New-York tribune. [volume], May 26, 1918, Page 6, Image 30

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U-BOATS VANISH AS
CONVOYS LOOM UP
>
By Herman Whitakcr
Author of "Tlte Planter" "The Set?
tler" "Over the. Border," Etc.
(Copyright, 1918. The N. Y. Tribun*? Association )
OUT in the harbor a thirty
vessel convoy was moving up
to its anchors. The hiss of
steam and rattle of the winches car?
ried across the water and up the hill
to whore, from the office windows, the ,
base admiral watched the departure.
His gaze centred on one ship, a tine
steamer, which with her cargo of '.
12,000 tons of meat was worth fully i
$3.000,000. Her potential value,
however, far exceeded that figure,
for the meat stood for human flesh
?the flesh of women and children
in France and England; for the
thews and sinews of millions of sol- \
diers who must be well fed if the
world was to escape the German
yoke.
The ship was commanded by a .
Scotch skipper, an admirable char?
acter, upright, courageous, self-re?
liant, the finest of seamen, but un?
fortunately hard in the mouth. Be?
fore the convoy system was estab?
lished he had voyaged a score of
times through the submarine zone,
winning his way to safety by sea- '
manship and daring. A torpedo had \
once shaved his bows. Another had ;
almost clipped off his stern. He had |
fought half a dozen artillery bat- '?
ties and gotten away with it. All
of which had raised his opinion of j
himself and his ship fairly close to
omnipotence. He hated the naval j
discipline of convoys as much as I
their slow speed and had bolted them
twice. The fact was in the base
admiral's mind when he turned to
his chief of staff.
McGregor Had
Bolted Twice
"McGregor, down there, has bolted
twice. I have advised his owners to
replace him, but they won't. Sooner
or later if he isn't stopped the U
boats will get him. Radio N-to
watch him closely."
The order was duly noted by the
senior commander of the destroyer
group that escorted the convoy to
sea, and when his chief executive
reported a few hours later that Mc?
Gregor was edging out of his column
the destroyer went after him like a
dog in charge of a bolting sheep. i
"Who do you think you are, any- I
way?" the senior commander!
"bawled him out" through a mega- j
phone. "The Lord High Admiral,
hcin-h? Try that again and I'll put
an officer on your bridge and rec?
ommend that your papers be can?
celled.'*
"That ought to hold him," he re?
marked to his chief executive, as
McGregor came back to his line.
"But I'll bet you the old chap is
raving. His crew will need to step
lively during the next few hours."
And raving McGregor surely was.
If printed here his remarks, as
afterward reported by his crew,
would burn a hole in the page. He,
a master of twenty years' standing,
to be ordered about by a damned
Yank! He that had outfought, out?
witted, outrun more U-boats than
the entire American flotilla had
seen in the course of its operations!
He with a sixteen-knot ship to be
held down to an eight-knot crawl!
Put an officer on his bridge, would
they? Cancel his papers, hey? And
so forth with profuse marginal
notes and profane trimmings.
When the Fog Lifted
He Was Missing
If a plausible excuse in the shape
of a fog that fell like a thick gray
blanket over the convoy had not been
furnished, these fulminations no
doubt would presently have sub
si(le*4. He would hardly have dared
violate such specific orders. But
when the fog lifted toward evening
the convoy was scattered over the
seas to the horizon and came scutter
ing back like frightened chickens in
response to the destroyers' radio
clucking?all but McGregor, who
was out of sight. Next news of him
came in an agonized call from a
point just over the horizon.
"I'm torpedoed! Sinking! Sub?
marine shelling boats! Come at
once!"
Too late! On the wide and lonely
ocean that had just engulfed that
fine ship with her sorely needed
food, the potential flesh of thou?
sands, they found two shell-torn
boats full of wounded and dying
men.
In the crestfallen, troubled man
v/ho sat in their midst it was diffi?
cult to recognize the old hard mouth
who had raved on his bridge a few
hour?s ago. He was repentant, of
course, but the tears that squeezed
out of his hard eyes and washed
the iron furrows of his face could
not restore that fine ship with her
sorely needed cargo nor heal the
wounds of his crew. From one point
of view his conduct was criminal. I
have heard men call for him to be
hanged. Yet it was natural?-in
?aired bx th? same spirit that has
kept a thousand of his kind voyag?
ing those dangerous seas, the same
spirit that had brought him and
many another like him off best in
U-boat duels, the same spirit that
animated that fine old skipper of
the North Sea who with both legs
fliOt off and his vessel sinking or?
dered his crew to throw him and
the code books into the sea together.
So let us allow his repentance and
permit the incident, unfortunately
cue of many, to serve to illustrate at
once the merits and faults of the
convoy system.
The Convoy and
Merits of the System
Its merits, taking them first, have
been abundantly proved by the de?
crease in mercantile sinkings since
the old patrol system was aban?
doned. Under the latter the de?
stroyer and patrol fleets were scat?
tered like pawns over a vast checker?
board that ruled off the British
home waters, across which mer?
chant vessels moved from one check
to another. Though they were
hunted incessantly, the U-boats
managed to pick up in these days
somewhere between thirty and fifty
ships a week. But after Allied ship?
ping was grouped in convoys and
s^nt through the danger zone under
destroyer escorts the weekly average
fell to eighteen large ships or less
and four or five small ones. During
the last eight months of 1917, in?
deed, the American and British de?
stroyer fleets convoyed over 150,000
vessels in and out of Allied ports
with a loss of only one-eighth of 1
per cent.
Perhaps the best proof of the
effectiveness of the convoy system
is furnished by the English Channel
passage. Through the lanes of
destroyers, aeroplanes, "blimps,"
transports and supply ships have
moved for three years with perfect
safety. Now an oceangoing convoy
is merely a section of Channel pas?
sage far out at sea, and if as well
guarded is equally safe.
A certain number of destroyers
to a certain number of merchant
vessels has been required for per?
fect safety; and that convoys oi
thirty vessels with half that numbei
of destroyers are practically safe
was proved, at least to my satisfac?
tion, during a cruise I recently
made when a number of our vessel
escorted a total of sixty vessels ?
distance of 1,800 miles in ten dayi
through waters infested with sub
marines. To the right and left
ahead and astern, U-boats were con
stantly being reported. Often w<
crossed their courses. No doub
they had us under observation mos
of the time. But, mark this! W?
sank the only one that had th?
nerve to attack us and sent its crev
of four officers and thirty-six mei
back to our base. Another signifi
cant fact?while we passed in safe
ty unescorted vessels were beinj
P?
Convoy of ships en route to feed and arm troop: abroad.
Copyright, 1918, Underwr Underwood.
Above?Wig-wagging signals from one of Uncle S n ubmarines.
Copyright, 1918, Under\ ,<i & Underwood.
sunk all around us. Five were tor-1
pedoed, indeed, in less than four |
hours, three of which went to {he
bottom. As a matter of fact, the :
bulk of the U-boat weekly bag is
taken from unescorted ships. A
further advantage is to be found in
the fact that no matter how much
the German may Increase the num?
ber of his submarines, whether an ;
attack be delivered by one or more ;
U-boats, a properly escorted convoy '
is reasonably safe.
If this be true, the question natu?
rally arises?why are merchant
ships ever allowed to go out alone?
The answer is simple?we have not
destroyers enough to go around.
Were it otherwise the submarine
war would be over. In the mean
time, till we get enough, the Ameri?
can and British naval authorities
are doing the best they can. By the
use of small patrol boats, "blimps"
and hydroplanes they manage to
keep large areas of home waters
safe for local traffic and to keep
certain sea lanes open through
which fast merchant vessels can es?
cape to the high seas beyond the
danger zone. Once in a while the
U-boats break into these protected
areas, however, and though they find
it is a costly business that usually
weekly record of mercantile sinkings
still takes a jump.
?f_._,-.._
let us consider for a moment those
of the U-boats. Instead of being
as free as the fish, they are com?
pelled to operate within quite nar?
row lines, while exposed to many
risks that do not menace surface
craft. Think of the uncharted rocks,
tips of undersea mountains, that
must project up into the deep lanes
along which the U-boat blunders
like a blind fish; the mine fields,
both British and German, it must
avoid; floating mines that have
broken from their moorings; the
treacherous tides, traps, decoyt?,
nets, that make of a U-boat jour
1 ney one long, blind hazard.
To these special risks have to be
added the unusual sea dangers,
storms, fogs, contrary winds and
tides. I have heard of one U-boat
that strayed into the famous mael?
strom/ the giant whirlpood, which
was selected by Jules Verne to kill
off Captain Nemo and his Nautilus,
the terror of the seas, forty years
ago. Then think of the war risks?
the "blimps," hydroplanes dropping
-EH?
The famous smoke screen, used to protect ships from U-boats.
Copyright, 1918, Underwood & Underwood.
Another reason why vessels are j
permitted to go out alone touches j
the convoy system's chief disadvan- !
tage?it reduces tonnage or carrying
capacity, first, by delays waiting for
escorts; second, by limiting the
speed of fast ships. The ship on
which I came from New York to
Liverpool, for instance, is a seven
day boat. Two others in our con?
voy were equally fast. Yet by
being forced to take the speed of
the slowest vessel, we took sixteen
days to cross, time enough for the
three vessels to have got back to
New York. In other words, less
material can be moved under the
convoy system than by free ships.
Nevertheless, -we cannot get on
without it. It is wholly impossible
to maintain safe codes with mer?
chant shipping scattered all over
the world. To control its, routing
and divert it in accordance with
enemy movements, it is absolutely
essential to group it under war
vessels. The great reduction, al?
most half, in sunken mercantile ton?
nage since the adoption of the sys?
tem also far more than makes up
for delays and lost speed.
The limitations and advantages
I of convoys being thus understood,
their bombs from the sky; the lit?
tle patrol boats, always ready to
engage in one of those desperate
sea duels where no quarter is asked
or given ; and, finally, the destroyer,
which, because of its swiftness and
agility, remains the U-boat's chief
foe. So deadly a foe is the latter,
indeed, that the* Germans have
talked both loudly and long of un?
dersea cruisers to chase it off the
seas.
What Enlarging
U-Boats Mean
By certain alarmists among us
this boasting was given credence?
just as the German intended. Mosl
of it was manufactured, as a mattei
of fact, for foreign consumption
The Hun naval authorities are quit?
aware of certain limitations tha:
make against such a boat. Add ar
mor plate to a vessel, and her siz<
must be increased to provide mon
buoyancy. Increased bulk calls fo:
heavier internal structure, heavie
engines, heavier gun platforms fo
larger guns; larger quarters for ;
larger crew; larger fuel and wate
ballast tanks; all of which calls fo
^more buoyancy?that is, increase
i size, which once more demands ?
j more armor?and so on.
Such a vessel, if produced, would
i present a deeper target for a torpe- !
do than any destroyer, and only
one would be required to send her
to the bottom. She would stand
a poor chance in a stand-up battle
with the group of destroyers that
are always to be found with a con?
voy. She would also require a full
100 feet of water for spfe manosu
vring, and would so find it quite
difficult to operate among the shoals
, and shallows of British home waters
' where her prey would be principally
?found. Lastly, she could only give
chase to one vessel at a time; so, on
the whole, would be less effective
than the present type of U-boats. As
two years have passed since the Ger?
mans first talked of "undersea
cruisers," we can rest assured that
after balancing the increased cost in
time, labor, money and materials
against possible advantages, the Ger?
man naval constructors have pro?
nounced against them. There is no
good reason for us to make a night?
mare out of this particular German
dream. #
As to Diving
And Emerging
There are also decided limitations
in submarine navigation and opera?
tion. The popular idea of a U-boat
emerging and diving again with por?
poise ease is quite erroneous. If she
attempts to go down at an angle of
more than 12 degrees her bat?
tery tanks overflow, leaving her a
helpless, floating hulk. Abrupt dives
are also very dangerous. A subma?
rine commander told me that his hair
had often stood on end when, on a
quick dive, his vessel went down and
down till he thought he could never
stop her. Doubtless, many a U-boat
has gone headlong into the deeps
where the terrific pressure would
crush her iron sides like an eggshell.
No, once on the surface, a large
U-boat would require several min
! utes to submerge, and if she be
< seen by a destroyer her fate is al?
most surely sealed; for no matter to
what depth she may go, the telltale
wake floats up to the surface. A
depth mine dropped at its head
closes the incident.
Neither can a U-boat cruise in
I definitely under water. Seventy tc
one hundred miles is the limit. Aftei
that it must come up to recharge its
batteries while steaming along th(
surface. If it be sighted on emerg
j ing with its batteries exhausted, it!
situation becomes desperate. Ther<
is a case on record of three Germai
submarines so caught that laj
for forty-eight hours on the botton
listening to the chug-chug of thi
patrol screws above. Two that trie<
to sneak away in the night wer?
sunk. The third surrendered.
Surface cruising also has it;
limits. At low speed a submarine';
radius runs up to 6,000 or 7,00(
miles, but a good deal of this mile
age is used up in coming and goinj
between the hunting grounds ant
the base, and if much high spee<
work is done in long, stern chasei
after fleeing merchant vessels th?
mileage is further cut dowa. On
the average, a U-boat can stay sway
from its base between twenty and
twenty-five days.
Have Not Got Things
All Their Own Way
To extend this time limit many
attempts have been made to estab?
lish supply bases in the hunting
waters. Food can be obtained, of
course, from captured ships, but
fuel comes less easily. One in.
genious commander used to cach?
barrels of fuel oil and p?;trol, loot
from tankers, at the bottom of the
sea in a sheltered cove. But one
day an insignificant marker buoy fa?
the middle of an "oil spot" betrayad
him. The customary procedure would
have been to carry off the barrels*
but, with a flash of genius, the Brit
ish commander removed the buna
poured a few gallons of picric acjd,
a powerful explosive, into each bat.
rel, then sank them again. In rac?
ing automobiles a few drops of pic?
ric acid is sometimes added to the
petrol to give it a "kick"; but it his
to be done very carefully or the en?
gine is liable to be wrecked; so it
does not require much imagination
to picture the fate of that particu?
lar U-boat.
Neither does the U-boat have
things all its own way in the duels
with merchant vessels. It fights, in?
deed, at a disadvantage. For where?
as a score of shells may fail to put
| a fleeing ship out of commission, one
well planted shot will send a subma?
rine to the bottom, and th?3re is al?
ways the danger of the pursued
turning like a wounded bull and
charging over the pursuer. Again,
though German torpedoes have ?
range of six or seven thousand
yards, shooting is very uncertain at
such distances. A U-boat usually
tries to get within 2,000 yards of
its prey- This, especially in sb-Jts
at a convoy, entails greater danger,
for the U-boat's position can easily
be gauged by the torpedo's wake. A
few depth mines dropped around its
head are almost certain to do the
business.
The Ocean Seemed
To Be Empty
Then rough weather brings 8
pause in the hunting. Rising high,
above the deck, the periscope de?
scribes a far wider arc than the hull,
which thrashes around like a wound?
ed whale, making both observation
and the sighting of shots impossible.
In such weather the U-boats run for
a sheltered shore with a sandy bot*
i torn and lie there till the storm
blows over. During the extremely
bad weather last November the
U-boat bag fell from twenty-fonr
ships to six in the first week and
one in the second.
All of the dangers and difficult!"?
above set forth are intensified by ac?
curate reports of U-boat movements
from observation stations on land
and ships at sea, and while cruising
with coir fleet I was astonished bj
the number that streamed into oui
bridge every day. Position end
course were usually given; so be
sides drawing the patrois- after then
I the reports cause all merchant ship?
| to avoid that particular vicinity
| They quite accounted for the de
spairing note in a radio we picke?
up one evening in transit betweei
two U-boats: ,
"Have you seen any ships to-day'
The ocean seems to be empty."
This commander, no doubt, wa
one of those whose pessimistic re
ports caused the German govern
ment to account for the decrease li
the weekly bag in the followini
grandiloquent terms:
"Enemy shipping has been so d?
pleted by the attacks of our invin
cible U-boats that it is becomini
very difficult to find ships to sink.'
This during a week that has seei
4,600 ships sail in and out of Britis
ports alone, and probably half a
many more from the harbors o
Allied nations.
Summing the U-boat's potential'
ties, we find that it is limited i
cruising radius and operations; 1
exposed to extra sea and war risk!
is, in fact, a hunted creature?hum1
ed, moreover, so successfully tha
the British First Lord was able t
report in Parliament: "We are sinl
ing 40 or 50 per cent of Germa
submarines." The loss of the v?
sels, it should be remembered, is af
j gravated by that of the torpedo?
j they carry. The smaller boats un
I ally carry ten ; the larger and ?at?
j types about twenty.
j The High Cost
j Of Torpedoes
Now a torpedo is an extrem?
| complex piece of mechanism tM
j takes months of time and thousand
! of dollars to build. Indeed, the ?
! tire yearly output of the Unit?
! States Naval Torpedo Works befoi
the war was only twelve. Accor?
ingly, if a U-boat is sunk outw??
bound with a full complement <
twenty torpedoes?which happ*
quite often?their loss is more se*
ious than that of the vessel. It
j highly improbable that any U-w
goes down without some torpwoe
j It is also comforting to know t?
an average of four or live torpea?
are shot away for every vessel Mjf
The twenty vessels sunk pet w?
cost the German government j
torpedoes alone close on half a m*
ion dollars. .
Such a mortality in crews, w
pedoes and submarines could ott
j be justified by a great ?ccompj?
ment. Germany has acknowl-M?
to the world her hope of winning?
war through the submarine e?
paign; so with this knowledge-?j
chief factors, let us look at to? *
uation as it exists at the ew*
1917.
"T?
BUSINESS ZONING MAY CURE THE STRAPHANGERS DESPAIR
By Will T. Gentz
LET not the strap-hanger despair.
The strap-hanger is also a
voter, and Travis H. Whitney,
Public Service Commissioner, makes
the inference plain that this duality
of muscle and mentality can be made
I to prove quite eloquent in the solu
| tion of Manhattan's most serious
problem, Mr. Whitney, speaking of
that nearing period when the subway
shall be clogged beyond human endur?
ance, said:
"There is one way, and one way
only, out of the difficulty, and it can
best be put in the form of a slogan?
Manhattan for business; Brooklyn
and environs for the industries.
"I admit," continued Mr. Whitney,
"that such a position is capable of
being interpreted, offhand, as radical
to the point of Bolshevikism, inasmuch
as it means nothing more or less
than public control of the location of
buildings and industries. Yet analysis
of every feature of the situation shows
j it to be the only lasting remedy.
j "Consider for a moment the ava?
lanche of humans that descends daily
on shops and offices and factories
through the constricted region known
as Manhattan?a tumbling, one-way
wave that rears itself for two tumul?
tuous hours and then buckles back
after the day's work in the same re?
stricted space of time.
"Ever this wave is rolling higher.
War's defection of passengers is hav?
ing no appreciable effect on the vol?
ume, but add to the normal growth of
travel the quota that will be thrown
back on the subway's resources when
hostilities terminate and there you
will have, vour problem brought amaos
to a head, acutely and clamorously, i
Congestion then will be beyond de?
scription?and beyond endurance.
"Physical means to offset this high
tide of travel? Beyond the straighten?
ing of the present twisted route into
two parallel trunk lines -the Seventh
Avenue and the Lexington Avenue
routes?there remains little to be
done. Perhaps another trunk line
running partly under Central Park is
feasible, but funds for the construc?
tion of such a line could not be
amassed until the war drain on finance
comes to an end.
"When an important industry em?
ploying thousands is about to estab?
lish itself in a certain locality, and
another locality, say in the Browns?
ville section of Brooklyn, is equally
available, assuredly the latter location,
in its very own interests, should be
chosen by that industry. Why? Be?
cause such a step would aid in coun?
terbalancing and equalizing the rush
hour traffic that is swinging in the
direction that it exclusively takes at
the present time. Greater comfort
and less delay would result, and effi?
ciency experts for the system would
find joy in the abatement of the pres?
ent virtually, often absolutely, empty
cars that rumble back in a long string
of trains to pick up the casual back
flow passenger?trips that shrivel the
possible earning capacity of the sys?
tem in the manner that passes issued
by a prodigal theatrical manager for
a sell-out hight cut in on the profits.
"Such a course, too, ought to be
pursued by the builders of the big
office buildings. Why, one can almost
flick the ashes off one's cigar out of
? window in any number of skyscraj
I ing buildings downtown onto empty]
j lots and slums. With the through
! trains on the new Seventh Avenue line
about to be put into operation, the
scope of this neglected territory,
v/hich is as convenient to the subway
as the solidly built-up block from
the bridge to the Battery, is widened
to an even greater extent.
Compared With
Building Operation
"Let me say, in emphasis of this eon
tention, that it requires from three to
five years, in normal times, to con?
struct a dual subway system, such as
the one about to be opened to the
public, on which $330,000,000 is being
spent," Mr. Whitney told the inter?
viewer, in touching on the causes of
subway congestion. "Contrast this with
the building of a business structure
of the proportions of the Equitable
Building, which is ready for occupancy
in about a yenr and which adds fifteen
thousand people to the crush already
choking the particular subway station
nearest, to it. On the basis of a ten
car train, as usually constituted during
the rush hours, each of such trains of?
fering five hundred seats and carrying
again as many standees, it would re?
quire at least ten trains to take care
of this accession of. passengers alone
As thirty-four trains can be run wit!
safety in an hour, you see that the
occupants of one building of sky
scraper dimensions for whose locatioi
the subway is in no way responsible
can crowd trains for almost half ai
hour.
"Multiply such an instance by al
i the big downtown as well as nptowi
office buildings *n mind, and remembe
that always the tide of travel flows
through the narrowest of confines in
one direction?from Westchester, The
Bronx, Harlem and Washington Heights
to the Bridge "land environs, at either
abutment, in the morning, and buckles
back over the same route toward even?
ing, with the collective load reaching
its 'peak' on both trips in a period of
two hours of congestion that taxes the
equipment of the lines to the utmost.
"Try to picture this, remembering
that the daily average of passengers
carried by the subway is, in round
numbers, 1,200,000 people, with a high
water mark of 1,500,000, which is four
times the number theoretically set for
it to handle, and you will have a faint
glimmering of the situation." ?
These figures, Mr. Whitney stated,
were exclusive of elevated records. At
the, office of the Interborough it had
been learned by the writer that, for
the year ending June 30, last, both sub?
way and "L" roads carried 763,574,085
passengers, a daily average of 2,001,
984, or 1,134,778 for subway lines and
957,206 for the stilt style of travel.
Spreading the
Travelling Population
"Limitation of the height of build
ings, acording to the basic space thej
occupy," resumed Mr. Whitney, "is ?
great aid in the equalization of th<
city's passenger traffic. It will sprea*
the travelling population over a wide:
area. Legislation to bring this abou
has been successful, although under
taken without cognizance of its effect
on the subway situation. Further leg
islation, with this object directly ii
view, now must be secured to contre
the location of industry and of th
tremendous office structures that put!
such a heavy impost on the transporta- !
tion lines. With an existing bodv
given such power, or a board espe?
cially appointed for the purpose, the
city can guard itself against growing
discomforts and increasing difficulty
in reaching places of business in the
congested belt.
"The clothing industry is at present
centred at Madison Square," said Mr.
Whitney. "Workers are brought from
The Bronx and Harlem along the self?
same route that brokers, business men
and clerks must travel. They live in
those localities because the rent is
cheap in comparison to the scale ob?
taining in more convenient neighbor?
hoods. There is at present the nucleus
of a prospering garment manufactur?
ing section in Brownsville, to which the
new subway extension penetrat_s.
Sites for homes and apartment houses
abound. A transplantation of that in?
dustry to some such spacious section
I of greater New York would relieve the
; subway of a quota of passengers thai
would make the landlords of a city oi
; the size of Yonkers double their rents
and would precipitate a building booir
besides. As" sixty' out of every hun
dred passengers originating north ol
Ninety-sixth Street come from Th?
Bronx, and these are for the mon
? part concerned in manufactures, woul?
| it not be wise to deflect this maelstron
! by diagonal routes to new factory dis
| tricts created where there is room fo
| them ?
! On Zoning
| By Trades
"One of the best things that ha
I happened to this city, considering it
one big and ever growing problem, wa
the location of the Bush Terminal in
Brooklyn," said Mr. Whitney, with a
show of enthusiasm. "Here is concre'le j
proof of the soundness of the argu?
ment justi advanced. Thousands of
people working there are spared the
discomforts of the fearful congestion
in the Manhattan lengths of the sub?
way. They travel in reverse directions
while the rush-hour traffic is at its
worst. .
"Zoning? Yes, zoning by trades is
very important as a first aid measure
and as a permanent feature in connec?
tion with subway travel. But it does
not strike at the root of congestion.
Control of location, as just outlined,
alone will solve the problem. .It may
appear extreme when superficially
viewed, but profound thought alons
those lines will convince any mine
that is analytical and combines visior
with breadth.
"As to zoning, while it would no
abate the mad scramble, all at almos
the same hour, it would at least lessei
the degree of congestion by spreadinj
it over a longer period. There is n<
law which makes it mandatory on of
fice, factory, store, school or theatr
to throw open their doors at a certai
hour. The expediency of an adjustabl
schedule has been recognized, indirect
ly, by the national government. 0
the three Federal shipyards which at
join on Staten Island one has set it
starting time at 7, one at 7:30 and tt
third at 8 o'clock, with quitting tin
: to correspond, of course. This th<
: did on their own initiative, having i
? mind the comfort and physical wel
j being of their.employes?and, natura
I ly, the higher state of efficiency i;
1 volved."