uels the
Government was bent on obtaining a firm grasp on shipping. And the
point was, as stated in the preamble of the proclamation, "the public
safety requires that succor shall be prevented from reaching the
enemy."

Europe hailed the establishment of the American embargo as signalizing
a "real blockade" against Germany. The Paris "Temps" succinctly
expressed the prevailing view in the Allied countries:

"The Allies, despite the patience of their diplomats and the vigilance
of their navies, have failed to make the blockade sufficiently tight.
A new measure was needed; the United States has now supplied it. By
forbidding indirect assistance the United States has introduced a new
and efficient condition. If the Allies firmly apply the principle, as
public opinion strongly demands, President Wilson's proclamation will
have been one of the decisive acts of the war."

The need for sending foodstuffs and like necessaries to the Allies, as
pointed out by the President in explaining the embargo, called for
shipping facilities of a magnitude that demanded the immediate
attention of Congress. Exports there would be in unexampled
quantities, but their destination must largely be to the Entente
countries, consigned in armed ships. Coastwise craft were drafted for
transatlantic trade; ships under construction for private concerns
were subject to acquisition by the Government; every craft afloat
adaptable to war service--ferryboats, private yachts, motor boats and
the like--were listed for contingent use; and the thousand or more
merchant ships of American registry demanded an equipment of guns and
ammunition to enable them to run the submarine blockade.

The seized German and Austrian ships helped to supply the needed
tonnage, but they did not go far. War conditions, created by the
recognition that the United States would practically win the war for
the Allies by keeping their countries generously supplied with all
necessities required the construction of a huge trade fleet of steel
or wooden ships at a cost of a billion dollars. The Government,
through the Shipping Board, reserved the right of preempting the
products of every steel mill in the country and of canceling all their
existing contracts with private consumers, so as to divert the use of
steel products for the trade fleet. The acquisition of every shipyard
in the country was also contemplated as a contingency. Tentative
estimates provided for the construction of th