ing the month of May, the first month after Mr. Schwab
began his work, the record of production had mounted from 160,286 tons
to 263,571. American shipyards had completed and delivered during that
month forty-three steel ships and one wooden ship. Mr. Hurley, in an
address on June 10th, said:

On June 1st, we had increased the American built tonnage to over
3,500,000 dead-weight tons of shipping. This gives us a total of more
than one thousand four hundred ships with an approximate total
deadweight tonnage of 7,000,000 now under the control of the United
States Shipping Board. In round numbers and from all sources we have
added to the American flag since our war against Germany began, nearly
4,500,000 tons of shipping. Our program calls for the building of 1,856
passenger, cargo and refrigerator ships and tankers, ranging from five
thousand to twelve thousand tons each, with an aggregate dead-weight of
thirteen million. Exclusive of these we have two hundred and forty-five
commandeered vessels, taken over from foreign and domestic owners which
are being completed by the Emergency Fleet Corporation. These will
aggregate a total dead-weight tonnage of 1,715,000. This makes a total
of two thousand one hundred and one vessels, exclusive of tugs and
barges which are being built and will be put on the seas in the course
of carrying out the present program, with an aggregate dead-weight
tonnage of 14,715,000. Five billion dollars will be required to finish
our program, but the expenditure of this enormous sum will give to the
American people the greatest merchant fleet ever assembled in the
history of the world. American workmen have made the expansion of recent
months possible, and they will make possible the successful conclusion
of the whole program.

In the wonderful work that followed his appointment Mr. Schwab
constantly came before the public, mainly through his addresses to the
working men of the different yards. His main endeavor was to stimulate
enthusiasm and rivalry among the men. A ten-thousand-dollar prize was
offered to the yard producing the largest surplus above its program, and
he traveled throughout the country urging the employees at all the great
yards to break their records. The result of his work was that it was not
long before it was announced that the monthly tonnage of ships completed
by the Allies exceeded the tonnage of those sunk by the German
submarine. The menace of the submarine, which had