The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1921-07-23
U. OFFICIALS SEIZE
FIVE SHIPS FOR RENT.
Continued from First Page.

--
company about this" he said, and was
told to go ahead and tell. but meanwhile
to obey the orders of the Deputy Sheriff
and the Shipping Board rnprFe NATIVE
put aboard, down to the most minute let
ter of any Instructions they might give.
He soon gave way when Marshal Nc
Carthy showed his badge AID tod him
the next step might be to put any OBJ
jector off the ship.
Leaving Hoboken, the tug smoked her
way down the Hudson and through the
Kills to Johnson's shipyards on Staten
Island. Dusk was beginning to fall, and
when the place where the Susquehanna
was berthed was reached, a glorious
sunset had spread DER the sky The
same ceremony was observed, but owing
to the inaccessibility of the dock quite
some time was lost Then Capt. Raynor
backed his tug out and started for South
Brooklyn.
At Pier 3, Army Base, the President
Grant was taken over and from there
in growing darkness the raiders went
to the foot of Columbia street, where the
last stop " IS made. The Agamemnon,
a huge three stacker--all of the boats
are old Hamburg American llners--was
found there and when the chief officer
had been aroused from his early SUM
bers he was told that he too would take
orders In future from lubber lands
man, Shipping Board employee. aided
and abetted by one of McCarthy's men.
That ended the $25,000.000 seizure,
hair
Marshal, the Federal District Attorney
and the Shipping Board counsel leaned
back, smoking comfortably, with the
feeling that good nights work had
been done.
The fact is,'' said Mr. Schlesinger
when asked by the newspaper men who
accompanied the party 20 explain what
had been the moving cause OF the
seizure, that Chairman Lasker made up
his mind very quickly that something
had to be done about the United States
Mail Steamship Company's charters. If
Mr. Mayer had offered to pay up the
rental due the Shipping Board since
March 81, about 100000. we would not
have taken this action, even though we
felt that in many other ways the con-
tract between the board and the COM
pany has been violated by the latter.
Our investigation SO tar leads us to
believe that owing to the unwillngness
of the previous Shipping Board admin
istration to enforce its proper obliga-
tons over s5,000,000 of United States
money was spent outfitting and recon-
ditioning these ships after they had been
chartered by the United States Mall
Steamship Company. That money should
have been laid out, IL 1t was necessary
to spend Il at all-and presumably 1t
was--by the chartering company. as the
contract was made on bare boat basis.
There are many other claims also which
we hold against the United States Mall
Steamship Company, though we ac-
knowledge that they also make claims
against the Shipping Board Also. we
do not now claim that they are in any
way responsible for this expenditure OF
S5,000,000. That seems to have been
the voluntary act of the previous Ship
ping Board administration.
But We 90 know mat they have not
paid the rental due under their charters
on these boats and therefore, under the
law and under the charter. we became
entitled to recover the boats. by force IL
necessary. And this we have dol.. l am
glad that not the slightest opposition
was made to the seizure of the boats.
but II any had been offered we were
ready 10 meet IL Win all the power tndl
the marshal ard the law could afford"
The seizure. Mr.. Schlessinger ex-
planned, in no way affects the state"
boats which the U. S. Mail Company
holds under an operating charter from
the Shipping Board. These are the
Centennial State, the Panhandle State
and the Old North State. For operat-
ing these boats the Shipping Board
pays the company fixed sum and then
takes all the receipts and after deduct
ing the expenses figures its own prof
its or losses.
But the Princess Matoika, the Poto-
mac and the Pocahontas are operated
under charters similar to the ships
seized last night. Mr.. Schlessinger said.
and as soon as these ships arrive In
this port--they are now all afloat-they
will be taken over by the Shipping
Board unless in the meantime some
financial settlement has been reached
concerning the rentals due the board.
Mr.. Mayer, who has been living at the
Ritz-Carlton. left the city last night for
Stockbridge, Mass, and could not be
reached after the seizure.