WATER TRANSPORTATION
In the early days of our nation, rivers were used for transportation to a large extent, and canals were proposed in great numbers, some of them being built and carrying a large amount of traffic. The coming of the railroads caused water transportation to decline, to the nation's great loss. The war stimulated the use of our waterways to a considerable extent, and any scheme for transportation control in the future should provide for their fullest development as a means of marketing the products of our farms, forests, mines, and factories.
There was also a time, in the early part of our history, when our seaports swarmed with American ships that sailed every sea. Our shipping afterward declined because other nations built and manned ships more cheaply than we could do. We allowed these other nations to carry our commerce. We deplored the fact that our merchant marine had disappeared and discussed ways and means to restore it. But all to no purpose, until the great war came; then we HAD to have ships.
EFFECT OF WAR UPON OUR MERCHANT MARINE
When we entered the war we had almost no ships. Congress created the United States Shipping Board and its Emergency Fleet Corporation. As a result, and within a year's time, the United States took rank as the leading shipbuilding nation in the world. It has more shipyards, more shipways, more ship workers, more ships under construction, and is building more ships every month during the war than any other country. Prior to the war the United States stood a poor third among the shipbuilding nations. Since August, 1917, more seagoing tonnage has been launched from American shipyards than was ever launched before in a similar period anywhere. [Footnote: "Shipping Facts," issued by the U.S. Shipping Board, September, 1918.]
Moreover, under the stress of necessity methods of shipbuilding and operation were developed that ought to make it possible for the United States to compete successfully in the future with other nations, even though our workmen and sailors are paid more than those of other nations.
The chairman of the shipping board said, "The American community must think of ships as a local improvement." This means that the business and welfare of every American community, whether a seaport or a remote farming community, are dependent upon ships. By our merchant marine the American farmer and the American businessman are brought into touch with the remotest parts of the earth.
Investigate and report on:
The service of the railroads to the farmers of your county. To the merchants of your town.
The story of the building of the first transcontinental railway.