Omaha daily bee., 1919-12-27
The Merchant Marine
From the New York Times.

In the interval between July and December
| 1918, six ships of the American merchant ma
rine entered the port of London, and in the cor
responding period of 1919 the number was lO7
There are now regular sailings OF American
ships on Al trade routes. The flag is seen II
ports in every part of the world Before tht
war there were harbors where the Stars anc
| Stripes had not been displayed on an incoming
ship for generation Shipping men mentioned
| the American merchant marine as a memory
satisfaction if they were British or Germans
French or Norwegians, Japanese or Italians
| The war worked the wonder OF restoring the
| American merchant marine to" pristine I'M
| portance and prestige. Its rapid growth and re-
| Mobilization have. been magical. That IS why
the bulky annual report Of the United State:
| Shipping Board has become precious docu-
ment, replete with interest.
| The signing of the armstce operated te
| modify the program OF the shipping board. II
had planned to build 3,l43 ships OF l7,39SOol
lightweight tonnage, of which 2,O76 were to be
of. steel, 1880 composite and wooden, and AZ
concrete Contracts for 784 ships were can
celed or suspended steel construction being
preferred. Only S55 contracts for steel ships
were abandoned. while 40l composite and
wooden ships and % concrete were struck from
the list The shipping act of September 7, 1915
called for the acquisition of merchant marine
adequate to the commerce of the United States
So long as the end of the war could not be fore
seen it was the business of the shipping board
to reauisition buy and build ships without num-
Der When hostilities ceased, the creation of a
merchant marine necessary to the carrying
trade of the nation. destined to be the indus
trial and exporting giant OF the world because of
its natural resources and wealth. became the
one concern of the shipping board. The met
program" adopted was 1868 ships OF l3,olS,83o
lightweight tonnage.
Legislation restricted the shipping board to
building and operating ships. It had no direct
jurisdiction over the promotion of foreign
trade. Questions of foreign trade policy must
be referred to the Department of Commerce,
but the board has two representatives upon the
departments foreign trade committee, and to
that committee are passed many questions IN
itiated by the shipping board, which is in con-
slant touch with the developments of sea-borne
commerce. The division of authority may be
necessary, but duplication can hardly be
avoided. One of the activities of the board is
the manning of its ships, which the sea service
bureau attends to. The recruiting service looks
after the training of crews. Between January
1913 and June Is, 1919, the number Of men. who
qualified was $1,000. Before the war about 20
per cent of the merchant marine seamen were
foreign born. Today the percentage of Amer
lean born exceeds 20. The supply of crews must
be constantly kept up. On June 80, 1919, the
lightweight tonnage under shipping board con-
troll was 100000, as compared with approx.
mately 100000 the year before
There are some matters of major Importance
which the shipping board has not yet found
time to report on. They are the relative cost
of building merchant ships in the United States
and abroad, the relative cost of operation, the
construction rules and rating of vessels here
and elsewhere, the placing of marine insurance,
the overhauling of the navigation laws, and the.
legal status of mortgage loans on vessel prop
erty. All these questions are vital to knowl-
edge of the ability Of the United States to oper-
ate great merchant marine in competition with
rivals. Committees are investigating.
As the shipping boards life is limited and
under present legislation it may not continue to
operate merchant marine much longer, very
pressing question is what shalt be done with the
ships on its building program Some wooden
vessels have been sold, but the great steel fleet
awaits action by congress. Naturally the ship
ping board has no views for dissemination III
its report. A day or two ago, the Merchants
association of New York declared for sales to
private ownerships, the government to accept
an unavoidable war loss 1t called upon congress,
for statement of policy. There can be none
until the committees of the shipping board re
port the result of inquiries into relative costs of
construction and operation. III,