ousands of steel and
wooden cargo ships aggregating between five and six million tonnage
within the coming two years.

The shipbuilding program was undertaken by General Goethals, builder
of the Panama Canal, as general manager of a new Government body
called the Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation, and William
Denman, its president. Conflict immediately arose between them
regarding the expediency of building steel or wooden ships to meet the
emergency, and the whole project was imperiled by their personal
differences. General Goethals favored a steel fleet and planned to
apply the available balance of an appropriation of $550,000,000 to the
construction of fabricated steel ships of standard pattern. Early in
July contracts for 348 wooden ships, aggregating 1,218,000 tons, and
costing some $174,000,000, had been made or agreed upon and contracts
for a further 100 were under negotiation. Of steel ships seventy-seven
had been contracted for or agreed upon, amounting to 642,800 tons, at
a cost of $101,660,356. This was a good beginning, as it represented a
program under way for providing 525 ships of all sorts. The remainder
of the Goethals program called for steel ships, of which he promised
3,000,000 tons in eighteen months. Another feature of the Goethals
policy was the immediate commandeering of private ships in the stocks,
whether owned by Americans, Allies, or neutrals. Acute friction arose
between General Goethals and Mr. Denman, mainly over the question of
the former's negotiations and plans with the steel interests. In the
end President Wilson intervened by accepting the invited resignations
of both, and placing the shipbuilding in the hands of Admiral
Washington L. Capps, a naval ship constructor of renown, and Edward
N. Hurley, former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission.

By now the foundations of a huge war machine had been laid by
legislative and executive action; but it was discovered that a vital
factor in modern wars had been overlooked. An enormous air fleet was
necessary to provide further eyes for the Allies. Congress repaired
this omission by voting $640,000,000 for building 22,000 airships and
for raising and equipping an American corps of 100,000 aviators.

CHAPTER LXVII

MEN AND MONEY IN MILLIONS

The country early realized the practical effect of the legislation
passed by Congress enabling the President to call on the national
resources in men, money, and material for condu