The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1921-02-03

from her transport service. the Ley.a-
than has cos the Government $4.-
10000, cost that has nothing what
ever TO do with maintenance in sery.
ice but which represents dead loss.
Idle steamships. especially steam
sh ps of the supersize of the Levia-
TAIN are peculiarly suscept bile TO de.
terioration. A months, even week 4
neglect might easily mean utter ruin
to the vast bulk which was once the
pride Of the German merchant ma
rine and which later won sterling
honors under the American flag IN
the war aga INST Germany.
Rear-Admiral William S. Benan
y. s. n. (retlred). and present head
Of the Shipping Board, Is extremely
hore'ul that something satisfactory
regarding the future of the Leyiathan
can be evolved within the next few
months, but Adm ra' Benson admits
frankly that the Shipping Board has
not been able to come to n definite
conclusion and that the Leyiathan
remains today what she was year
ago--a white elephant am-ng ships.
The best opportunity that the Gov
eminent had to get the Leviathan re-
stored to passenger service and as
the star ship. of the American mer-
chant maine was blocked by the In
junction SUIT brought by w. x
Hearst a year ago at the tine the In
ternational Merchantile Marine sub
mitted bid of S3,500000 for the ship
and offering also to re- ndit on her
at its own expense. making the total
cost to the company perhaps $4,000,
GOO That CT er was made before
came to the Shipping Board, but in
my opinion 1t was a fair offer, far TO
the Government, mean Since then
The Sh pDing Board has asked flr
BIDS, but in every instance the offers
made were absurdly low--out OF the
question.
The France and Canada Corpora.
ton, for example. iered 100000
but this was contingent upon loan
Of S6000,000 being made by the Ship
ping Board to the corp ration 10 pay
the cost of reftting and return shing
the I.eviathan and restoring her to
service The Shipping Board could
not then. nor can it now, sec is way
clear TO make any such arrange
ment
What We hope TO d is 10 make an
ARRANGEMENT with one or another OF
the large steamship concerns to lease
the Leviathan and put her back upon
the seas as the finest vessel flying the
American flag. II is more than pos
sib that such an arrangement can
10 made There Is nothing to worry
about in the fact that for the pres
emit the Lev athan Is die and unpro-
ductive. figure that the longer she
remains as she is, up o. a certain
point. of course, the more money will
DO saved in reconditioning.
The Lev athan is young ship, vast
as she is, On April g. 1913, she was
launched at Hamburg for the Ham
burg American company. She is 54,-
GEO tens, $50 feet long and nearly
100 feet beam. Before she became
an American transport and was strip
ped to the hull she was one OF the
most luxuriously appointed passen-
ger ships ahoat Her cabins We're
extra large, all the first CAT Il state
rooms having had brass beds Other
luxuries Included a Roman swimming
pool, Turkish baths and electric
baths, swimming pools, a running
track and squash courts and billiard
rooms
Just before the I'm ted States enter
ed the war her German crew, which
had remained aboard her when she
was interned and tied up at H0t-ken,
tried to disable her engines, and made
what they thought was a thorough
lob. The governments experts defeat
ed the plot and restored the Levia-
thans machinery to service within a
few months, largely through the sue
, cess Of an electr Welding process.
Then her expensive fittings were
ripped out, she was made into a
transport and she began her homer
able war service of ferrying Ameri'
can soldiers across to France. In
round numbers she took over almost
100000 men, making nine round
trips, constantly In danger from The
German U boats that were under
stern orders to put her out CT bus
ness On one occasion she fought OIL
two submarines. 1t was on the LeVia
than that Gen. John f. Organ anc
his staff OF the Twenty-seyenth divis
ion returned from the war, and It was
the Ieviathan which brought homt
Gen. Pershing and his staff