“EAGLE RULES THE WAVES.”

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2112, 8 April 1920, Page 2

“EAGLE RULES THE WAVES.”

“WE have been letting the eagle scream rather loudly regarding our wonderful merchant marine, which is to knock Britain, Japan, Germany and every other competitor into a cocked hat,” "says Forbes’ Magazine, of Wall Street, New York. “The newspapers daily proclaim the miracles wrought by our shipyards. New vessels are taking the water almost as fast as a sausage machine

grinds out sausages. ;Ami we are constantly told, too, of the glorious profits that are being made, and will be made, from our colossal merchant fleet. The American eagle, we are assured, is soon to rule the waves. Here are some figures, based on the cold truth, which throw a damper on such ecstatic expectations. A well-known ship-owner has compiled a detailed record of the cost of the wages and the boarding of the crew of four vessels ('bartered by him, and look at the results: “On a Japanese ship the total was £225; on a Canadian ship, £400; on a British ship, £729; on an American ship, £1,342. The figures can be accepted as strictly accurate. If it continues to cost almost twice as much to run an American ship as it costs to run a British ship, and six times as much as it. costs to run a Japanese ship, where, to use colloquial language, is America going to get off? The fact is that the American public have been fed on an endless diet of flap-doodle concerning American ships and ship-build-ing. Unless conditions can be so readjusted as to wipe out a large part of the difference in the cost of running American ships as compared with those of other nationalities, our shipowners will he licked to a standstill. It is all very well from Labour's short-sighted standpoint to secure the passage of legislation inordinately favourable and generous to seamen, but if ships carrying the American flag cannot compete with those of other nations, then there will not be much of a demand for the services of American seamen.”