Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1920-08-29
U. $. SHIPS SUFFER
 LOSS BY FRAUD OF
 MANY THOUSANDS
Robbers Galore On the River Platte Are Re-
 ported

Ieu states IonlpplHR podEu Hao pSSii defrauded of many thousands Of dollars through practices which amount to esystematic fleecing' of Shipping Board vessels in the River, Platte trade, according to reports to| the board by Captain G. L. Garden! special representative of the Ship lbing Board Emergency Fleet in| Buenos Aires.
 Captain Garden, accompanied by| Captain of Engineers, L. c. Farwell, arrived here month ago to take charge and protect the Boards in- terests. "When arrived here", he said to The Associated Press cor respondent, "ship chandlers, repair men and others connected with the shipping industry seemed to be in al general agreement to mulct thel Shipping Board vessels to the limit.
 "The Shipping Board is rich" they said. "We will get what we can" Accordingly the Board was charged for things not received, and over- charged for things received until it| became so obvious that 1 was or- dered to this port to take charge. In receiving my orders I was told that while the Board appreciated the fact that expenses of all sorts were high in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, still, it felt that there must be something wrong when their vessels paid such prices, for in- stance, as $4 pound for butter.
 It seems that the practice was, when Shipping Board vessel ap- peared in the roads and signalled it's desire to enter, for those who had hopes of selling the vessels supplies to prepare for plucking of the golden goose. The result was that when the vessel cleared bills were presented to the steamship agents, and promptly paid since it was Ship ping Board money, for every con ceivable item at prices based on noth- ing except a desire to obtain easy money.
 "Our arrival put a quick and ef- fective stop to all this. We now have all Shipping Board vessels call- ing at this port, report directly to us, we alone having the right to auth orize purchases of supplies or ex- penditures for repairs. All repairs at present must be made according to specification and under bond, Every bill must have my signature before it will be paid, and the result of this has been a saving of as much as 50 per cent on many items. Con- dltions formerly were so bad that Il have even heard that in some cases food was thrown overheard in order to create a shortage so that pur- chases could be made.n ae
 During the first four weeks of the supervision provided by the new arrangement it was officially esti- mated that saving for the Ship ping Board, which means for the United States government, of $50 .OOO for food alone and s25,0OO for re- palrs was made. As result of this campaign at least one arrest is ex- pected when certain ship arrives m New York.
 There are 23 lines under the Ship- plng Board which have vessels call lngg at ports in this Jurisdiction. ThsEe are on an average of 22 yes seiNon hand at all times. The aver eee cost for maintaining these is 1fcR $500 to $2,O0O each per day. before the war an American, vessel | on the River Plate was a curiosity
 Since the Shipping Board had no oi1ices of its own to take charge of lts vessels in ports throughout the world, continued Captain Garden. lt was usually necessary to entrust Ine care of it's ships to established agencies. Many of these steamship agents had already for years been the representatives of foreign and possibly competing lines. The result mas been that in many cases Amer ican vessels have been held back ! wnaie other ships were given the p5eserence, causing the expenses of II AmArican ships to mount up through \ port charges and lost time.
 all River Plate ports, losses IroM this source have been very great as we'll as those through over charges for supplies, repairs and so forth. There is one case on record wnexe an American ship was held up !or months for repairs and charges totaiing about $S00,0Oo were piled up against her. But we are seeinc to It now that Shipping Board vcs. sels get into port and get away again without unnecessary delay. The II saving to the Shipping Board from 'tqls attention undoubtedly will ha Il several hundred thousand dollars annually. ~ T
 agents who have the interests of Other nationalities more at beart than American are coming to learn taas they are not entitled to more II than legitimate profit from Ameri. can vessels and must handle them af- Ilciently if they want American business."
 Captain Garden and his assistant captain Farwell, are officers of tba united States Coast Guard. detailed II on Shipping Board service. Durinc the war Captain Garden was nort captain of New York and had cbarre of loading more than 345.ooO ooo tons of high explosives, making a II record, it is said, of never having had an accident or lost man. II 9G For f hk. ,ovt EO Jo,,. 4L. " rr s<, ll