Hon. SCHUYLER OTIS BLAND, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, Chairman Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Referring to the question brought up at the hearing of your committee yestereday, March 19, I wish to advise that the records do not Show that any investigation other than through the Interdepartmental Committee OL Mail Contracts was made by the former Shipping Board at the time of the award of the mail contracts to individual services to establish their value in essential trade routes. The Interdepartmental Committee on Mail Contracts was composed of the Chairman of the Shipping Board, the Postmaster General, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of the Navy. This committee, known as the "parent committee", acted through a subcommittee composed of representatives of these governmental departments, and it appears to have been the custom for this subcommittee to hold hearings with applicants for mail contracts and present & report of these hearings with recommendations to the heads of the parent committee. The Post Office Department, in accordance with section 402 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1928, would then certify the service to the former Shipping Board as an essential mail route under conditions provided for by the act, and the Shipping Board under section 403 of the act would certify in turn to the Post Office Department the type, size, speed, and other characteristics as well as the frequency and regularity of sailings required in the maintenance of the Service; the particulars so specified appear to have corresponded with the type of vessels then operated in the Service. Very truly yours, J. C. PEACOCK, Director. The CHAIRMAN. If there are no further questions, I will now call Mr. Trimble. STATEMENT OF SOUTH TRIMBLE, JR., SOLICITOR FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (Commerce Department's answer to questionnaire.) 1. What are the number and gross tonnage of documented vessels of the United States? Answer. Twenty-four thousand eight hundred and seventy-four vessels of 14,752,000 gross tons (as of Dec. 31, 1934). 2. What sizes of vessels are included in the documented tonnage? Answer. Documented tonnage includes vessels 5 tons net and upward. 3. How many officers and seamen are required to navigate these vessels? Answer. One hundred and eighty-two thousand officers and seamen are required. 4. Of the documented vessels, how many are registered, enrolled, and licensed? Answer. Classification of documented vessels: Registered, 3,796 vessels of 4,432,242 gross tons; enrolled, 12,411 vessels of 10,193,950 gross tons; licensed, 8,767 vessels of 125,912 gross tons; total, 24,874 vessels of 14,752,104 gross tons. 5. How do these figures compare with those of 1914? Answer. Classification of documented vessels: Registered, 2,405 vessels of 1.076,152 gross tons; enrolled, 13,836 vessels of 6,718,974 gross tons; licensed, 10,702 vessels of 133,562 gross tons; total, 26,943 vessels of 7,928,688 gross tons. 6. Of the documented vessels of the United States today, how many are oceangoing sizes of 2,000 gross tons and upward? Answer. One thousand nine hundred and sixty-five vessels of 11,190,849 gross tons (as of Dec. 31, 1934). 7. Can you segregate the ocean-going tonnage under the American flag as to its employment? 2,324,207 1,356, 733 2, 390, 263 Vessels in the foreign and coastwise trade carrying general cargoes and passengers.. 1 Includes 4 vessels of 24,445 gross tons owned and operated by Panama R. R. S. S. Line. 8. Of the ocean-going vessels registered for the foreign trade, how many are certified for operation on ocean-mail routes? Answer. Vessels certified and operated on ocean-mail routes, fiscal year ended June 30, 1934: 282 vessels of 1,900,000 gross tons. 9. How much ocean-mail pay did these ships receive for, say, the fiscal year 1934? Answer. Ocean-mail pay, fiscal year ended June 30, 1934: $29,611,481.99. 10. How much of the tonnage receiving mail pay was purchased from the United States Government? Answer. Two hundred and twenty-four vessels of approximately 1,400,000 gross tons received mail pay during the fiscal year 1934, and received $20,125,142.78. 11. What was the purchase price of this tonnage? Answer. $44,415,102.60. 12. What was the original cost of this tonnage? Answer. $514,917,829.44. 13. What was the world market value of this tonnage when sold? Answer. $74,728,000. 14. How much of the tonnage receiving mail pay was built under the construction loan provisions of the 1928 act and what was the cost of these vessels? Answer. Vessels that earned mail pay during the fiscal year 1934, built under the 1928 act: 29 vessels of 324,876 gross tons and cost $130,654,073.48. The mail pay earned during the fiscal year 1934 was $8,743,540. 15. What percentage of the tonnage certified to operate on ocean-mail routes is over 10 years old? Answer. 79.01 percent over 10 years of age in tonnage; 86.5 percent over 10 years of age in number; 77 percent over 13 years of age in tonnage; 85.5 percent over 13 years of age in number (fiscal year 1934). 16. What are the ages of vessels purchased from the United States Government which are certified for operation on ocean-mail routes? Answer. Age of certified vessels purchased from United States Government operated on mail routes, fiscal year ended June 30, 1934: 17. Are these vessels as economical to operate as those built during the last 10 years? Answer. They are not. 18. Do you know the fuel consumption of the Leviathan as compared with the Bremen and other large modern transatlantic liners? Answer. Fuel consumption on the Leviathan: 1.2 pounds per shaft horsepower per hour or 900 tons per day or about 6,000 barrels. Fuel consumption on the Bremen: About 0.68 pounds per shaft horsepower per hour. Other more modern liners about 0.66 to 0.68 pounds per shaft horsepower per hour. 19. Do you know what the volume of ship tonnage is in the world today? Answer. Number and gross tonnage of vessels 100 gross tons and upward in world is about 31,000 vessels of 65,577,000 gross tons (Lloyd's Register, 1934–35). 20. How does this compare with the year 1914-before the outbreak of the World War? Can you define the tonnage in existence at the present time as to the types of vessels this tonnage includes? Answer. Vessels 100 gross tons and upward from Lloyd's 1934-35: 21. Can you segregate this tonnage further to show what comprises oceangoing vessels of the larger sizes? Answer. Vessels 2,000 gross tons and upward, excluding tankers and vessels on the Great Lakes, as of December 31, 1934: NOTE.-Included in this tonnage are 1,420 oil tankers of 1,000 tons gross and upward, amounting to 8,668,477 tons; 369 of 2,211,720 tons are registered in Great Britain and Ireland, 385 of 2,480,155 tons are registered in the United States, and 213 of 1,506,887 tons in Norway. In addition there are 107,532 tons of tankers of less than 1,000 tons each. The tonnage of steam and motor trawlers and other fishing vessels and whalers amounts to 1,053,089 tons. An analysis of the vessels recorded in the register book shows that 396,277 tons represent tugs and salvage vessels; ferries amount to 333,898 tons; cable vessels to 75,552 tons; while river vessels and vessels owned by municipal corporation or harbor authorities, and steam barges, dredgers, and similar craft, amount to 508,433 tons. It will thus be seen that, without taking into account size, age, or material, there are about 11,143,000 tons of vessels which are not used for ordinary cargo and passenger purposes, leaving 54,433,612 tons for cargo and passenger purposes. 22. Have you any idea what part of such ocean-going vessels participate in the international carrying trade? Answer. As of December 31, 1934, the vessels 2,000 gross tons and over normally employed in the international trade numbered 6,703 vessels of 36,155,870 gross tons. 23. How much of such tonnage is registered under the flags of the six principal maritime countries? Answer. As of December 31, 1934: 24. How does the United States rank in tonnage among these six countries? Answer. Third. 25. How does the United States rank in tonnage of vessels with speed of 12 knots and upward? Answer. Fifth. 26. How does the United States rank in tonnage of vessels 10 years of age or less? Answer. Last. 27. What percentage of the water-borne foreign trade of the United States was carried in American ships during the past year? Answer. 35.2 percent (value). 28. What percentage of this trade was carried in American ships during the past 10 years (value)? Answer. 33.9 percent. 29. How does this compare with the decade preceding the World War? Answer. Approximately 10 percent for this period. 30. When we speak of the percentage of the commerce carried in American ships, does this include every kind of cargo and does it include traffic on the Great Lakes? Answer. Yes. 31. Can you give figures showing the percentage of our foreign trade carried in American ships segregated to distinguish between the lake and ocean traffic? Answer. During the calendar year 1933, on basis of volume, 31 percent of the lake traffic and 33 percent of the ocean-borne traffic was carried in American ships. 32. Can you segregate this further to separate that carried by tankers from that transported by cargo vessels and passenger vessels? Answer. For calendar year 1933: In tanker trade, American tankers moved 36 percent; dry cargo, American vessels moved 31 percent. 33. What was the size of our merchant marine operating in regular services in 1914? Answer. There were 81 American flag vessels of 482,000 gross tons operating in regular services in the foreign trade in 1914. 34. What is the size of our merchant marine operating in regular services today? Answer. There were 477 American flag vessels of 2,993,000 gross tons operating in regular services in the foreign trade in 1934. 35. What percentage of the American foreign trade was carried in American vessels in the nearby and overseas trades, say, for the last dozen years? Answer. Total, 31 percent; nearby trade, 36 percent, overseas trade, 29 percent. 36. How did this compare with the percentage carried by British ships in this trade? Answer. Total, 23 percent; nearby trade, 26 percent, overseas trade, 30 percent. 37. What percentage of the total foreign passenger traffic was carried by American ships? Answer. Twenty-eight percent (1923-33). 38. What percentage of the trans-Atlantic passenger traffic was carried by American ships for the same period? Answer. For period 1923-33: Approximately 11.5 percent; west-bound, 12 percent; east-bound, 11 percent. 39. What is the largest American-built ship operated in the trans-Atlantic trade? 40. Are these ships economical to operate and do they get a fair share of the trade? Answer. They are economical to operate and get a substantial share of the trade. 41. How do the Manhattan and Washington compare in size with foreign ships in the trans-Atlantic services? Answer. On a basis of gross tons there are about 22 foreign-flag ships in the trans-Atlantic service larger than the Manhattan and Washington. 42. How many vessels in excess of 25,000 gross tons have been built by foreign countries during the last 8 years? 43. Was there a demand for ships following the World War? Answer. There was a great demand for ships following the signing of the armistice, through the first half of 1920, resulting from the first post-war impetus in world trade, homeward troop movements, and the transportation of food and supplies in relief work. |