◆ SpookStack

The new liner to replacg the. Srey being built by the United States Lines under an agreement _ with the commission whereby the ,Shipping company was permitted to ilay up the Leviathan, is expected to lenter the trans-Atlantic trade in 1940. The new ship, under construc. tion at the Newport News, Va., yards of the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, will cost the United States Lines $10.500,000. the commiesion’s estimate of the for- ejen construction cost. Under the merchant marine act the commis- sion will make up the balance of the $15,750,000 estimate. A total of fifty-two or fifty-three shins is expected to be bullt by eight lines within the next five years if satisfactory long-range subsidy con- tracts are worked out, the report says. Seven Hnes have agreed to build a total of twenty ships be- tween now and 1942, fourteen to be Btarted in 1938. In addition, the cam- Panier are required to develop plans for the building of approximately twenty-three other vessels. The American Export Steamship Cor- Poration has indicated its willing- ness to construct nine or ten vessels between 1938 and 1942 under a satis- factory subsidy. . During the last year, the commis- sion report says. numerous requests have been received for aid In the construction of small seagoing ves- sels and vessels engaged in commerce on inland waters, but “for the pres- ent, at least, none of the commis- sion’s funds should be diverted to the construction of vessels for do- mestic commerce.” OY the construction loans made to various American shipping com- panies under the merchant marine act of 1928, almost one-haif of the total of $147,943,642.41 granted has been repaid, leaving a balance out- geandin® of $76,228,147.48 on October . 1937, the report shows. The priy- pel assets of the commission, ¢3- dsive of the $107,795,313.22 on dé@- sit In the United States Treasu Price photo Joseph P. Kennedy and its ships and properties, are the construction-loan notes and ship- sale notes. The total of ship-sale notes receivable on October 31 was $10,985 075.87, The construction of twelve high- Speed tankers suitable for use as naval auxiliaries, 9 contract for which was let by the Standard Oi! Company of New Jersey early this onth with four shipyards, also 1 entioned in the report. The tank will cost $37,556,004, of which th mmission’s share for national de features wilitbe $10,563,000,