The sun., 1919-01-31
Government Rate Cut to
Meet British Called First
Step in Disaster.
OUTPUT is TOO COSTLY
Every Nation Speeds Build
ing Plan in Race for
Ocean Trade.
MANY CRAFT TO BE IDLE
Not Business Enough, While
America Faces Greatest =
Operating Bill.
MANY CRAFT TO BE IDLE

All the merchant fleets OF all the ma
Nons-a matter OF about $4,000 900
gross tons OF shipping, representing
nearly 10000 vessels-are in the melt
ing pot. In what form they will emerge
and how the balance of power will be
distributed will be determined to some
degree by the Peace Conference; but
in greater measure by the process OF
evolution through which the worlds
shipping in general and American
shipping in particular are now passing
IT will take more than cooperative
diplomacy to solve the conditions that
have arisen on the seas since the sign
ing Of the armistice and are becoming
more complicated every day.
Out Of the Governments determina-
ton to acquire merchant marine q.
no matter what cost, and to operate it
IN defiance Of the fundamental prin-
ciples of commercial sanity, the situa-
ton has passed from confusion TO
muddle and now verges on chaos. With
ships built at double the cost of those
of other nations and operated at so per
cent. greater expense, on a conserva-
tive estimate. the Government has en-
barked on an era of competition which
promises to take billions Of dollars
from the pockets of American taxpay-
ers and threatens to drive from the
seas the American flag as the emblem
Of individual enterprise.
To meet British shlppings action in
cutting rates. already lower than ours
20 a third Of their former figure the
american Government responds with an
equal cut. And this is apparently only
the beginning of a rate war that bids
fair to be carried to a point where pri-
vate shipping to meet the competition
must operate at a ruinous loss.
Not to meet the reduction in ocean
frelghts will mean ships rusting in idle
ness with all the cost of upkeep that
!dle ships entail And as a sample of
what is to come, the Government gives
assurance 1t will continue to build ships
indefinitely. There is the assurance also.
not Government given. that they will be
i'uilt at costs eliminating the possibility
OF profitable operation on a competitive
iasla
From the expressed views OF the Ad-
ministration's spokesmen on the ship
ping situation, however, the prospects
are more alluring. a mighty fleet OF
American merchantmen, they say. is TO
carry the American flag and American
lrade to all the ports of the world. bring
ing benefits to all concerned
To business, through low shipping
,stss and increased foreign commerce:
To shipping. through the advantages
uccruing from maritime supremacy:
To the taxpayer, through pride in the
possession of a great mercantile marine
and through greater national prosperity.
Outline OF Situation.
This Is the barest outline of situa-
Ton which has arisen through the in
sistence OF the Government in convert
ing a legitimate burden of war into
fixed burden of peace to be carried on
Mt war cost. Some understanding OF the
conditions leading up to the present
status of affairs Is necessary to realiza-
ton OF what a continuance OF the Gov
ernment's course may mean.
One result of the war has been the
focusing OF popular attention upon the
material as well as the romantic side OF
shipping. The prominent part played
by the merchant marine in the mainte-
nance of allied effort was primarily re-
sponsible for this, and the month to
month duel between the riveter's air gun
md the U-boats torpedo served to
vtalize statistics of ship production and
destruction. 1t is unfortunate, there
fore, that confusing methods of calcu-
latlon used In the preparation Of ton
mage statistics should have given false
Impressions as to The relative status OF
British and American shipping. Re-
sponslbiIity for this has been laid upon
the Shipping Board.
To the average man ton Is ton.
When therefore II was stated. for in
stance, by the Shipping Board that
American shipyards had turned out, say
200. 900 tons OF new vessels in given
month. and the British Admiralty gave
the British production for the same
month as 200, 900 tons. the natural infer
ence was that American yards had pro-
Luced 900 tons more than the Eng
'!sh. The actual output, however, In the
Instance given was the same for both
countries.
Discrepancy in Estimates.
The discrepancy was due to the fact
1nat the Admiralty figures are presented
III gross tons. while the Shipping Board
lakes It's calculations In deadweight
,ons, gross representing the entire ca
DacItv Of a vessel and deadweisht the
maximum weight of cargo. bunkers.
stores and even the passengers and crew.
Roughly. the deadweight ton Is 80 per