But  they  were  hard  to  get  and  it  cost  lots  of  money.  I  am  only  giv-


69

ing  you  two  or  three  instances  now  to  show  you  that  if  you  can
eliminate  these  changes — the  British  shipbuilders  are  facing  an  in-
creasing cost  of  shipbuilding,  there  is  no  doubt  about  it.  The  British
shipbuilder's  cost  is  not  going  down;  the  British  shipbuilder's  labor
is  going  up.  The  American  shipbuilder's  cost  is  going  to  come
down  because  his  efficiency  is  improving,  and  if  you  can  reduce  this
interference  with  the  contract  after  it  is  let  and  say,  "Mr.  Smith,
there  is  your  contract — there  are  your  specifications  and  we  will  close
it  with  you ;  meet  the  classification  requirements,  whatever  they  are,
and  we  will  accept  the  ship,"  then  you  are  going  to  get  very  much
increased  efficiency  in  the  cost  of  the  ship,  and  you  are  going  to  get
the  ship  built  very  much  quicker  and  are  going  to  be  able  to  look
the  public  in  the  eye  and  say,  "We  are  building  the  ship;  take  it
for  good  or  bad,  we  are  all  through."

The  American  shipbuilder  turns  out  a  much  finer  cargo  boat  than
the  British  shipbuilder  turns  out — Mr.  Donald  with  his  long  ex-
perience in  shipowning  will  back  up  what  I  sav,  that  we  turn  out
here  higher  class  cargo  or  passenger  boats  than  are  turned  out  in
England  for  the  same  class  of  work.  They  turn  out  special  ships,
special  work,  that  we  don't  touch,  probably,  but  the  cargo  boat
to-day  or  the  passenger  boat  to-day  that  was  built  in  England,  and
the  same  type  of  boat  built  in  this  country,  this  country's  ship  is  the
better;  and  if  the  American  shipowner  will  say,  "I  want  a  cargo
boat  to  carry  bulk  cargo,  two-deck  cargo  boat,  shower  baths,  indi-
vidual sleeping  quarters,"  then  he  will  get  his  ship  according  to  the
specifications,  comfortable  for  the  men,  good  to  navigate,  and  within
the  money.
