The Federal Government may within a reasonably short time, be foraed to own and operate the entire merchant fleet of the United States, declared Mr. Joseph P. Kenredy recently appointed Ambassador to Great Britain, in a statement made to Congressional committees during hearings recently closed.
He also suggested the po: railway companies owning operating merchant shipping.
Within a decade, Mr. Kennedy asserted, the United States must have 500 new merchantmen as naval auxiliaries for the purpose of national defence. Their cost, he said, would be $1,250,000,000.
American shipyards started 1933 h 124 vessels, with a total aggregate of 300,090 tons, under construction.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.