New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-09-22
British Steamship
Owners Ask State
Help After War
Measures Necessary to he,
establish Merchant Marine
Are Suggested

Such government assistance TO private
interests "a may be necessary to re-
establish the British ocean services
which have had to be abandoned owing
to the war demands on British ship
ping is one Of the many things adyo-
waited in a report prepared by COM
mittee appointed by. the Chamber Of
Shipping Of the United Kingdom and
the Liverpool Steamship Owners As
ISOLATION. The detailed report has just
reached New York, and contains much
that is important from the viewpoint OF
American shipping interests. The COM
mittee prepared the report after a
years study Of the international trade
and shipping situation.
Among the principal conclusions
reached are the following:
an determining upon the trade poll
icy 20 be adopted after the war, the
first care Of the state must be TO do
nothing to impcril the prominent po-
si;ion the United Kingdom holds in
the international trade OF the world.
Our manufacturing power, our com
merce and our shipping have been
established for the worlds trade, and
no smaller field can provide scope for
their employment. To maintain that
position the nation must, with the
utmost possible speed after peace is re-
stored, bring back its fighting forces
into productive industry, so as to re-
establish its manufacturing power and
TO replace the war wastaGe in its ship
ping; and il must adjust its trading OPP
crations to meet the altered conditions
in international exchange resulting
from the prod gious war borrowings
and war lcudings between the nations.
To accomplish these ends the greatest
asset Of the nation will be the energy
and enterprise of its individual citi-
zens-an asset which could never be re-
placed by either state assistance or
state control.
The ruling principle Of our trade poll
icy after the war should, therefore,
consist in the maintenance for each in
diyidual citizen, be he producer or con-
sumer, manufacturer, trader, banker,
underwater, shipowner, employer or
workman, Of the fullest possible OPP
rortunities for the exercise Of his en-
orgies and enterprise in the markets Of
the world, subject only 70 such restric-
tions as must be imposed in the inter
est of national safety. We are salts
fed that so far as shipping is con-
cerned, apart from any exceptional case
for establishing a new trade, L can
only hold ITS own in competition with
the world free from state control, and
therefore free from state assistance,
and that, speaking generally, state IN
tervcntion can most probably be
directed and limited TO increasing the
trading efficiency Of the nation as a
whole.
State Assistance Needed
The state should render all such as
s;stance as may be necessary 70 rees-
tabllsh. at the earliest possible mo-
meut, the British ocean services which
have had TO be abandoned owing to war
demands on British shipping. The state
should render financial help where nee
essary for the opening up Of new mar
kets The freedom OF the passenger 20
travel without hindrance by land and
sea on the route he selects should be
established by international agreement,
and should no longer be control ed by
auv nation with the object OF securing
commercial advantages for the vessels
under its flag. The state should aid
in the development Of those ports or
the United Kingdom which are of ma
tional importance. The conditions OF
labor In the ports of the United King
dom can only be materially improved II
the workers for whom there IS employ
mcnt will accept the responsibility OF
giving regular work in exchange for
regular pay. II cannot be improved so
long AZ the individual worker declines
TO work regularly.
State control over the general design,
building and equipment Of the vesseI =
of the British mercantile marine YOU'D
DO fatal to its improvement and deYel-
opment. The control exercised by tine
state over shipping should be IN the
nature of police control, eXerciS ,1
through sufficient number OF fully
qualified surveyors, and directed 70 de-
tecting and preventing the senaihg 10
sea of vessels IN an unseawcrtny cohdl-
ton. A uniform system OF state con-