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Show CONCRETE SHIPS OF LARGE Wl WASHINGTON, Aprl 4. A grnpral increase in the size of merchan." ships to be built hereafter for the government, govern-ment, was ordered yesterday by the shipping board. The purpose la to raa'ie substantial gains in tonnage without proportionate advance in expense ex-pense or increase in construction fa cilities. Tnder the new program, steel vessels ves-sels will be of 5500 tons or larger, wooden ships will be of 3000 tons, and concrete ships, if experiments justify, will be of 7500 tons. A very favorable report on the new concrete ship "Faith" recently launched launch-ed in Pacific waters, led to the inclusion in-clusion of that type of construction among the vessels to be increased iu size. The board has authorized tho building of three 7500-ton concrete ships at San Francisco, in addition to one of that size now under construe lion there as an experiment. |