New-York tribune., 1921-08-31
Firms Oppose
Withdrawal of
Allocated Fleet
Operators Here Agree That
Shipping Board Should
Not Bear Loss, but Oh.
jeet 10 Complete Recall
Ready to Sell 500 Boats


T The President and Albert D. Laskcr's
I}bsre boat charter plan for the resus-
citation OF the American merchant
marine met with diversified opinion
from operators in this city yesterday.
While the majority agreed that the
government should not operate the
ships at loss on the M-O-4 agree
nent. they ali stood together in oppos-
ing complete withdrawal of the allo-
- Gated feet.
The objection . the recall Of all
so-caled profit and loss vessels by the
United States Shipping Board is based
upon the effect it will have upon the
organizations Of seventy operators and
upon the various trade routes already
established. some of which undoubtedly
will show profit within reasonable
time.
4 few companies advocated the
Lasker plan. They based their ap-
proyal upon the impetus it would give
TO private ownership IN removing hun
dreds of thousands Of tons from the
high seas and thus permit the estab-
lsnment of more solid organization
of American shippers to put the flag
back on tie oceans OF the world.
The United States Shipping Board
is not going to continue the allocated
ships any longer than it has to- said
Elmer Schlesinger. general counsel for
the board at headquarters. yesterday.
we are not going 10 suffer a loss of
1851, 100000 again this year. as the
hoard did last year Mr.. Laskers plan
is going to oe carried out to the letter
20
lose any more money through the
operation OF its ships"
Curtaled Number of Ships
/ eve have now curtailed the number
'of allocated ships n operation to ISL, >
said J. Bars.ow Smull, vice president
of the Emergency Fleet Corporation.
This number Will be reduced as rapid
y as possible. AT present the greatest
! LIKES Brothers. of Galveston, who have
J. II. ". steel ships; Moore G McCor-
mack. Inc. the Munson Steamship Line
Z and the Cosmopolitan Line. each of
which is operating some twenty or
more vessels on the allocated plan
( AT present Mr.. Lcve. Mr Frey and
myself are making a survey of all ships
Sin possession Of the government OBJ
tanning their class, condition. mum Der,
tonnage. uses and other necessary data
to report to Mr.. Lasker. AS soon as he
has passed upon this survey the ships
will be sold or chartered.
!, We are ready to ssl 500 Of the Lake
L type oI boats at once. and will even &C
cept bids from foreign governments or
Individuals These boats range from
ISIS to 4,200 deadweight tons. None OF
~ z
also will sell the submarine boat chas-
ers at once if there are any bidders.
"As to the feet recently obtained
from the United States Mail, we al
ready have five bids on it and none OF
them are from foreign interests. You
can be assured that none of these pas
senger liners will pass out of American
control What viii be done with the
:. steel cargo ships, Of which there are
400, is problematical but some Of
them may be sold abroad after the
. board has fully convinced itself that
(. there arc no more buyers or charterers
, in this country"
3. 1t IS known from the Shipping Board
reports that Of the twenty allocated
!. ships the United American Lines has
ha1 in he past all but six of them
= were returned 10 the government as
y socn zs tnov promised TO show an un-
rcase able loss in operation for both
parties The six remaining also have
been offered to the board. bu. UP to
Gate the board has not ordered them
taken from che two trade routes on
=. which Trey are now IN service
Operator Approves Plan
z. II VI Robinson. acting president
q the American Lines. operating ap-
proximately sixty ships, hfty-four of
snicf ara privately owned agrees with
Mr.. Lasker on tie bare boat charter
-plan a the solution Of the problem
me does not advocate 4 withdrawal OF
:a3 The ai.ocated ships at once.
- Il don't think Mr.. Laskers plan IS a
ssolution.' 70 i'd kmmef. J. Mccormack
,oi Moore Mccormack, Inc, Broad
si~ay. Who have tWentv-two allocated
3snips 81 commission. "but it is q means
ITO az end. Congress vii! have to de-
,leite whether we viii have a merchant
sllssrne after the ships are tied up.
;on the chartered snip an operator VIII
;fa'e 70 get crew, make all repairs 70
tfne vessel pay for the stores and as
lSprne al expenses It will cost him
;;;;si 81 month ton, where foreigner
.sran d IL Tor s d ton
- ~ '-A-+~<s -tr p" - ttf'@t- " N'4r
!. : e opoiitan Line, who had twenty
'iissene alocased ships and returned six
40 .ae government, said: Our atti-
:tpoe Is % wait and see We want TO
8 wa and what the terms arc to be.
ne are no. prepared 70 speak favorably y
Or onfsvoraoly At present. We oper-
a.; soltez 70 France. Holland and Eng
hcc. Toe MOI is AL right If the
lo'arc uses reasonable care in the Sc
Etctior II trD operators"
Tae Cosmopolitan Line il noted for
Paving = credit With the board.
Other operators said that thers is
p aocb, toaf most 81 the ships show
E'r izrge losses IN operation should be
jwlfncrawn ~ rapidly as possible
f~nslc tnsz ray be 4 hardship on some
os The companies operating allocated
vessel, +. probably VIII benefit the
spf''a,e owner and raake his tonnage
mpr@ valuable they said. Az fast ~
y sf>as CONDITIONS warrant their return
: y seTylce She board could then charter
= or gel - snips 70 responsiole owners.
I'M AND