The Mena weekly star., 1921-09-08
MERCHANT MARINE
 HELD IN BALANCE
Depends Upon Development of Ship. ping Boards Program-Will Take Fully Year-Business Meth
 ods Needed.
By T. N. SANDIFER. International News service Staff Correspondent


 Washington, Sept. 1.-Whether the United States flag flies over the l largest merchant marine in the world, as It once flew over the clipper ship fleets of American commerce., depends on the development of the present Shipping Boards programme within next few months.
 Chairman Albert D. Lasker, of the new board, has stated that it will take full year to determine definitely the result of the present programme. The preliminary steps in the pro- gramme have already been undertaken. They include:
 First. A general cleanup of incom- plete contracts.
 Second. A thoro survey of the en. tire Shipping Board, to determine just where the organization stands in a business way.
 Business Methods Needed.
 Third. To put the board on the same basis as a successful business.
 The general goal toward which these steps are directed is a full | fiedged American merchant marine second to none.
 Chairman Lasker has stated that 1 his administration has inherited choas They have inherited an organization Tn which, owing to war conditions, &C., counts with the business clients are badly scrambled, large amount of surplus material is on hand, some of it unsalable, under present conditions and, finally, with the second largest tonnage in the world on their hands, they are operating at loss to the government.
 The first thing the present organi-. zation has undertaken has been to clean up, that is, settle long-standing accounts as rapidly as they can be put in shape, clear away accumulated red tape, adjust the organization to pres ent conditions, and in general start with as clean a slate as possible. This is still going on, and Chairman Lask- CT expects months to elapse before most of the work is done.
 In line with this cleanup, the or ganization is being thoroly overhauled what assets and liabilities the present board has, thing which the chair man states has never been done. He states that an enormous amount of work is involved in this alone.
 Working Order Needed.
 The third step, putting the firm in working order, involves all these things and is the immediate goal.
 The fundamental thing being under taken now is to stop the boards operations. This is stated to be the keynote to the entire undertaking.
 This loss has been laid by board off, ficials to the present system of oper- ating Shipping Board vessels, known as Managing Operators Agreement No. 4. Under this agreement opera tors are practically guaranteed per cent of the ships earnings, altho the losses in operating might in some cases exceed by thousands of dollars the total income. This is held to be the primary cause of all the present trouble.
 Accordingly the first definite plank in the new boards platform has been to agree unanimously that this system the permanent policy is the only one fully decided as yet, and until it is done it is stated that lesser matters must wait.
 To Stop Losses.
 The board, of course, has deter mined on other steps besides abrogat- ing the present operating agreements, but they are all involved under the general head of stopping loss to the government.
 Negotiations are under way where by all surplus material will be dis posed of and some of this work is now under way, including the sale of the wooden ships.
 When all this is done the present board hopes they will have the fol- lowing:
 A business organization with all ac- counts settled or accounted for, lia- bilities paid, and in modern form generally; all old stock off it's shelves, and everything in it producing
 And, first of all, full grown Amer ican merchant fleet, manned by Amer jeans, sailing every trade route and bringing in its share of the revenue derived from carrying the goods of all countries in successful competi- tion with it's rivals at sea.