"Premier Lloyd George sent a cable to President Wilson on the launching of the ships, in which he extended 'heartfelt congratulations on this magnificent performance,' and in an Independence-day speech Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels said in part: "'We are launching this day far more tonnage than that of all the American vessels sunk by submarines since the war began. We are launching today more than the Germans sank of the ships of all nations in the last month for which we have the official figures. The recent enemy submarine activities off our coast resulted in the loss of 25,411 dead-weight tons of American shipping. During this same time 130,000 gross tons of shipping were built. "'To give some idea of the tonnage situation with reference to American shipping, it may be of interest to know that the total tonnage of American vessels lost prior to the entry of the United States into the war was 67,815. The total American tonnage sunk since the entry of the United States into the war is 284,408, or a total of 352,223 tons sunk during the whole period of the European War. As against this loss, the gross tonnage of merchant ships built in the United States since the commencement of the European War is 2,722,563 tons, 1,736,664 gross tons of which have been built since the entry of the United States into the war. In addition to the tonnage thus built 650,000 tons of German shipping have been taken over. This does not include the tonnage acquired of Dutch, Japanese, and other vessels. It will be of further interest to know that today there will be launched in the great shipyards of this country over 400,000 dead-weight tons. These figures are in addition to those previously given.'" A SHIP-BUILDING CAPACITY OF OVER 1,500,000 TONS A YEAR The war program of the Shipping Board implied a multiplication by three of existing outputs. This increased output signified the possibility of labor difficulties, and in order to prevent these an agreement was reached between representatives of the labor unions, the Navy Department, the Shipping Board and the Emergency Fleet Corporation, to the effect that all disputes concerning wages, hours or conditions in shipyards in ship-building plants should be determined by a committee of three, one representing the corporation, one nominated by the President and the third selected by Mr. Samuel Gompers. When this agreement was entered into the United States reported a ship-building capacity of over one and one-half million gross tons a year. Two years previously the ship-building capacity was only five hundred thousand tons, but according to the London _Economist_, a rate of four million gross tons a year would have to be supplied if the American Army was to have sufficient means of transport.