THE UNITED STATES AND OURSELVES.
(To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") SIR,—Some time ago I wrote my opinion on the subject of the interned ships in the United States to a relative in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who ought to have been well informed, pointing out how desperately shipping was needed for England. In reply I was told :—
" As to shipping, your facts are a little out. The merchant tonnage of Great Britain is larger now than before the war, in spite of all sunk. All British war vessels were built at the Navy yards, not by private concerns [presumably British Navy yards are meant], while all our private shipyards were building chasers and destroyers for our Government."
The Spectator is so widely read in the United States, and its• opinion is so respected, that it would be well if you published the true facts to correct these—perhaps I might say deliberate— misstatements; they look like enemy propaganda.
The extracts from Lloyd's Register of Shipping quoted recently in the Times give the following figures :— f` The net loss to the 'United Kingdom is 2,547,000 tons. representing a decrease as compared with the 1914 total of 13.5 per cent."
"The figures showing the difference between the actual figures for 1919 and the estimate of present tonnage if no war had taken place :- United Kingdom ... ... —5,003,000 tons.
British Dominions ... ... —199,000 „ Total ... ... —5,202,000 „ ."
It is also pointed out that the United States has increased her ocean marine by 382.1 per cent.
Such facts as these, given by so good an authority, ought to carry great weight, and should be brought to the attention of
the American public.—I am, Sir, &c., FRANCES ROSE-TROUP. West Hill, Harrow-on-the-Hill.
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