WHEN COAL bi^y^B^kY GOES TO SEA

The fast clipper ship was built of wood and propelled by sails. W e had the timber to build that type of ship and the ingenuity to apply wind power and beat the world in speed. Those were the, days of the Yankee clipper ships, and from Revolutionary times until 1801 we carried from GO to 90 per cent of our o w n world trade. Then came iron and steel ships, with steam power. Great Britain led all countries in pig-iron production—the whole world output in 18(i0 was less than 8.000.000 tons, against 50,000,000 tons for the United States this year. A s for steam. Emerson said then: " Steam is an Englishman." John Bull took first place in the new kind of shipping. The proportion of American trade carried in American ships steadily ran down to less than 10 per cent at the outbreak of the world war. To-day we are about to see another revolutionary advance in merchant ships, and the United States will again have some advantage— if we back natural resources with national ingenuity. Petroleum is the coming factor in shipping. It will be used under boilers to raise steam. Better yet, it will propel internal-combustion engines of the Diesel type—the motor ship. W e have an advantage in our large output of petroleum—65 per cent of the world's output. A n d we are handiest to Mexico's supplies, now nearly 8 per cent of the world production, with remarkable possibilities for increase, and two types of crude oil that are peculiarly suited to marine use. In making a learned academic forecast of America's new merchant marine a German professor recently said: "In trading with other maritime powers it is right and proper that a nation should carry in its o w n ships at least 50 per cent of its world commerce."