As a result of the war, America has taken the
place of Great Britain as the chief shipbuilding country. The Glasgow Herald's shipbuilding returns show that British yards in 1913 produced 2,263,953 tons of shipping, against 2,003,183 tons for all the rest of the world's yards. Last year, however, while British yards produced 1,931,769 tons, the rest of the world built 6,243,954. Instead of building more than half the world's new shipping, we built rather less than a fourth. The change is due to America's decision to build ships on a very large scale, primarily for the purpose of winning the war. In 1913 America built 216 ships of 265,589 tons in all ; last year she built 1,337 ships with a total tonnage of 4,736,103. She had increased her output of tonnage seventeenf old within six years. She built twice as much shipping as we did, and more than Great Britain and the rest of the world. It is a good thing f or Europe that the lost merchant ships should have been replaced so speedily. But our national prosperity depended so hugely on our shipbuilding and shipping that America's new and most formidable competition may affect us. For the present, however, America has not so large and well trained a body of officers and men 88 our splendid Merchant Service, and her merchant ships are far leas numerous than ours.
Her yards may turn out the ships, but she may not turn out the men to man them. That is what we rather expect.
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