Arizona republican., 1921-01-14
SAY SHIPPING
 INTERESTS ARE
 THREATENEDB BY VOLSTEAD ACT
American Owned Ships Un- able To Compete For World Trade Unless Per mitted To Handle Liquor, Witnesses Testify
TRepubIIean A. p. Leased wIrel

v
 WASHINGTON, Jan. 13.-American passenger steamship officials, appeal ing today to the house judiciary com mittee for modification of the Volstead act, declared they would be unable to compete with ships of foreign registry for world trade unless permitted to handle liquors for use by patrons be- yond the three-mile limit
 About the only consolation they ob- tained was a prediction not for the record by Represen- tative Dyer, Republican, of Missouri that they did not have a chance " This comment was made after Wayne Wheeler, general counsel for the Anti Saloon league. in opposing any let down in the laws, expressed the opin- ion that some day the world would be dry and that all ships would be devoid of liquor
 Means Death KneIl of Merchant Marine
 The shipping interests insisted. how ever. that they had to deal with pres ent problems. that there had beer wholesale cancellation of reservations on American ships by travellers who found other vessels unaffected by pro hibition restrictions, and that the tasl Of trying to make the American flas supreme could not be carried on il competition with Great Britain ant other nations free of all handicaps. F. A. S. Franklin, president of the In ternational Mercantile Marine warned that the death knell of the merchan marine was sounded if the ruling b! Attorney General Palmer that Ameri can ships could not sell liquor. wer permitted to stand.
 E. A. Quarles, president of the Unite, States Mail Steamship company, de clared owners would be "fit subject 1 for examination in psychopathi ward" if they invested any vast sum il the building and conditioning of ship without assurances that they would b allowed to compete with the countrie endeavoring now to dominate ocea' commerce.
 Harris Livermore. president of th United American line, declared tha construction of many trans Atlanti vessels had been contemplated. bu that with this hanging over us " cannot go ahead until the question determined" Half a dozen witnesse testified that the law gave tremen .dous advantage to foreign traders.
 Wheeler Offers Only Opposition
 Mir. Wheeler alone was heard in OF position to the plea on the steamshi question, made at hearing on bl by Representative Edmons. Repuh tcan. Pennsylvania, 90 exempt passen ger vessels engaged in foreign trad from provisions of the Volstead lay Asserting that many ships were "boot logging" MT. Wheeler said the amend ment would multiply the difficulty { the dry laws enforcement.
 !. It was in answer to suggestion | Representative Igoe, Democrat of Nils
 souri. that the ship owners merel
 wanted an equalization of liquor lay that Mir Wheeler touched on the hoI , of spreading the fight against salooI to all the world
 "The steamship companies are UT duly alarmed" he declared. ''Tf lcompany that adopts sound polio looking to the moral welfare and pr'
 lection of the people will win. IT . public wants service m , booze. And let me say that the con ! pany that renders good service and le' , liquor finally will dominate" , Representative Edmons, in urgiT 1 approval of his amendment. said , looked at 1t strictly as a busine
 proposition.
 If we wait for the world to go dr
 while other nations are going ahes
 with their shipping" he added. W
 won't have any flag. We are dealiT
 with a condition, not a theory.