New-York tribune., 1920-03-04
Shipping Board
RESTORES Sea
Rate Rivalry
All Fixed Freight Tariffs
!, Withdrawn to Meet Re-
cent Cuts by Both Foreign
!. and American Operators
Edge Moves Ship Sale
Jersey Senator Declares Re-
tanning German Vessels
Is Burden on Taxpayers

f~ssW WAShlNGION. March 3.--Competi-
tion in ocean shipping rates was re-
stored to-day by an order of the Ship
ping Board withdrawing all freight
tariffs heretofore published and leav-
ing the matter of rates in the hands Of
the individual operators of Shipping
Board vessels.
Heretofore the. rates for Shipping
Board vessels have been fixed by the
board, and they were changed several
times to meet competition with British
shipping. Recently officials came to
the conclusion that to meet cuts in
rates by foreign ship operators and
~ the question of rates should be
left with the 160 or more operators Of
Shipping Board craft.
U. 8. Now Competitor
According to representative steam
ship operators and exporters in New
York, the order of the Shipping Board
will induce an immediate improvement
in the shipping market. Lower freight
rates offered by foreign ships, which
could not be met by operators of
American vessels, due to the fixed
freight charges, can now be success
fully competed with, the shippers said
From. Tho Trlbuns's Washington Bursss
WASHINGTON, March 3.-The sale
Of government-owned ships by the
Shipping Board as promptly as may
be consistent with good business prin-
ciples is advocated in a joint resolu-
tion introduced in the Senate TO-DAY by
Senator Edge.
Senator Edge is one Of tho members
Of the Committee on Commerce who
voted against a favorable report on
Senator w. L. Jones's bill to prohibit
the sale of former German ships "ex-
cept as may hereafter be provided by
law" Opponents of the Jones bill
have waited for some time for Senator
Jones to call it up, and to-day took
the initiative, themselves.
Burden to Taxpayers
The preamble of the resolution de-
clares that the Shipping Board now
Is in "an embarrassing uncertainty as
to its powers" retention of the ships
encourages the government Ownership
idea, the ships will deteriorate in value
and their retention by the government
10 burden to the taxpayers, without
any compensating profit. The resolu-
tion provides that the board shall take
steps to sell the ships to the best pos
sible advantage; that it shall exercise
sale of the ships and that "every pos
sible legal requirement shall be made
that the ships shall be owned and op-
Grated under the American flag"
In the meantime, the Department of
Justice is preparing very soon to en-
terra motion for dissolution of the in
junction now restraining the Board
from selling several ships and also it
10 understood that the House Commit
tee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries
10 opposed to the Jones bill. On pre-
senting the resolution, Senator Ede
said, in part:
Congress No Sales Agent
a'"If any one believes in the policy of
government ownership and Administra-
tlon especially after the disastrous ex-
perience with government railroad con-
trol at the expense of millions of dol
lars day to the taxpayers, then in
Afs view the ships should not be sold.
Persons believing as do, that the gov
srnment should retire from private
business and from unfair competition
with private business-unfair through
Its bottomless treasury and the pres
tige of the governments name-will
agree with me that the government
owned ships should be sold and tho
private business of the land and sea
be encouraged"