Pacific American Fisheries Bellingham, Wash. 15--West Hosoxir, 8800-ton steel steam- er, by Skinner & Eddy 'Corp., Seattle. 13--Westrort, 8800-ton steel, steamer, by Ames Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Seattle. 19--War Curler, 8800-ton steel steamer, by Coughlan Shipyards, Vancouver, BC: 22--Toxa, 3500-ton wooden steamer, by ' 'Meacham & Babcock, Seattle. 8--AmIENS, 3000-ton wooden steamer, by Foundation Shipbuilding Co., Tacoma, Wash. 26--BoswortH, 3800-ton wooden steamer, by Allen Shipbuilding Co., Seattle. 22--CotoneL Driant, 3000-ton wooden steamer, by Foundation Shipbuilding Co., Portland, Ore. 20--Braxton, 4000-ton wooden steamer, by Peninsula Shipbuilding 'Co., Port- land, Ore. launchings: at north steamer, Go;; Aug. Aug. Aug. Aug. Aug. Aug. Aug. Aug.