Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1921-08-23
Ouc-SIuu Control

wv HEN Congress enacted the Jones Mer-
w chant Marine Law. it increased the
membership of the United States shipping
Board from five to seven members against
the Judgment of many legislators that the
board should have been abolished outright,
and the business of maintaining Il fleet
upon the high seas intrusted to the manage
ment of one man. The wisdom of that
course was seriously challenged at the time,
and experience under the reorganization,
put into effect by President Harding, further
challenges it.
If the stories which persist regarding the
pickering. the controversies, the jealousies
and the unsurpation of authority within the
Harding board are to be believed, II
mistake to have placed seven men. with
coordinate powers. in charge of the greatest
single business project now under the Fed
eral government. This power should have
been concentrated in single head of the
merchant marine and full responsibility
for its success definitely located
Law or no law. Shipping Board chairman
from the beginning have assumed full exc
cutve control over the affairs OF the organi-
cation This was true OF Mr. Dcnman. Cen
eral Gocthals, Mr.. Hurley and Admiral Ben
Lasker assumed his duties he should pro-
coed upon the proposition that he was the
actual. not the nominal. head of the bust
ness and that his six associates were ex
pectcd to follow his lead
1t is not unnatural on the other hand
that tho six associate members Of the
board should refuse to occupy subordinate
positions when the law provides that they
4 ~,
board as a whole is esponsible to the Pres
ident and the American people for tho
success of its administration that body
cannot be blamed for insisting that it be
consulted upon every important matter and
be not committed to policies. To projects,
to public utterances, to sweeping criticism OF
old administrations. when as a matter OF
fact the board. as board, is not so com
mitted
1t has become apparent to many mem
bers Of Congress who supported the Jones
bill that the anomalous situation which
has arisen cannot endure. Either the law
must be amended, making the chairman of
the Shipping Board the master of that
body, or else the board as a whole should
he wiped out and one-man control created.
Such reform might properly remain in
effect until the government has finally dis
posed Of its ships and has retired from
the business Of operating, directly or in
directly merchant fleet Once this with
drawal has been accomplished Shipping
Board might be reinstated, and that body
resume its original functions.
1t will be recalled that when Congress
established a Shipping Board, no thought
was entertained that this body would either
build or operate tonnage. The board was
designed TO regulate shipping rates and
agreements in much The same manner as the
Interstate Commerce Commission regulates
railroad rates. II was the war emergency
which imposed upon the board the business
uf ship construction and ship operation. In
tine the board will return TO It's original
duties but meanwhile. one man should he
charged with the responsibility for bust
ness now in hand.
Panama q the Wrong