When we entered the war we had almost no ships.  Congress created the United States Shipping Board and its Emergency Fleet Corporation.  As a result, and within a year’s time, the United States took rank as the leading shipbuilding nation in the world.  It has more shipyards, more shipways, more ship workers, more ships under construction, and is building more ships every month during the war than any other country.  Prior to the war the United States stood a poor third among the shipbuilding nations.  Since August, 1917, more seagoing tonnage has been launched from American shipyards than was ever launched before in a similar period anywhere. [Footnote:  “Shipping Facts,” issued by the U.S.  Shipping Board, September, 1918.]

Moreover, under the stress of necessity methods of shipbuilding and operation were developed that ought to make it possible for the United States to compete successfully in the future with other nations, even though our workmen and sailors are paid more than those of other nations.

The chairman of the shipping board said, “The American community must think of ships as a local improvement.”  This means that the business and welfare of every American community, whether a seaport or a remote farming community, are dependent upon ships.  By our merchant marine the American farmer and the American businessman are brought into touch with the remotest parts of the earth.

Investigate and report on: 

The service of the railroads to the farmers of your county.  To the merchants of your town.

The story of the building of the first transcontinental railway.

State control of railroads in your state.

Experiences of your community with respect to railroad rate discrimination.

The work of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

The work of the United States Railway Administration during the war.

Advantages and disadvantages of government control of railroads during the war.

The war powers of the President.

Arguments for and against government ownership of railroads.

Electric interurban railways in your county and state.  What they mean to the farmer and to the city resident.

The work of the United States Coast Survey.

The history of the American merchant marine.

The development of the American merchant marine during the recent war.

The building of “fabricated ships.”

The life of a sailor to-day, as compared with that of 100 years ago.

The dependence of the American farmer upon the merchant marine.

READINGS

County reports relating to road construction and improvement.

Reports of State Highway Commission.

State management of public roads, year book, U.S.  Department of
Agriculture, 1914, pp. 211-226.