ing, an auditorium seating 3,000, and a clubroom for officers. In these buildings the men can read, write letters home, (the Y. M. C. A. gives away 1,000,000 sheets of note paper every month at Camp Dix,) buy stamps and postal cards, hear music, join classes in English and French, Bible classes, and enjoy some kind of healthy entertainment every night. There is no finer sight in America than one of those Y. M. C. A. buildings packed with these new nephews of Uncle Sam. Imagine a long room built of fresh, clean timbers; lit by electric light, a high platform at one end, flags of all the Allies hanging from the rafters. The benches are crowded with men; over 500 THE The United States as Shipowner HE commandeering by the United States Shipping Board of all steamers of more than 2,500 tons was effected on Oct. 15. The approximate number of vessels affected was 500, aggregating about 2,000,000 tons. Bainbridge Colby, the member of the Shipping Board who was in charge of putting the new system into operation, said that the requisitioning would not make any material difference in the present movement of ships. He added: We are turning the ships back to the owners to operate them on Government account, under the sams system as in England. We will not disturb them until there is a concrete case of need. Our purpose is to unify the control of all these ships available for ocean traffic. We have fixed a requisition rate, based on a fair appraisal, which replaces the speculative, hectic bidding for tonnage under the old private charters. The rates are considerably under the prevalent high rates. Edward F. Carry of Chicago became the Shipping Board's director of operations for the purpose of unifying the control of ocean traffic. Tremendous efforts have been made to speed up the Government's shipbuilding program, so as to complete the million tons fixed to be ready by March 1, 1918. The Shipping Board has initiated plans to get twenty-four hours of service a day out of all shipyards in place of the single eight-hour shift, or to get at least two shifts. The main difficulty has been to secure enough labor, both skilled and unskilled, to supply all the shipyards. More than 300,000 additional workers were reported on Oct. 26 as necessary for the construction of tonnage needed at once. At that date the steel shipbuilding program was reported to be twenty vessels behind schedule. Contract for Seventy Ships The largest single order placed by the Emergency Fleet Corporation was announced on Nov. 4. This was the contract for seventy 8,000-ton vessels, to be built within twelve months, at a cost of $100,000,000, which was awarded to the American International Corporation, operating the great Government fabricating yard at Hog Island, on the Delaware River, in close association with the American Bridge Company. The American International Corporation previously had a contract for fifty 7,500-ton vessels at a cost of $50,000,000. Further reorganization of the Emergency Fleet Corporation went into effect on Nov. 12 as part of the effort to produce 6,000,000 tons of ships by the end of 1918. One of the most important changes put Charles A. Piez, a Chicago engineer, recently elected Vice President of the Fleet Corporation, in charge of the actual construction of the vessels, and placed in his hands the many problems confronted in obtaining materials and a more complete spirit of co-operation with the builders. Mr. Piez took over a good deal of the work hitherto done by Rear Admiral Capps, General Manager of the corporation, who still remained the chief executive officer. James Heyworth of Chicago, one of the large contractors of the country, was chosen to specialize on the work of building wooden ships, contracts for 310 of which have been let. He replaced Rear Admiral F. T. Bowles, retired. Judge John Barton Payne was appointed head of the legal department of the corporation. Irving T. Bush, founder and head of the Bush Terminal Company of New York, on Nov. 5 accepted the position of chief executive officer of the New York Port War Board, created to mobilize every facility of both the New York and New Jersey sides of the port in the interest of war maritime efficiency. The New York Port War Board was created in a conference held in New York City on Nov. 3, which was attended by Secretary Baker and Generals Baker, Shanks, and Abbott. Ships from Neutral Nations The shipping resources of the Allies received a valuable addition by the agreement, announced on Nov. 13, under which the United States secured over 400,000 tons of ships belonging to the Northern European neutral nations and Japan. The European neutrals finally agreed to turn over to the United States and the Allies ships in exchange for foodstuffs that only America could supply. Japan was asked to sell to the United State a large amount of tonnage in the Pacific in exchange for steel ship plates which the Japanese were anxious to obtain to complete their merchant shipbuilding proMany of the ships acquired gram. from neutrals were assigned to routes between American ports and South America, each releasing an American or British vessel for service through the war zone. In its negotiations the United States dealt in a different manner with each, Norway, Sweden, Holland, and Denmark. A large part of the Norwegian merchant marine, most of which is owned in Great Britain, already is in the allied service. The Dutch insisted that none of their vessels be put into service that would take them through the war zone. of the Dutch ships turned over were assigned to transport to the United States wheat from Argentina and Australia and sugar from Java. Most These agreements helped to ease the situation created by the determination of the United States to embargo any and all supplies which might be sent through neutral countries into Germany. The War Trade Board, exercising the powers granted to it under the Trading with the Enemy act, ended Germany's last hope of drawing, through indirect channels, on American resources by issuing on Oct. 15 its form of agreement, which all shippers must sign. The first export license was issued to Captain Raoul Amundsen, the explorer, for foodstuffs, fuel, and oil needed for his expedition to the north pole. salers, manufacturers, and other distributers of the foodstuffs specified in the President's proclamations. More than 40,000 applications had already been received on Nov. 1. Beginning Nov. 3, all direct trading of American millers, exporters, and blenders of flour with European countries was prohibited, according to an announcement made at the offices of the United States Food Administration's Milling Division in New York City. The business was taken over by the Food Administration. The change was considered necessary to control and centralize the exports of flour to neutral countries in Europe, and also to regulate the quantities of flour forwarded to these countries, so as to provide for the minimum quantity of that actually required. President Wilson's proclamation putting the baking industry under license was made public on Nov. 12, and steps were taken by the Food Administration to organize machinery for the enforcement of the regulations. All bakeries, consuming ten barrels of flour or more a month, are brought under these regulations, and are requested to apply for information so that they may adjust plants to the use of the standard weights and formula adopted for "war bread." The proclamation covers the baking of cake, crackers, biscuits, pastry, and other products, and applies not only to bakers but also to hotels, restaurants, and clubs where bread or other products of their own baking are served. Heads of households who do home baking are called upon by the Food Administration to watch carefully the formulas and other SUBS instructions issued from time to time and co-operate voluntarily. The first article in which the American people experienced a shortage was sugar. Mr. Hoover appealed again on Oct. 19 for a reduced consumption of sugar, so that France and other allied countries might not suffer more severely. The present shortage, he said, was brought about by the great increase in exports over normal times. The widespread publicity given to the temporary shortage of sugar started a rush on the retail grocery stores in New York and other Eastern States. Unscrupulous dealers seized the opportunity to raise prices, in some cases to 20 cents a pound, although the wholesale price of refined granulated sugar was being held at just under 82 cents a pound. The retail price had been planned to remain at about 91⁄2 cents. Mr. Hoover dealt with the situation by arranging to obtain 200,000,000 pounds of raw sugar from Louisiana producers. This transaction involved $13,000,000. One family out of every three in the United States had already pledged support to the Food Administration's plan for voluntary food conservation, according to reports received up to Nov. 6, showing that the total enrollment for the country was 7,406,544. More than 90 per cent. of the country's better class hotels had signed pledges and the others were coming into line. Although the movement for a meatless Tuesday and a wheatless Wednesday was not started until late in September, it had been generally accepted by public eating houses everywhere. The Second Liberty Loan NUBSCRIPTIONS for the 4 per cent. bonds of the Second Liberty Loan closed on Oct. 27, 1917, and amounted to $4,617,532,300, or 54 per cent. more than the amount asked. The bonds ultimately allotted to subscribers totaled $3,808,766,150, or $808,766,150 above the amount sought. The number of subscribers had never been equaled in history, the total being 9,400,000. The subscriptions less than $50,000 were distributed among 9,306,000 persons. The largest individual subscription was $50,000,000, made by the Du Pont Powder Company of Wilmington, Del. The subscriptions ranging from $50 to $50,000 aggregated $2,488,469,350. The First Liberty Loan subscriptions |