Business: Sale or Salvage?

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¶Henry Ford, whose experiments on the water have not always been successful, prepared to send his new S. S. Edgewater on her maiden voyage from River Rouge, Mich., to Edgewater, N. J. Forerunner of a big fleet of cargo carriers, S. S. Edgewater is no ordinary ship. Tidewater tars would not recognize her as she passes, propelled by silent turbines, under the low bridges of the New York State waterway. Her pilot houses drop into shaft-like wells, smoke stacks fall flush to the deck, masts are hinged and lowered by hand—all extraordinary sights on a vessel 300 ft. long, with 43 ft. beam, cargo space of 145,000 cu. ft.

¶New Jersey's Governor Morgan Foster Larson did manual labor when he journeyed to Kearny, drove the first rivet in a new Grace Line ship. This was the second step in an ambitious building program of this prosperous, family-owned company. Four ships will be built, $17,000,000 spent, employment given 2,000 men.

¶Mrs. Hoover, a seasoned christener, had a new experience last week at busy Newport News, Va. when she sponsored twin ships within an hour. The ships, S. S. Talamanca and S. S. Segovia, were baptized with water from the southern seas they will sail. United Fruit Co., the owners, will build four more fine fruit boats, operate all six under the U. S. flag, be paid for carrying the U. S. mails.

¶While Mrs. Hoover was busy in Virginia, President Hoover was being remembered in his native Iowa. At Dubuque there was great ceremony as the world's largest twin-screw towboat was named Herbert Hoover by Mrs. Thomas Q. Ashburn, wife of the head of Inland Waterways Corp., the Government-owned barge line. Driven by Diesel motors, the vessel will be able to move a 10,000-ton tow 4 m.p.h. upstream. After trials the Herbert Hoover will go to New Orleans, its home port, and ply between there and St. Louis.