The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1920-02-26
FARMERS | own 81.
that COST Billie
Other Taxpayers Also Becom.,
Partners in Sea Trade as
Result of War.
WHAT SHALL BE DONE
WITH FLEET A PROBLEM

h #
WITH FLEET A PROBLEM
BY WINTHROP /. MARVIN.
| Author of "The~ American Mercha.
Marine; Its History and Romance"
Washington, D C.--The farmers OF
| this country at present are sh:poWneIS
on large scale. They own, shares ii
a corpora ton that controls 2.;UO grea'
merchant steamers built since he wal
began.
Most of these farmer-oWncrs have
never seen the ships in which they own
a share, and a good many of them have
never seen the ocean They are tied
to an enterprise that somebody else
runs for them. But they are footing
the bills, along with the manufacturers,
the workmen, the merchants and the
miners of the country, and these bills.
are likely to prove staggering unless
some way is found promptly to make
J the most effective use or disposal of
these $500 vessels.
! This is the substance of a situation
/! that has arisen as a result Of the gov
'ernment's emergency shipbuilding &C
tivities in the war The suffering worlG
cried for ships, and the American PEG
F! pie heard their cry, and built the ships
Money was poured into the shipbuild
ing program. Yards were created
where none existed before Armies of
workmen were trained in the trade of
shipbuilders An enormous output was
attained. Suddenly the war came to
an end. The shipbuilding program was
then under such Roadway that it could
not be suddenly stopped. It is still
going, in fact In cases where con.
struction on ship had not advanced
too far, and the materials could be
sold, contracts were Cancelled, but Oh
ships in more advanced stage, COM
pletion was necessary to prevent great
loss.
| House Studies Problem.
The vast shipbuilding program has
been and is still under control of the
United States Shipping Board, a body
Of FIVE men appointed by the President
The actual building is in the hands Of
the Emergency Fleet Corporation, the
stock Of which is held by the Shipping
Board. AS the Shipping Board is
financed by Congress, every taxpayer
in the country is shareholder in the
Emergency Fleet Corporation, and has
! a measure Of responsibility for the ac-
ttv:t{es Of the United States Shipping
Board ITSELF
These are the reasons that make the
present situation of the Board, and of
the merchant marine, one of vital in
terest to the country at large. The
war emergency which led the nation
into the shipbuilding business has
passed. We have the ships on hand.
They were built at the peak of war
costs Of labor and material. What
shall we do with them? Congress
is dealing with that question at
present, and the House already has
taken steps to offer the ships for sale
to American shipping men, thus reliev-
ing the public treasury of the risk in
volved in their management by the
government in the years Of keen COM
petition that are to come
The Flag on the Seas.
This action by the House followed
months of study Of the subject by rep
resentatives who arrived at the belief
that so complex thing as merchant
ship could be more economically man
passed their whole lives in the ship
ping business than by any temporary
board or commission of the govern
ment. Many of the inland members
reasoned that if it takes farmer,
brought up from boyhood on farm,
successfully to operate a farm, surely
it takes sailor to operate a ship.
The Senate Committee on Commerce
is holding series Of hearings on the
subject, that means much in the main
tenance of our flag on the seas It
appears to be the almost unanimous
opinion of public men at Washington
that the ships should not be owned
and operated by the government, now
that the war emergency has passed.
The Main Question.
British owners, as a whole, have a
lower investment per ton in ships than
we have, as they nave a greater per-
centage Of ships which were built be-
fore the era of high war costs. The
question Of how we can compete with
those ships on the open trade routes