Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-01-14
"DESERT" SHIPS
Continued from Paee One)

ships were now 'bootlegging" Mr..
Wheeler said the amendment would
multiply the difficulty of the dry
laws enforcement and that it would
be bad precedent to rush to the re-
lief of everybody whose business was
damaged by prohibition
1t was in answer to a suggestion by
Representative Igoe. Democrat, Mis-
souri,, that the ship owners merely
wanted an equalization Of liquor laws
so that they would be on the same
footing with Great Britain, that Mr..
Wheeler touched upon the hope of
spreading the fight against saloons to
the four quarters of the earth.
1.-The steamship companies are I'M
duly alarmed" Mr.. Wheeler declared.
THE company that adopts a sound
policy looking to the moral welfare
and protection of the people will win
in the end. The public wants SER
v:ce-not booze. And let me say that
the company that renders good SER
vice and less liquor finally will DOM
mate"
P. A. s. Franklin. president of the In
ternational Mercantile Marine warned
the Merchant Marine was sounded if
the ruling by Attorney General Palmer
that American ships at sea Or any
where in the world, could not sell liquor
were permitted to stand. Speaking, as
he said. in all seriousness and with
out flippancy." e. A. Quarles, president
of the United States Steamship Com
pany, declared owners would be fit
subjects for examination in a psyche
pathic ward" if they invested any vast
sum in the conditioning of ships with
out assurances that they would be al
lowed to compete on equal terms with
the countries endeavoring now to domi-
nate ocean commerce. Representatives
Of other lines said all they could hope
to obtain was the overflow of travel.
Harris Livermore, president of the
United States American line told the
committee that construction of many
transatlantic vessels had been con-
templated. but that with this hang
ing over us we cannot go ahead until
the question is determined" Half a
dozen witnesses representing many cor
porations testified that the law today
stood so that it gave distinct and tre-
mendous advantage to foreign traders
because foreigners and a multitude of
Americans refused to travel on dry
ships if they could book passage on
others where the serving Of wines with
meals was not crime.
Representative Edmonds in urging ap-
prevail of his amendment, said he
looked at it strictly as a business prop
osition.
IF we wait for the world to go dry,
while other nations are going ahead
with their shipping" he added, 1--WE
won't have any flag. We are dealing
with a condition not theory, and right
now it means that construction. reach
ing up into millions must stop because
American companies cannot now COM
pete squarely with the rest of the
world"
Representative Neeiey. Democrat,
West Virginia. suggested that the hotel
owner in Buffalo might just as we'll
come to Congress for financial relief
because a hotel on the Canadian side
was getting more trade with bar as
an added attraction.
Certainly you cannot expect the flag
to inspire respect when it flies over a
floating saloon" he remarked. But
Mr.. Edmonds and Mr.. Quarles insisted
that the case cited was not analogous
to that of the steamship companies.