New-York tribune., 1920-11-19
Lost
1nShipBoard
Fuel Tie-Up
tconunued from page emo,

tConunueu from paeS eno)
the investigation Mr.. Gillen had a
chart prepared of the tank steamship
operations. This chart showed that
thirty three government tankers were
in government service and others in
semi-private and private work. Some
tankers were being operated for public
utilities and some in the service of
supplying oil for Shipping Board YES
sells abroad. Among the operators Mr..
Gillen named were the Standard Oil
companies of New York and California,
the Vacuum Oil Company, the Atlantic
Refining Company, the American Fuel
Oil Transportation Company, the Island
Oil Company and the Canada France
Steamship Company.
The Shipping Board, Mr.. GilIen tes-
tilted, was leasing th.se tankers at from
$6.15 to $3.50 deadweight ton at a
time when, in the face of the serious
world shortage in tankers, such ships
were being chartered in the open mar
ket at from SIS to S22 ton. Each
tanker operated in private service was
making a profit of $4,000 month for
when. Shipping Board vessels were
lying idle for lack of fuel. The gov
ernment was losing s3,000,000 as a re-
suit and unable to make profits on the
operation of the rest of it's feet, and
in addition had to furnish oil to the
army, navy and Panama Canal Rail
Rosd.
"At the sacrifice of our needs" said
Mr.. Gillen, eve permitted the operation
of tankers in private hands for private
and semi-private purposes at time
when each tanker was worth its weight
in gold. The tanker situation was SO
rotten that when l put my finger into
it my hand went in 20 the elbow.
"And for some reason" said Mr. Gil
len Captain Foley sin wants to get
hold of these tankers now. Captain
Foley is an honest man. but he has no
business experience to handle this prob
lem. If Mr.. Foley's post had been
filled by man of experience in bust
ness organization it would be Frank
lin or a Ballin who would get it, but
under government service we cannot
get such men. The tasks faced by Cap
tain Foley are ten times as great as
those faced by Ballin when the great
German shipping master was in control
of the Hamburg American Line"
In presenting his analysis of the
tanker situation Mr.. Gillen said that,
together with the tankers now under
construction, the government will soon
have ninety-three of these vessels. He
said the government will need approx
mately fifty eight of these to carry 4O,-
100000 barrels of oil for its own feet.
The rest, he said, should be available
for sale,s and now is the time to sell
them, before construction now under
way in England and in private yards in
this coutry damages the market.
"lf we delay the sale Of these tankers
we will not be able to sell them except
at a loss. These tankers should be
sold now, even though we have to step
IN and take away those now in private
and scmi-private use and stand claims
for damages"
Congressman Kelley, of Michigan,
asked the witness whether the tanker
scandal was due to incompetence,
Il think there was a lot of pull in
those contracts" replied the witness.
They were not all non compus mentis. !"
Would Cut Down Operators
With regard to the operation of
the rest of the Shipping Board fleet
of vessels, Mr. Gillen urged that the
number of operators now running Ship
ping Board ships be cut in half. There
are now It's of these operators, and
'''o 'UAIoSit IHS witness asserted.
creates not only an unnecessary over
head expense, but heavy losses by bid
ding against each other for Shipping
Board business. AS an illustration he
said that in the port of New York alone
there are some seventy operators.
"There ought to be one, so far as the
Snlpplng Board is concerned" said Mr..
uli.en Some one ought to investi-
gate and see how many operators there
ought to be from the point of view of
the interests of the government and
then the number of operators should
be ruthlessly cut down 1t is the gov
ernmeent chat is paying the overhead
ana the bills of these operators"
Many of the operators, Mr.. Gillen
charged, were absolutely incompetent
and irresponsible. In Charleston. he
said, there are ten operating companies.
1t needed no Investigation. he said, to
snow that these, too, could be reduced
TO one, or two. There was altogether
too much overhead in such port. he
SAID. While several operators are com
petlng for cargo in one port many YES
sells are lying idle awaiting the result
OF the competition, he said. This con-
dltlon Of affairs, Mr.. Gillen asserted
lncurs much duplication of effort. He
urged that there should be one man to
each port with authority to handle all