New-York tribune., 1921-06-09
Full Shipping;
Board Named
By President
Lasker Is Made Chairman
for the Six-Year Term:
Benson is Reappointed,
but Only for One Year
Serious Problem Faced
New Marine Chief Promises
Business Methods to End
Present Costly Inefhciency
From TAe Trsa..ne,s Wasa,n oton Bureau

eoSAl announced the appointment of the
Shipping Board to-day. A. D. Lasker
OF Chicago. was named for six wears
| and made chairman. He represents the
central portion of the country. His
nomination and those of the other six
were sent to the Senate for contirma-
ton. The others are:
I. " O'Connor, Republican, of
Buffalo, N. Y, president of the Inter
national Longshoremen's Union, ap-
pointed for five years as representative
OF the Great Lakes region.
Former Senator George E. Chamber
lain, Democrat, of Portland, Ore, ap-
pointed for four years as Pacific Coast
representative.
Edward c. Plummer, Republican, of
Bath. Me-, named for three years as
Atlantic Coast representative.
Frederick |. Thompson, Democrat, of
Mobile, Ala, reappointed for two years
as representative of the Gulf Coast.
Meyer Lissner, Republican, of Los
Angeles. for one year. as representative
of the Pacific Coast.
Rear Admiral William S. Benson, re-
tired, Democrat, of Georgia, appointed
for one year as a representative from
the Atlantic Coast.
Has Confidence in Lasker
The naming of the Shipping Board
has been a matter of great relief to
the President and he is delighted to
have secured the assent of Mr.. Lasker
to serve as chairman of the board.
one of the great business organizers
in the country. Mr.. Lasker goes into
the office with youth and enthusiasm
and ready to listen to shipping men
whose helpfulness he can appraise in
laying out the program before him.
AS soon as the Shipping Board is
confirmed by the Senate. the President
expects to have a conference with
the members. He is fully aware of
the unfortunate state of the business
of the board. The President knotss the
discouraging conditions the new board
is facing. He knows the impossibility
of bringing about new order by a
wave of the nlagician's wand. He is
mindful of the fact that in the popular
mind the three or four billions in as
Unfortunately high prices. He also
knows that the actual values now are
not more than onethird, and probably
n&t mere than one-fourth, of the actual
cost.
1t is we'll understood that the board
is operating at heavy financial loss.
The new organization viii strive to
stop losses and undertake to buiid up
a merchant marine on the basic prn-
c&pie OF private enterprise operating
under government protection and as
sistance. This is diseouraging
undertaking at the present moment. be-
cause ofithe dullness in shipping But
a recovery is bound to come, and it is
hoped to have American shipping ready
when that recovery comes.
iasker Discusses Plans
Mr.. Lasker issued q statement after
his conference with the Presiden. this
morning when he had definitely ac-
cepted the post as chairman. He said:
The men who constitute the new
Shipping, Board come TO their work
with full recognition of the serious
Sltuallon confronting them.
I'VE know the grave condition Of the
boards merchant fleet, built at war
prices under the stress of war. We
haNe been told OF utter disorganlzation
which exists in the Shipping Board and
lack of efficient management, which it
is claimed has hindered the operations
of the fleet
These conditions must be ended.
They will be ended. Honesty. efficiency
and economy must and will be the
guiding lights of our policy.
I'VE must take this huge corpo -ation.
the largest the world has ever known.
and make it AN institution of which
every American will be proud. G
have been told that something over
three million tons of it's ships are un-
fitted to sail the seas and must be sal
vaged.
The feet itself built during the war
at the highest prices known has, so it
Is reported, a liquidation value of NAV
be only 25 per cent.
Because of the stagnation in world
shipping which followed the signinr of
the armistice large part of the feet
IS to-day tied to the docks, the onera-
tons of the board entailing a charge
on the public Treasury of $4,000. 900
monthly. This loss has been accruing
80 -i'Ahy i'oAeio sP1loI 10 HlaCcn 4.
Business Principles First
1t will be the first duty Of the board
to do those things which are necessary
TO end incompetence and make of the
Shipping Board a business institution
guided by business principles and
measuring up to business standards.
The charge on the public Treasury
must be cut down, and that with all
possible>ex expedition, so that this burden
on the taxpayers will be alleviated. 1t
may be necessary in accomplishing this
at first to tie more ships to the docks.
"Ihis initial stage may take few
months, but this shall be the task to
which the new board will immc cdiately
put itself.
Call this, however, is the negative
side of the situation. The positive side
is to build and construct a policy of
operation for the merchant marine that
will keep the American flag flying per-
fmanently on the seven seas
ITO do this the Shipping Board re-
quires not only the cooperation of
those directly interested in merchant
marine, but of business men through
out the country. American industry
and finance cannot exist OH the scale
to which they have been created unless
foreign markets are opened and remain
open American commerce must com
pete successfully on the seas with the
commerce Of the world.
''The constructive end of the Shin
ping Boards work is to iriaugurate and
put In being policy that will accom-