The duration of the voyage round trip was considerably decreased. In the spring of 1917 the average turn around for troop ships was 52 days. Some of the fast ships averaged under 30. The Leviathan, for example, landed the equivalent of a German division in France each month. Most of the cargo ships were American and these ships carried thousands of articles of the most varied sort. Nearly one-half of all the cargoes consisted of food and clothing. Then came the engineering and ordnance supplies. A large number of locomotives were shipped, set up on their own wheels so that they could be unloaded on the tracks in France and run off in a few hours under their own steam. These locomotives were of the hundred-ton type. Shipments of this type had never been made before. When the armistice was signed the Army was prepared to ship these set-up locomotives at the rate of 200 a month. The actual record shows that 1,791 were sent to France on transports.

Nearly 27,000 standard-gauge freight cars were shipped abroad, and motor trucks to the number of 47,000; rails and fittings were sent to France aggregating in all 423,000 tons. Moreover, the Army shipped nearly 70,000 horses and mules. The increase in the shipping of cargo from the United States was consistently maintained from the start of the war, and at its cessation it was undergoing marked acceleration.

BRITISH SHIP-BUILDING

Ship-building in England was taken over by the government early in the war. This plan was described by many as an example of a blundering surrender to Socialism and a concession to bureaucratic tendencies. These critics pointed to the fact that in 1914 British shipping tonnage had reached the figure of 19 million tons, an increase of over 10 millions in 15 years; and this was done in spite of subsidized competition from abroad and lack of reasonable encouragement at home. The policy of government interference was regarded as simply a method of discouraging English initiative in this industry. A writer in the London Outlook, Mr. E. T. Good, described the project in a most unfavorable light:

"On top of foreign subsidized competition our people are to be subjected to Government competition at home, and their whole position and prospects rendered uncertain, if not impossible. This new government undertaking can have nothing but a chilling, blighting effect upon our splendid ship-building and engineering trades, and it will not give us one additional ton of shipping. The government policy—or lack of policy—is such that no one knows what to expect next. There is no certainty. There is no continuity of policy. There is no encouragement. There is no common justice for British enterprise. Whilst Germany, France, Italy and other nations are preparing large subsidization schemes for their shipping and ship-building trades, our government excessively penalizes our industries and enterprises, and gives no hint of any fair dealing in the future. Before the war German subsidized liners were permitted to come into our harbors and take on board British passengers at 'blackleg' rates, and without paying even a due share for the upkeep of our ports and lights. Now our government, whilst paying neutral shipowners—our future rivals—freights up to as much as 500 per cent. above the Bluebook rates paid to our own vessels, is taxing our shipping people up to the eyes—doing all that it can to render it difficult, if not impossible, for our companies to increase their fleets and maintain British supremacy after the war."

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood

Launching the City of Portland on the Columbia River, near Portland, Oregon

Most of the cargo ships that carried supplies to our troops after we entered the war were American owned, and carried thousands of articles of the most varied sort. The City of Portland, shown above, was a three hundred foot wooden motor vessel.

[Click for a larger image.]