In addition to the above, Congress, in a pending bill, is authorizing the construction of additional vessels whose total deadweight capacity will be nearly 5,000,000 tons. Plants for the major portion of these additional vessels are now in course of preparation, and many of them will be of special types adapted to particular necessities of war. With the passage of the pending bill the Congress will have authorized $1,799,000,000 for the Shipping Board and the Emergency Fleet Corporation. The statement said that 150,000 additional workers were required in the shipyards to insure full production. Merchant Vessels Commandeered The requisitioning by the Shipping Board of every American merchant vessel of more than 2,500 tons deadweight capacity available for ocean service was announced on Sept. 27. The date fixed for the order to become effective was Oct. 15. A certain number of ships have already been taken over for the army and navy, and of those now requisitioned all except those actually used in Government service are being turned back to their owners for operation on Government account, subject at all times to any disposition the Shipping Board may direct. Simultaneously with the announcement regarding this step, the charter rates were made public. These rates cut sharply into those formerly charged by American owners for carrying Government supplies. The chartering is under the direction of the Shipping Board's Chartering Commission, to the Chairmanship of which Welding Ring of New York has been appointed. The commission's headquarters are in New York City, and the new rates apply for the present only to the Atlantic. An important side of the commission's work is the solving of the situation created by the act of the British shipping authorities in insisting upon American shipowners securing their approval of transatlantic charters. With the establishment of a United States Governmental agency, a system of co-operation between the American and allied shipping authorities comes into existence for the best employment of ocean transportation facilities, to the satisfaction of both the Governments concerned and the shipowners. British View of Emergency The necessity that the United States should put forth every effort to increase the number of oceangoing ships was emphasized in a statement made on Sept. 28 by the British Controller of Shipping, in the course of which he said: The question the United States must face is whether, on the basis of the shipbuilding preparations she is now making, it will be possible for her to send any substantial force to France next Spring without such a drain on the world's shipping as will subtract just as much from the fighting strength of the other allies as her own forces will add. The loss of shipping since the beginning of the ruthless U-boat war is now roughly equal to the total losses prior to that time. By next Spring Germany may be expected to destroy 200 vessels in excess of what are built in the meantime. Next Spring this year's harvest will be largely exhausted and the need of supplying Italy, France, and Great Britain will be largely increased. At the same moment the United States will need a large increase in vessels to transport its army and to maintain it. What must be the program of the United States? It must be large enough to outbuild submarine destruction. Even if this means the building of 6,000,000 tons a year, which is three times the best the British have done, and five or six times what the United States has previously done, this is not impossible if the United States puts into it an effort comparable with the efforts the Allies put into creating their armies, navies, and munitions. To build 6,000,000 tons of shipping would require about 3,500,000 tons of steel, or less than 10 per cent. of her output. It would take not more than 500,000 men, the majority unskilled. The task thus outlined is small compared with the effort put forth by the principal belligerents in other directions. Great Britain, for example, increased her army from 250,000 to over 5,000,000. She added 250,000 men to her navy and trebled it in size, while in munitions the British effort, whether measured in money, men, or material, has been greater than what is needed for an adequate American shipbuilding program. It would be the most incongruous thing in the history of warfare if the war, in which such immensely greater strength has been exerted in other directions, should have the issue decided by failure to solve the problem of building 6,000,000 tons of shipping a year in a country with such vast resources as the United States. The Shortage of Vessels The predicament of the French Government in not being able to secure ships to convey large quantities of army supplies which were ready to be sent from America was described in a Washington dispatch of Oct. 3. Some of this enor mous tonnage had been lying on American piers for more than a year, and the congestion, it was said, was increasing. Supplies ordered and paid for by the French Government were being sent by rail to the seaboard almost every day, but very little was getting across the Atlantic. The statement went on to say that after months of fruitless negotiations with the Shipping Board the French War Commission to the United States had applied to Secretary Baker for ships, and if that move failed an appeal to the President direct would be made. The Shipping Board's reply to the French Conmission was that it could not inove French material as well as supplies for the American expeditionary force in France. The urgency of the French demand arose from the fact that the supplies included steel for shells and nitrates to make explosives. Japanese help in solving the shipping problem was the main question discussed by Viscount Ishii, head of the War Mission to the United States, and Secretary Lansing. Following Viscount Ishii's departure, a statement from a Japanese source showed that Japan could not furnish more ships. That nation, it was said, felt that it was already doing its share in the war and was providing its full quota of ships. One-third of Japan's total oceangoing tonnage is in European waters. This amounts to 300,000 tons. Japanese ships have also been sunk by the German submarines. Business in Japan is suffering from the scarcity of ships to carry goods between the Americas and Japan. At the same time efforts are being made to carry on the peacetime trade of England in the Indian Ocean and in the Pacific, between India, Australia, and Britain's other possessions, as well as China. Japan has also been the carrier for Russia between the United States and Vladivostok. Japanese industries are suffering from a great shortage of steel plates, especially her shipbuilding industry, for they are dependent now upon the United States for steel. A way out of the difficulty-a way which would supply Japan with steel and divert Japanese ships to the Atlanticwas subsequently said to have been discovered as the result of further negoti. ations on the basis of reciprocal service. Exports Under a Drastic System of Control No less far-reaching than any of the other war measures sanctioned by Congress during the special session is the large and varied group of regulations dealing with exports. The two acts of Congress which make possible this drastic system of Government control of our foreign commerce are known respectively as the Espionage act, approved June 15, and the Trading with the Enemy act, approved Oct. 6. Both cover a wider range of subjects than their titles indicate. The Espionage act was passed "to punish acts of interference with foreign relations, the neutrality and the foreign commerce of the United States, to punish espionage, and better enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and for other purposes." Among the other purposes is to deal with the publication of seditious matter. The Trading with the Enemy act covers several of the same subjects as the Espionage act and extends powers already granted under that act. Turning to the executive side, we find that in regard to foreign commerce a new and powerful arm of the Government has been created, first under the name of the Exports Administrative Board, and subsequently in its present form as the War Trade Board, with Vance McCormick in both cases as Chairman. The Board's first task was to enforce the section in the espionage law making certain exports in time of war unlawful." Since the law became effective in June the President has issued a number of proclamations; but soon after the enactment of the Trading with the Enemy act on Oct 6, a new Executive order, issued on Oct. 14, reorganized practically the whole system on a much wider and more drastic basis. The War Trade Board The War Trade Board consists of Vance McCormick, Chairman, representing the Secretary of State; Dr. Alonzo E. Taylor, representing the Secretary of Agriculture; Thomas D. Jones, representing the Secretary of Commerce; Beaver White, representing the Food Administrator; Frank C. Munson, representing the Shipping Board, and a representative of the Secretary of the Treas The Trading with the Enemy act makes it unlawful, under severe penalties, to trade without a license with any person who there is probable cause to believe is an enemy or ally of an enemy. The act provides that "trade" shall be deemed to mean: (a) To pay, satisfy, compromise, or give security for the payment or satisfaction of any debt or obligation. ury. All but the Treasury representative were members of the Exports Administrative Board, whose work is now being done by the Bureau of Exports of the War Trade Board. The name of the Exports Council was changed to War Trade Council, with the Secretary of the Treasury and Chairman Hurley of the Shipping Board added to its membership, the Secretaries of State, Agriculture and Commerce and the Food Administrator. This body acts in an advisory capacity to the President and the War Trade Board. An official statement accompanying the President's order explains that previous proclamations forbidding the export of various articles without a license are continued in full force and effect, but new licenses are now granted by the War Trade Board instead of by the Exports Administrative Board. The Trading With the Enemy Act (b) To draw, accept, pay, present for acceptance or payment, or indorse any negotiable instrument or chose in action. (c) To enter into, carry on, complete, or perform any contract, agreement, or obligation. (d) To buy or sell, loan or extend credit, trade in, deal with, exchange, transmit, transfer, assign, or otherwise dispose of or receive any form of property. (e) To have any form of business or commercial communication or intercourse with. It is equally unlawful to trade with any person who is acting for an enemy, and it makes no difference what the nationality or what the residence of such person may be. On the other hand, in dealing with subjects of Germany who are resident in the United States, the mere fact of their nationality does not make them "enemies" within the meaning of this act. The Trading with the Enemy act, however, gives power to the President to grant licenses to trade with the enemy. The exercise of this power has been delegated by the President to the War Trade Board. Enemies in Domestic Trade The Trading with the Enemy act provides that a person who is " an enemy" or ally of enemy," doing business within the United States, may apply for a license to continue to do business in the United States. The main application of these provisions will be to German or ally of German concerns which are doing business in the United States through branch houses or agents. Insurance companies were previously dealt with in the President's proclamation of July 13, 1917. It is not necessary, however, for a German subject or the subject of an ally of Germany who is resident in this country to apply for a license unless for some other reason he falls within the definition of 66 enemy" or "ally of enemy." No change of name by an enemy is permitted except by license. The Trading with the Enemy act prohibits and imposes severe penalties on communicating with the enemy, but licenses may be granted for relief from the various communications. The act contains various provisions as to the application for patents by citizens of the United States in enemy countries during the war, and for the use in the United States by citizens of the United States of enemy-held patents during the war, and also for the suspension of information as to certain patent applications made in the United States, secrecy as to which is necessary for military reasons. The Federal Trade Commission deals with all these matters. Seizing Enemy Property Among the most important and farreaching of the provisions of the Trading with the Enemy act are those dealing with the taking over by the United States Government of the custody and control of enemy" property within the United States. 66 66 may require a transfer to himself of any property held for or on behalf of an enemy" or the payment of any money owed to an enemy" by a person in the United States. Any person in the United States so holding any property or so owning any money may transfer such property or pay such money to the Alien Property Custodian with his consent. Control Over Foreign Exchange The President by his Executive order committed to the Secretary of the Treasury the executive administration of the broad powers conferred by the act as to the prohibition and regulation of transfer between the United States and foreign countries of coin, currency, bullion, credits, and securities. The Secretary of the Treasury, with the assistance of the Federal Reserve Banks, passes on applications for leave to export bullion, coin, and currency. The President created a Censorship Board to administer regulations as to the censorship of cable, telegraph, and mail communications between the United States and foreign countries. This board is composed of representatives of the Postmaster General, of the Secretary of War, of the Secretary of the Navy, of the War Trade Board, and of the Chairman of the Committee on Public Information. The Trading with the Enemy act provides that every paper printed in a foreign language shall furnish translations to the Postmaster General of the matter concerning the war printed by it, unless a permit to omit doing so is granted to it. The act provides that it shall be unlawful for any person without a license to transport or attempt to transport into or from the United States, or for any American vessel to transport in any part of the world any citizen of an enemy or ally of an enemy nation. The administration of this provision is vested in the State Department. Collectors of Customs are given the right to refuse clearance to vessels which are transporting cargo in violation of the provisions of the Trading with the Enemy act. Power to review such refusal of clearance by the Collector is vested in the Secretary of Commerce. The Press Under Post Office Censorship Although Congress emphatically refused to permit the establishment of a press censorship when the Espionage bill was under discussion, far-reaching powers have been conferred upon the Postmaster General by a clause in the Trading with the Enemy act. The section in question reads: Any print, newspaper, or publication in any foreign language which does not conform to the provisions of this section is hereby declared to be non-mailable, and it shall be unlawful for any person, firm, corporation, or association to transport, carry, or otherwise publish or distribute the same, or to transport, carry, or otherwise publish or distribute any matter which is made non-mailable by the provisions of the act relating to espionage, approved June 15, 1917. Section 3 of the Espionage act, referred to in this clause as defining nonmailable matter, reads: Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully make or convey false reports or false statements, with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies; and whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully cause or attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or shall willfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States, to the injury of the service or of the United States, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both. The chief opponent of press control by the Postmaster General was Senator Norris of Nebraska, who pointed out. that the new provision took away from a publisher his right to fight an order in the courts until after it was useless to fight; that it vested in the Postmaster General-an administrative officer of the Government-the power to adjudge a publisher guilty in advance of trial by any judicial tribunal, and to destroy his business through a mere edict. The Postmaster General had already put out of business thirty-eight or forty publications, under the provisions of the Espionage act, and not one of these publishers had been arrested for violation of that act. Yet, Senator Norris contended, if the Postmaster General was within his right every one of these men was guilty of a crime, and should be punished by imprisonment. Statement by Mr. Burleson Publications need not fear suppression under the new censorship provision, Postmaster General Burleson explained in an interview on Oct. 9, unless they transgress the bounds of legitimate criticism of the President, the Administration, the army, the navy, or the conduct of the war. Mr. Burleson continued: We shall take great care not to let criticism which is personally or politically offensive to the Administration affect our action. But if newspapers go so far as to impugn the motives of the Government, and thus encourage insubordination, they will be dealt with severely. For instance, papers may not say that the Government is controlled by Wall Street or munition manufacturers, or any other special interests. Publication of any news calculated to urge the people to violate law would be considered grounds for drastic action. We will not tolerate campaigns against conscription, enlistments, sale of securities, or revenue collections. We will not permit the publication or circulation of anything hampering the war's prosecution or attacking improperly our allies. Mr. Burleson explained that the policy of the foreign-language newspapers would be judged by their past utterances and not by newly announced intentions. "We have files of these papers, and "whether we license them or not depends 'on our inspection of the files," he said. German - language newspapers not licensed would be required to publish English translations. No Socialist paper would be barred from the mails, Mr. Burleson said, unless it contained treasonable or seditious matter. "The trou"ble," he added, "is that most Socialist 'papers do contain this matter." That Socialist newspapers did oppose the war was admitted by Morris Hillquit, when he appeared at the hearing at the Post Office Department in Washington on Oct. 15 on behalf of The New York Call, which had been summoned to show |