The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-03-30
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
THE FLAG. ON THE SEA TO sTAYa
FREDERIC j. HASKIN, Director.
Washington, ID. G.

THE FLAG, ON THE SEA TO STAY2
New York, March 27.-Is our war
born merchant fleet mushroom
growth that will perish with the hot
atmosphere of excitement and neces-i
sity that created it, or is the United
States to take permanent place
among the great shipping nations, and
to become independent of hired car
rfers in its export trade?
This important question is being
energetically put to the American peo-
pie by the National Marine league,
which plans to hold a great exposition
in Grand Central palace here during
the week beginning April IL, for the
purpose of arousing popular interest in
our merchant shipping. The navy, the
department. of commerce and the ship
ping board will all take part. There
| will be a great display of marine
| araphernalia in a brilliant setting Of
color and music. The effort will be
to make the American conscious of
1 the fact that he belongs to great
maritime nation. AS the league states
its own purpose, it desires to awaken
IN the American people a voting and
an investing interest in the American
| merchant marine.
The league sets forth two major, as
supptions, both of which seem sound
| The first is that we cannot have a
| merchant marine unless the people
are really interested in one and want
it. The second is that we now need
a merchant marine more than ever be-
fore.
Undoubtedly the big problem is to
arouse the sea-going spirit, to make
the nation ship-conscious, so to speak.
In the days before the Civil war when
Yankee clipper ships sailed every sea-
we were ship-conscious people. We
took pride in the fact that our clip
nTTTd
| take bigger chances. and win bigger
rewards than any other ships in the
world. We lived mostly around the
| edge of our continent then, and a
larger percentage of our young men
I looked forward to going to sea. Fur
thermore, that was before the DAYS of
great corporations, and a man had a
better chance to get a share of the
| control and of the profits than he has
now. ship then was not the enor-
| nous investment that it is now, either
Well, one thing and another hap.
pened, as every schoolboy knows, and
the American merchant marine disap-
! appeared off the face of the ocean.
The American people had lost all in
| terest in the matter and all knowledge
| of it. The American boy no more
thought of going to sea for a career
than he thought of going to the moon.
The war. the shipping board and the
created an American merchant marine
| because it had to be done. We have
a merchant marine now, which is
fowned and operated by the United
states government. The life of this
emergency fleet is limited The ship
ping board asks that it be given at
| least two years more of life, SO that
| the ships belonging to, the American
people can be sold to private capital
without too heavy a loss.
7 u ~
alton has died or been killed, then
what? That is the question which the
Marine league is asking. {. Unless
American capital vi i'll invest in ships.
unless American boys will work on
| ships, unless American voters will take
of shipping. so that necessary Iegisla-
ton will be passed by congress, moth
ing can stop our merchant marine
from declining again and ultimately
| disappearing.
! OF course, one solution of the pro-
| blem would be to keep the emergency
fleet corporation in existence: and to-
! continue our merchant marine as
national enterprise nationally owned.
| NO one seems to deny that the emer-
gepcy fleet corporation has done well.
| 1t has attracted the interest of the
public to shipping matters when priv
! ate capital has long failed to do So
Yet this solution of the problem does
not seem even to be considered in high
| places. Just at present q wave OF
| opposition to government ownership
| of anything is sweeping over the
t country. A great propaganda has
| been set on foot for the return of
| everything to private hands. These
| ships of course were never in private
hands. They were created by the ma
ton with the peoples money None
| the less, they too seem certain to go
into private hands, and at good deal
! less than cost.
The general sentiment seems TO be
| that this is the correct thing to do.
True. some can be found who do not
| think it is the correct thing to do, but
lit appears to be the thing that is going
| to happen. In congress there ap-
continuing public ownership of the
merchant shipping.
| 1t should be explained that the
shipping board was created as a sort
! Of supervisory body to regulate ma
| rine shipping much as the interstate
commerce commission regulates the
railroads. This shipping board was
| given powers to build and operate
ships in case an emergency made such
| action necessary. The war was such
an emergency. The emergency fleet
! corporation was therefore created, as
a child of the shipping board. to build
| and operate a fleet of ships. Its char
ter provided that it should terminate
| its activities five years after peace,
unless congress decreed otherwise. AS
| far as can be gathered congress seems
| inclined to terminate its activities
| sooner.
| If this must happen, then the Mer-
| chant Marine league, in starting a
campaign to awaken interest IN a
merchant marine, must be doing the
right thing The more interest is
| awakened the more chance that our
fleet will survive and continue to
function. And very strong arguments
are made why it should continue to
! function.
| In the first place. many OF our old
export markets have been destroyed or