Austria-Hungary. International law permits the requisition of foreign tonnage if due compensation is paid to the owners. The first Austro-Hungarian ship thus acquired was the Martha Washington, 8,312 tons, which the Shipping Board announced would be requisitioned and turned over to the War Department for emergency service.

The Shipbuilding Program

Major Gen. Goethals on July 13 outlined his shipbuilding program. He stated that contracts had then been awarded for 348 wooden ships, representing 1,218,000 tons and costing $174,000,000, and seventyseven steel ships, representing 642,800 tons and costing $101,660,356. He added that negotiations were proceeding for another hundred wooden ships. Major Gen. Goethals then explained that he mainly relied on the construction of steel ships of standard pattern for getting the greatest amount of the most serviceable tonnage in the shortest time. Contracts were to be offered for the building of two plants (to be owned by the Government) for the construction of fabricated steel ships, to produce 400 ships, aggregating 2,500,000 tons, within eighteen to twentyfour months, and absorbing $550,000,000. Major Gen. Goethals also foreshadowed the commandeering of ships then in process of building for private account, aggregating more than 1,500,000 tons.

Disagreement between Major Gen. Goethals and the Shipping Board, of which William Denman was President, led to the resignation on July 20 of Major Gen. Goethals and the demand by President Wilson that Mr. Denman likewise resign. Edward N. Hurley, formerly Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, was appointed President of the Shipping Board, and Rear Admiral W. L. Capps, Chief Constructor of the Navy, was designated General Manager of the Emergency Fleet Corporation. Bainbridge Colby of New York was also appointed a member of the Shipping Board.

The first important act of the Government after the reconstitution of the Shipping Board was the commandeering of all power-driven cargo-carrying and pas

senger vessels above 2,500 tons dead weight capacity under construction, and all materials, machinery, equipment, and outfit pertaining to such construction. The order was issued to the owners of shipyards on Aug. 3 by Admiral Capps in virtue of the authority delegated to the Emergency Fleet Corporation. Compensation, the order explained, would be paid at a later date. Thus, by a single stroke, the United States came into possession of over 1,500,000 tons of shipping in process of construction. Most of the 700 vessels commandeered were owned in Great Britain and Norway. When completed, these vessels will almost double America's steam tonnage in foreign trade.

With the submission of new estimates by the Shipping Board on Aug. 24 the Government's complete shipbuilding program was made public. It called for a total of 1,270 ships, of 7,968,000 tons, in addition to nearly 2,000,000 tons of shipping which was already under construction in American yards, and which had been commandeered by the Emergency Fleet Corporation. The program is to be carried out by the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 1918, and requires a new billion-dollar appropriation, thus bringing the total amount required for building, commandeering, and purchasing vessels up to two billions. The details of the program are shown in the following table:

BUILDING PROGRAM

Contracts for the construction of three great Government-owned shipbuilding yards were awarded on Aug. 31 by the Emergency Fleet Corporation to the American International Corporation, the Submarine Boat Corporation, and the Merchants' Shipbuilding Company. After the first ship is turned out from one of these yards it will be possible to produce one 5,000-ton steel vessel every two working days.

On Sept. 7 it was announced that the United States is to build a great fleet of merchant vessels of from 10,000 to 12,000 tons, capable of attaining a speed of 16 knots or better. Contracts already entered into for ships of smaller capacity and lower speed would be carried out, but practically all of the millions which Congress had been asked for in addition to the original appropriation of $500,000,000 for construction would be devoted to the fast ships. At least 150 cargo ships aggregating from 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 tons will be built under the new Shipping Board plan, and not one of them will be slower than 16 knots, while many of

them will be capable of 18 knots or more. Careful investigations made by Chairman Hurley of the Shipping Board and Secretary Redfield of the Department of Commerce showed that vessels capable of 16 knots or more were practically free from successful submarine attack.

A question which is causing some perplexity was raised by the commandeering of the ships building for British interests. On one side it was proposed that they should be retained by the United States in spite of the objections of Great Britain, but it was pointed out on the other hand that soon after the arrival of the British War Mission in the United States the British Government gave assurances that it would not protest against the commandeering of British vessels on American stocks. Later there was an endeavor to put through an inter-allied chartering agreement, which, in the view of American officials, would have given the United States hardly enough representation of power in the control of allied shipping. For this reason the proposal was rejected. Following this, Great Britain is understood to have changed her position on the question of commandeer and to have demanded that the ships she is building here be turned back to her on their completion.

The Chartering Commission

Another far-reaching development in the control of the Shipping Board took place on Sept. 6, when Mr. Hurley an

nounced the formation of an American Chartering Commission, with headquarters in New York, to have absolute power over all charters of American ships or by American shippers. The proposed powers of the American Chartering Commission are much broader than those of the Inter-Allied Chartering Committee in London. Mr. Hurley and the Shipping Committee of the Council of National Defense agreed upon a tentative universal shipping rate to be enforced on all Government shipments on American vessels. Close co-operation was also arranged between the Embargo Administration Board and the Shipping Board to insure the widest possible control of alien tonnage.

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The rounding off of the Shipping Board's jurisdiction was made manifest in the conclusion arrived at by the Exports Board and the Shipping Board that the United States has full authority to commandeer neutral tonnage tied up in American ports, as war necessity." This decision affected 400,000 tons of neutral shipping, of which 250,000 was Dutch. An interesting point involved in this step was the revival of the ancient right of angary, which is recognized as part of international law and means

the right to enforce transportation. All efforts to effect an agreement with the Allies for a general rate reduction in the Atlantic have so far proved ineffective, owing to the fact that Great Britain's method of shipping control has made it impossible for the British to co-operate in the Shipping Board plan. In regard to shipping on the Pacific, where Japan dominates the situation, negotiations were begun on the arrival of the Japanese War Mission headed by Viscount Ishii.

T

HE large number of enemy aliens in the United States presents one of the many problems with which the Government has to deal. Technically, every German who has not taken out first papers and who, therefore, still owes allegiance to the Fatherland is an enemy alien; but, while the great majority of these aliens are naturally either sympathetic to German war aims, or at least unable to give their wholehearted support to the Allies, they are not a source of danger to the United States. Only a small section have given evidence of disaffection, or endeavored to cause trouble.

On the outbreak of war in 1914 the British Government interned all German subjects because it was difficult to know who were and who were not engaged in some form of espionage. Such a measure would be impracticable in the United States, and efforts have accordingly been limited to watching and arresting only those Germans whom there was some reason of suspecting as spies or agents of the German Government. This is the task of the Secret Service, and from the nature of its work it is impossible to give any idea of what has been done except where the arrest of Germans has actually been reported.

Prisoners of War

The largest group of interned Germans consists of those who come under the heading of prisoners of war, as distinct from men suspected of espionage. Practically all these prisoners of war are officers and men who formed the crews of the German merchant vessels seized in American ports; and most of them were arrested in New York and sent in the first place to Ellis Island. The Government has leased a hotel and grounds at Hot Springs, N. C., and there established a detention camp, where several hundred German merchant officers and sailors are now accommodated in very comfortable quarters. Five hundred officers and a hundred sailors here enjoy their new-found leisure in a hundred acres of shaded lawn, and need not work unless they feel so inclined. As soon as new buildings are erected another six hundred men will be sent to Hot Springs.

The Germans at Hot Springs have caused no trouble, and do not seem inclined to do so. They are seafaring men and philosophic enough to enjoy their enforced holiday. They obey the few rules imposed on them. They answer roll call at 9 A. M. daily and take part in a fire drill. Then they are practically free within the grounds until taps sound at 11 P. M. They are practically on the

"honor system" and are allowed to make rules for their own guidance through a number of committees. They work when they work and play when they play, idling but little. The chief officers have organized classes, and daily instruction is given to petty officers and common seamen in mathematics, navigation, and languages. Squads run through military setting-up exercises daily. Some of the men work for the Government, including fifty ship carpenters engaged in the construction of the new barracks, and others are employed as day laborers. The pay ranges from $20 to $30 a month. A number of the men work in the sevenacre tract, where a fine crop of vegetables is growing, and others find diversion in their own little garden plots. Agriculture appeals to most of the interned men.

By the riverside the officers have built a village of miniature rustic houses, using tree limbs and roots, stones, odds and ends of material found on the hotel grounds. One house has panels of old matting. A small church with a steeple is nearing completion. The prisoners are allowed to receive newspapers and other reading matter, and, subject to the station censorship, to write and receive letters. About thirty members of German officers' families have gone to the village of Hot Springs, and these the officers are privileged to receive for an hour each Sunday. They can see them as often as they wish, the families coming to the fence, but no conversation is allowed except during the Sunday hour. Few visitors are allowed to inspect the station, and they are not permitted to speak to the Germans except by way of salutation in passing. The Germans do not salute the Americans in charge, although they generally speak in salutation. The watchmen are not supposed to talk with them. The Germans are well fed on plain food -potatoes, beans, cabbage, turnips, and material for soups and stews. The United States furnishes the food at a cost of about 50 cents per man a day, and the German chefs cook it.

Methods of Handling Prisoners In the expectation that the progress of the war will throw on the United States

the burden of looking after large numbers of prisoners, the War Department is completing plans for handling many thousands more. According to an official statement, all war prisoners, whether military or naval, will ultimately be placed in the custody of the War Department, and the Adjutant General of the army will have general control through five principal bureaus, namely:

1. A bureau of administration charged with the composition and personnel of the guards, the pay, rations, clothing, and transportation of them.

2. A bureau of employment in charge of the labor of prisoners, both within their places of internment and on Federal, State, and private projects without the prisons.

3. A bureau of religious and educational welfare, to which bureau all matters connected with religion, education, recreation, and the dealing with Red Cross and benevolent assistance will be conducted.

4. A bureau of inquiry charged with the custody of the records of war prisoners, and through which information concerning the prisoners will be transmitted to the enemy's Government and to the National Red Cross Society. This bureau is also charged with the forwarding of mail, money orders, and packages sent from the prisoners' home country for delivery to individual prisoners; and

5. A bureau of repatriation, charged with the final restoration of prisoners to their home country at the conclusion of hostilities.

Three War Prison Barracks

The places of detention are known as war prison barracks and at present three such barracks have been established, located at Fort McPherson, Ga.; Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., and Fort Douglas, Utah. Each barracks is commanded by a Colonel of the regular army, assisted by a staff of officers similar to that of a commanding officer of an army post or camp.

The general regulations under which war prisoners are held were made the subject of a special article of the Fourth Hague Convention. In addition to this, the United States is bound by certain provisions of the Geneva Convention.

Officers who may be made prisoners are allowed, under the provisions of The Hague Convention, the pay of officers of the corresponding grade in the army of the captors' Government, and such is the present practice in the United States.

The enlisted men who are made prisoners are given the same medical attention, pay, clothing, and quarters as are allowed United States soldiers. The quarters authorized for war prisoners are similar. to and constructed in accordance with the specifications governing the construction of cantonments used by the army of the United States. War prisoners are not confined in the sense of being placed in jails or prisons or penal institutions, but as it is necessary to limit their freedom of movement, the cantonments in which they are confined are surrounded by a wire fence. Within the limits of this fence prisoners are given liberty of action.

Entire Religious Freedom

The Hague Convention requires that war prisoners shall enjoy complete liberty in the exercise of their religion. To provide for this, there is a chaplain of the regular army on the staff of the commandant of each war prison barracks, who has general supervision of the religious matters connected with the prison, and services are authorized for all prisoners so desiring where churches of special denominations are located in the vicinity of the places of internment. A representative of the International Committee of Young Men's Christian Associations is also accredited to each war prison barracks and, in conjunction with the barracks chaplain, assists in the athletic and social affairs of the prisoners. In the event of the death of a war prisoner, the same honors and respect are shown as in case of the death of an individual of corresponding rank in the United States Army.

The educational welfare of the prisoners is under the immediate control of the barracks chaplain, who is charged with the organization of courses of instruction as elected by the prisoners and who is aided in the work by the prisoners themselves. Later, vocational training will be introduced in each barrack to provide for prisoners who are without any trade or vocation, the qualified prisoners being used as instructors for the others.

Prisoners are entitled to send mail matter through international mails with

out postage. Mail matter for domestic destination is subject to postage, as is also all incoming mail, both outgoing and incoming mail being censored at the barracks.

As the number of prisoners increases,. the Adjutant General will, under the authority granted him by Paragraph 6 of the Fourth Hague Convention, authorize the employment of these prisoners on work connected with the public service, for individuals, and upon their own account.

In arriving at the wages to be paid prisoners for these classes of work, the provisions of international law govern. When the work is for branches of the public service or for private persons, the conditions are settled in an agreement with military authorities. The wages of prisoners go toward improving their positions, and any balances remaining are paid them on their release, after deducting the cost of maintenance.

Complete records are kept of all sums disbursed for the care and upkeep of war prisoners, and at the close of hostilities reports of these disbursements are forwarded to the enemy Government for reimbursement.

Some of Those Interned

Among the Germans who have been arrested-on the suspicion of being spiesby Secret Service agents of the Government are Carl Heynen, for years one of the most influential German agents in North America, and at one time German Consul General at Mexico City; P. A. Borgemeister, formerly a New York banker, but more recently confidential secretary to Dr. Heinrich Albert, late Financial Attaché of the German Embassy in Washington; Professor Jonathan Zenneck, an expert in wireless telegraphy, and Heinrich S. Ficke, auditor in New York City of the North German Lloyd Steamship Company, whose home on Staten Island commands a view of the ships entering and leaving New York Harbor. These and other suspects were connected either directly or indirectly with the German Government and great financial, industrial, and maritime concerns owned or controlled by