The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1914-09-01
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER l, 1914
Press Comments.
no ..soAP-BuBBLE" FLEET

Press Comments.
NO s'soAP-BUBBLE" FLEET.
Haphazard legislation brings its own
reward in futility of accomplishment.
The basic trouble with the various pro-
posals for the upbuilding of the mer-
chant marine now under consideration.
at Washington is that they begin at the
top instead of building from the bottom.
1t will be no benefit to this country to
have "soap bubble" merchant marine.
Nothing substantial will result from
any form of temporary expedient unless
foundation for permanency is laid at the
same Time
Congress should realize that there can
be no substantial upbuilding of this in
dustry until manifest iniquities of the
present navigation laws are eliminated
and the regulations so changed as to-
make it possible for American ship own
ers to operate under conditions permit
ting competition with foreign rivals.
The fact that American corporations
now owning many steamships refuse to
take advantage of the opportunity for
American registry provided in the re-
Gently passed shipping act should open
the eyes of those in authority at Wash
ington to the necessity for drastic re-
vision of the navigation laws. These
ship owners would much rather operate
under the American flag than under
any foreign flag, but the !hardships inn
posed by existing laws make this prac-
tically impossible. The heavy cost that
the privilege OF flying the flag of the
. United States entails stands as an effec-
tive barrier against the rehabilitation of
the American merchant marine in the
overseas trade.
Vessels now owned by Americans will
seek American registry, American capt.
tai viii be found in plenty for new ship
ping, once the burdens of the present
navigation laws are removed.-N. Y,
Herald.
Some months ago it was demonstrate
ed by laboratory experiments that a
sufficient supply of potash for all of the
commercial needs of this country could
probably be drawn from the kelp beds of
the Northern Pacific coast. The beds
are there; they contain potash; the pro-
cess of recovering it presents no mechan-
ical or chemical difficulties. But the
commercial utilization has never been
made, Notwithstanding the claim OF
those who have Investigated thoroughly
that profitable industry might readily
be created. The cutting off of the sup
plies from Germany aft ords the oppor
tunity for the trying of an experiments
which on the strength of the laboratory
shOwings, should be commercially sue
cessfui. If the industry should be sue
cessfui its establishment will relieve the
United States of its present commercial
dependence upon a European country
for necessity of modern agriculture,
State Gazette.
LANDLUBBERs POOR MARINE EXPERTS.
The new shipping law, conceived and
brought forth in an emergency. has lain
dormant after passage because the re-
quisite provisions for putting it into
effect have not been formulated. Ships,
at heavy expense, rest at their piers be-
cause the President has not yet decided
what use he shall make of the discretion
airy powers Of suspension with which he
is endowed by the new law. Instead of
definitely suspending for a specified
period Objectionable features of the
statutes, Congress left it to the President.
This tendency to throw the burden of de-
cision on the Chief Executive is not only
cowardly. but, in the present case, it has
materially weakened the effectiveness of
the remedial legislation passed. Ship
owners must wait for an Executive decree
before they know what the policy of the
nation is. Not single ship has yet
been transferred to American registry
although tonnage of more than 100000
is ready to be transferred
The dilatory attitude of the Admins
tration does not fit in with its profession
that the emergency is SO great as to re-
quire purchase by the Government itself
millions of dollars worth of vessels. In
deed 60 per cent. of American exports
were carried by British vessels last year,
and that tonnage is practically intact for
service. being protected not only by the
British navy, but by British Govern
ment insurance as well. Only the 10 per
cent. carried by German vessels has
been cut off. The new American ton
mage would assimilate most of that. The
ship famine is largely fictitious The
Administration is building straw DOGGY
which it proposes utterly to destroy with
the taxpayers money.
The real problem is not being attacked
at all. The house is passing a seamen's
bill, which is one of those regulative
measures which have thinned the blood
of so many American industries, when
it ought to be considered permanent
legislation devised to give our marine
a fighting chance in normal times. There
is no effort being made to devise the
navigation laws. Nothing is being done
to encourage investment in shipping.
being considered. There is merely a
frantic illogical attempt to put our flag
on the ocean without regarC to the
economy Of the situation, ON the assump-
ton that the war will be long one or
that the nation is wealthy enough to
ignore profit and loss. So far as per-
manent reoccupation of the seas is con-
cerned, the country is no wit better off
than it was before this agitation began;
and the worst of it is that Congress is
not even considering legislation which
goes to the root of the trouble.
A. broad, comprehensive, definite
policy for the rehabilitation of the mar
inc is imperative. 1t cannot be formu-
lated by landlubbers, and certainly not
by pork-hunters.-Pubtic Ledger.
Theatres.