The Cordova daily times., 1920-01-20
TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1920
FUTURE OF MERCHANT MARINE

IuS IeIuIu Ol uOTIldI COHQ1C1OnS Tn shipping and Americas new promi- hence in, world commerce make the operation of our new War-built mer- chant fleet an important problem in our national policy, the National Bank of Commerce in New York declares in the January issue of it's magazine, Commerce Monthly. Despite our lack ot experience in international ship ping, there is an evident determina- tion to develop our maritime opportu- mites instead of depending on other nations, as in the past, the bank says
 Such development is possible for our merchant fleet is privately owned and operated, and if the restrictions cripple American shippers in competi- tion with other nations are removed
 Tt is generally recognized that the permanent development of our mer- chant marine can be best accomplished through private ownership and opera tion,' Commerce Monthly says. Com petition in the field of overseas. trade, in normal times, on the economic ba- sis of profit from service rendered, demands a measure of individual ini- tiative, freedom of judgment and breadth of experience that can not be had under government control.
 Sound policy, therefore, requires the withdrawal of the government from the field of shipping as rapidly as circumstances permit. In the fulfill nent of this policy, however, there are certain difficulties which must be over come. There is, first of all, the ques- tion of the price at which the govern ment- owned ships should be disposed of. The price for the which the gov ernment sells it shipping can have lit tie relation to the cost but must be determined on the basis of the domes- tic and foreign demand and market prices for shipping.
 'It would seem clear that the only basis on which new capital may be made available for the development of our merchant marine is the prospect i of earning reasonable returns on the l investment Before a broad field of in- vestment can be made available to the | shipping industry however, the qual- ity and security of ship mortgages, | which are now subject to a variety | of prior liens, must be improved and | standardized. Furthermore, to assure American shipping a more nearly equal basis of competition with foreign ship ping, some modification of restrictions imposed by our navigation laws, which tend to increase unduly the relative costs of operation, may we'll be con- sidered
 "As for governmental assistance in l tHS uSFSlOpluSII Ol d uloICuduI Ild- rine, the United States has never fol- lowed the policy of granting general bounties or subsidies on either con- struction or operation. It must be understood, however, that the coast wise trade of the United States has since 1877 been reserved exclusively to American-built ships operating un- der the American flag During the war the exclusion of foreign shipping from eur coastwise trade was suspended un- der system of Shipping Board per nits, but it again becomes effective | after the conclusion of peace. The significance of our coastwise shipping 1 in the development of merchant ma rine is often overlooked. In 1914 the American tonnage in foreign trade was hardly more than a million gross tons, but the tonnage in the coast trade to- taled six and three-quarters millions. Our total tonnage was much less than that of Great Britain, but exceeded the tonnage of any other country. I This coastwise marine forms nucleus of interest, shipping experience and capital investment, which in good