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Show SHIPHfliLDERS WILL HELP THE HURLEY BOARD Five Representatives of the Biggest Companies to Cooperate Co-operate in the Speeding Up Programme. MEN TO REMAIN IN WASHINGTON I, 000,000 Tons of Shipping to Be Turned Out by March 1, and Six Million Tons in 1918. ' Iy International News Mcrvh-e. WASMIMiTiiN, Oct. III. Kive of I he count ry'.s b I .;,", est stec 1 phlphuilders will art us ;U'li:s to the -shipping board and the criHjrtft-'nry I'lrt corporation in Its iirRvmi. canipali.'n to aped up the ship-jiiner ship-jiiner piiiKiamnif, it was announced to -nllit. They are : II. I ,. Feruon of the Newport Nrw Shipbuilding company; Wuilaee Jiowm-y of the Downey Shln-buildin;,' Shln-buildin;,' (.-onipany; .1. V. Powell, vice preHldent of I he Hi; I lilehein Steel Shipbuilding Ship-building company; A. M. Neeland of the NVw York Shipbuilding company, and J. II. 1 land, president William Cramp &. Suns of Philadelphia. The formation of this com mi t tee was the biKKL-st single development of an all-day all-day conference between Atlantic coast steel shipbuilders a t id representatives of the shipping board, emergency fleet corporation, cor-poration, the nnvy department, ' the department de-partment of labor and the American l'ederat Ion of Labor. Chairman Hurley of the .shipping' board presided. Lack of Co-operation. It was the sense of tiie meeting: that t lie blfcgeM trouble in the ship situation was the luck of co-operation "between the builders and the government. The committee com-mittee will stay on the job in Washington to make sure that proper co-operation is obta I tied. Mr. Ferguson was designated chairman to work directly with Mr. Hurley Hur-ley and Admiral Copps, general manager ! of tho fleet corporation. j The committee will hold its session I with the government executives and get j right to work. It will take, up immediately immedi-ately the following (juestiony: Labor problems including slnndardlza-tion slnndardlza-tion of wages, housing conditions for pTiiployees and development of crude labor into skilled shipbuilding labor; congestion of yards with orders from the navy department impending mercantile bottoms building; adjustment of contracts con-tracts in cases of commandeered ships, when such vessels have caused tremendous tremend-ous losses to builders and handicapped their execution of contracts on other ships for the government. Labor Troubles Anticipated. Under the combined efforts of the government's gov-ernment's representatives and the builders, build-ers, these problems are expected to fade uwny quickly, although some trouble is anticipated in the question of labor. Skilled mechanics are scarce, rival firms bid for their services, few concerns pro vide adequate housing conditions and several other factors make the problem a. knotty one. It was discussed at long tli today by Assistant Secretary of Labor Post, and Mr. i'ov.eU. Standardized Standard-ized wage scales were proposed and may be put into effect. They will first have to be nnuie acceptable to both employer ar.d workman. It was said. It is probable that a new law will be framed to stop the prirti-e of stealing pe it woi k u m, to v. !i i.'li nea i I y all t he firms repri-?. oL.'d tudiiy pleaded guiity. .Finland iii.i'ie this ;i midenir-anor. and C"!i;iiiman lli.rl.y tonigiit yn'i.l !:: thought: it lik'-b, this country would have to do til"- anie t.iiiiK. Mej.i' Hlunn.fif Id. so-'i- l" ifit and student stu-dent tf lumsing conditions, urged on t!ie s ! 1 1 h u i Id e i h ticit th'-y devute more attrition at-trition to li.wi'Ming their laborers careful!'.', care-ful!'.', pointing o'lt it wr.uld it-suit in hk-h.-r efficiency and attract men to the trade. Hurley's Promise. Mr. 1 lurlev reiteni ted his promise of l.O'iO.OOo tons of shipping by Mn r"li 1 . niiide some clav.n ago. This promise will be kept , he said, largely beca use of the evident Intention of the. shipbuilders to Pun in and give their be.-'t efforts to cli.se co-opera lion wtl'n the government. "The guvermoent alone." said Mr. Hurley, "no matter how willing and anxious anx-ious it is to do its part, cannot bring the production of .ships to the maximum capacity of t he country. Nor can the shipyards alone do It. The labor of the country, no niatier how intelligent, skillful skill-ful and patriotic, cannot accomplish it by Itself. Hut working together, determined deter-mined to forget everything but the national na-tional welfare, we can achieve the goal we have set for ourselves. Working even as we are we have accomplished remarkable results. "I want to pay a tribute to the patriotism patriot-ism of labor in this situation. Shipyard Ship-yard owners probably do not understand the obstacles which the patriotic labor of the country hns had to overcome. Nor does tu bor probably understand the obstacles ob-stacles faced by the shipyard owners. It Is that we mav nil understand each other better, pull together and speed up that Admiral Capps and I called this meeting. meet-ing. :-. Programme for 191S. "We will build COOO.uOO deadweight tons of ships In 19 1 S. I say we are going go-ing to do it rather than that we are going go-ing to try to do it, because anything America sets out to do she does. As a fighting nation wo have a clean record for victory. We have the men. we have the money and we have a cause that Is right. In striving for this new goal we are cutting out red tape. Whatever help labor needs we shall give to labor. Whatever What-ever help I lie shipyards need we shall give to the shipyards. "We want the labor representatives who are here to tell us the best way to speed up and huh merit the labor supply. We ward the shipyard representatives to tell us what they think will facilitate the work of production. "The young Americans in the trenches pre offering the supremo sacrifices of their lives. Their safety and their success suc-cess depends on us. Much less is required re-quired of us than of them. nnd'I am confident con-fident that everything wo have to give, will be given in the same spirit of unselfishness." un-selfishness." Strike at Quincy. QT'INCY, Mass.. Oct. 31. Important I ship construction work at the Fore River plant of the Hethlehem ?hipbu Sluing . company was crippled today by a strike : of machinists. Estimates of the number ;, of men out varied from liiOO to SOGO. ! t'nion leaders cluin: that the company ; has not complied with an understanding j I with the men reached last August to ; raise the rate of pay to the level paid at I ; navy yards. |
