Norwich bulletin., 1919-03-28
Private Ownership
 ,,7f Merchant Marine
 .airman Hurley Recom- mends Such, With Gov ernmental Regulation.

New York, March 27.-Private own ershlp of the great merchant marine which has been built by America un- der the stimulus of war, with such governmental regulation as would pre- vent Watered stock and assure the use of the vessels on trade routes promot ing the general welfare of the nation, was put forward here tonight by Chairman Hurley of the shipping board as his plan for the peace time 1 operation of the governmental 1 fleet. He was speaking before the National Marine league.
 1 Enunclating the most important re- l construction decision so far reached i by any government department, MT.
 Hurley said he would have the govern
 ment sell the new ships at market prices, so the operators could compete with foreign tonnage. and would have the bottoms insured jointly by the l government and American companies until the latter developed sufficiently to carry alone the enormous risk on l more than one billion dollars worth of property.
 No alien would be permitted to own
 any stock in any American vessel, and the transfer of vessels to foreign flags would be permitted only by express
 consent of the government ''Ameri-
 can ships for American trade" is the
 central thought of the plan, which will be submitted to congress as a basis for legislation.
 We want the initiative and skill of , American ship operators, but we want f no Watered stock. said Mir Hurley ! We want to avoid the stagnation that
 sometimes comes from red tape anC
 bureaucracy, but we want no profit 0 eering or eXploitating.
 We want the new fleet used for the
 benefit of the people of the United = States and not against their larger in. n terest We want it dsed for the de ! velopment of the nations commerce
 not merely for the development of tn, :. private fortunes of ship operators y Comparing the problem of wate t transportation with the still unsolvet d question of railroad management, MI Il Hurley made a plea for public atten :, tion to the details proposed for operat a ing fleet which next year will aggre . gate 16,132, TOO deadWeiGht tons of stee
 ships, 70 per cent. owned by the gov d ernment, The present fleet include | 555 ocean, going steel cargo vessels 0 l. 3,3S5,475 deadweight tons and con Il tracts have been let for 1886 simila ,f vessels of 9,275,0 000 deadweight tons is While the war was on. the recita 70 of shipbuilding achievement found 1T quick and ready response from an en is thusiastic public" MT. Hurley saic h, There is less glamour and glory -e the work of evolving a policy whic le will keep these ships under the. Amer KS ican flag and deveop our commerc 0t but this work touches the life of tn )t nation almost as closely as the emel . gency shipbuilding program.
 Id Upon the development of our fol
 eign commerce will depend in a lars lei measure the prosperity of all u 1t, American people, the employment ar It happiness of labor and the respect
 the nations which compete with us 10 Vice Admiral Albert Gleaves. con " manding the cruiser and transpo
 fleet, another speaker, said he was in O7 pressed by the possibility of estaI P fishing "a common plane upon WhiC
 the navy and the merchant marine @
 work"
 Asserting that flor the time bein tn at least the merchant marine shou ed not be placed exclusively under eith re the government or private control n- Admiral Gleaves urged that in fran he ing a policy we watch closely u
 methods of foreign governments y Tt is manifest that our shipping il
 dustry must be backed by our gover1
 ment and that our navigation laI E must be changed to the extent nece ay sary to assure competition with fo Id eign shipping on a basis of parity" cs said. At the same time private e oe terprise should be encouraged to ent h. the shipping business at once"