Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1921-08-17
MILLIONS LOST ON FLEET
CHAIRMAN LASKER MAKES MOST
STARTLING DISCLOSURES
sCriminaliy Incompetent Management
of Americas Merchant Marine
Causes Loss of $500, 900, 900

There comes to the Censor's desk
this week the most shocking report OF
it's kind we have ever been unfortunate
enough to read. 1t is a report by A
ID. Lasker, new chairman of the Unit
ed States Shipping Board, to the
American people concerning the gross
Encouragement of shipping affairs by
the previous administration. Chair
man Lasker has more than 200 of the
nations best auditors and accountants
at work trying to figure out from the
mess of muddled up records just how
much has been lost. He says:
Any of our great corporation would
have been in receivers hands long ago
had its books been kept as those OF
this organization have been and are
kept and the operations of the Fleet
necessarily must be just as incompet-
ent as the books are because it is i'm
possible to operate any business il
there isn't a figure on which remote
reliance can be placed.
In the presence of the men who have
had charge of the books fer 10 months
(and / ask them to challenge me ii
] am stating anything incorrectly
want to say it is inconceivable that
an institution like this could be in ex-
istance and be turned over to men
to administer in the shape it is. Had
the books been kept with a view to
cheating and deceiving Congress and
the country they could not have been
KEPT in much different shape than
they have been--andI measure the
words i am using. 1t has almost worn
me out physically and mentally to get
anything from the books that could be
regarded as complete.
Last year, nominally out of the pub
lie treasury, approximately $l00,0 00,-
900, actually authorized by Congress,
was expended on the Shipping Board.
This sum represented the total of APP
preparations. One might deduee from
this that only a hundred millions was
used by the Board during last year.
When | showed to the President few
minutes ago, the figures | am about
to reveal to you, he was shocked and
dismayed that such condition could
exist. AS a matter of fact the Ship
ping Board used during the last fiscal
year approximately $3.50, 100000. Be-
sides the S100,000,000 appropriated by
Congress, and $80,000,000 on hand at
the beginning of the fiscal year, it
sold assets for 100000, all of
which money went back into the en-
terprise. Then in addition it received
from operation of vessels, etc, $780,
900, 900, which was also spent, thus
making a total expenditure by the
Shipping Board of $6S0000, 900. This
$500, 100000 received from operations
when deducted from the $3.50, 100000
received from all sources shows a net
expenditure Of S3S0,000,00 although
the public show 800, 100000 to
be all that had been appropriated by
the Congress for the year.
1t win be shock to Congress, as
it was to the President, to hear that
the net expenditure of this enterprise,
paid out 0 fthe public funds last year
was $3.50, 000,0 900. To illustrate the
bad condition the books are in / will
say that last year the gross operating
were $410,000,0 900 That
represents the expense of the opera
ton of the boats alone. OF that
amount, there is yet no accounting
for s310,000,000.
For 1870 of the years operations to
be unaccounted for demonstrates a
complete breakdown and shows fur
Their that the new Shipping Board has
inherited a collapse that will take its
every effort and tremendous patience
to resuscitate. AS / look into the de-
tails / find them worse than my worst
expectations. Approximately $780,
O00, 900, represents absolute loss in
operations of the fleet.
The President instructed me that
during his administration the public
is to have the facts--and all the facts
and that when we show losses on
operations Of the Shipping Eoard, they
shall be the actual losses. The Presi-
dent wants the country to get-not as
in the past, picture that shows what
did not happen-but even though it
might show that we ourselves are in
competent, to publish all we really
love.