HEARINGS BEFORE SUBCOMMITTEE OF HOUSE COMMITTEE CONSISTING OF MESSRS. SWAGAR SHERLEY (CHAIRMAN), WILLIAM SCHLEY HOWARD, AND FRANK W. MONDELL IN CHARGE OF SUNDRY CIVIL APPROPRIATION BILL FOR 1920 SIXTY-FIFTH CONGRESS PART III UNITED STATES SHIPPING BOARD WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1919 SUNDRY CIVIL BILL, 1920. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1919. UNITED STATES SHIPPING BOARD. STATEMENTS OF MR. CHARLES PIEZ, VICE PRESIDENT EMERGENCY FLEET CORPORATION; MR. D. H. BENDER, GENERAL AUDITOR; MR. CHARLES R. PAGE, COMMISSIONER. STATUS OF BUILDING PROGRAM. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Piez, last year, on May 9, when the Shipping Board was before the committee in connection with the estimates for the fiscal year 1919, it was testified by yourself that the program as of April 30 comprised 1,592 ships, of which 363 were wood hulls, with a total of 1,280,650 dead-weight tons; 88 wood, complete, with a tonnage of 331,400; 48 composite ships, with a total of 172,000 deadweight tons; 1,016 steel ships, with a total of 7,202,580 dead-weight tons; 9 concrete ships, of 59,500 dead-weight tons; 2 steel barges, of 15,000 dead-weight tons; 44 steel tugs and 22 wood tugs, making a total of 1,592, with a total of 9,061,130 dead-weight tons. This was your construction program as of that date? Mr. PIEZ. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. To what extent has that program of construction. been entered upon and the Government obligated, without now dealing in money but in character of ships? Mr. PIEZ. You want to know what part of that has been completed? The CHAIRMAN. No; I want to know what part of it has been so entered upon as to obligate the Government. Mr. PIEZ. We have carried out that original program and committed ourselves absolutely and were committed at that time, and we made no changes or substitutions in that part of the program. The CHAIRMAN. Do I understand, then, that as of April 30 you had a program, which may or may not have been a complete one, though I had the impression that, excluding requisitioned ships, it was your complete program as of that date, that involved 1,592 ships of a total tonnage of 9,061,130, and that, you say, has been gone forward with? Mr. PIEZ. Yes, sir; that is what was under contract at that time. The CHAIRMAN. And it did not represent your total program? Mr. PIEZ. No, sir; it did not. The CHAIRMAN. There appears on page 2306 of the hearings a program to December 31, 1918, in which it appears there were 2,174 steel ships with a dead-weight tonnage of 13,441,698. 3 |