The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-06-01
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
,neciaI Desnatch tn The Refnrn

- Copyright 1921.
WASHINGTON. June President
Harding has had no more difficult prob
lem to solve since he took Office than
the selection of a chairman OF the ship
ping board-and he thinks that at last
he has ii solved. Mr.. Harding has been
able when a knotty question arose To
pass over. to some member OF the cabi-
net in whose domain the matter lay,
hut not so with the shipping board. 1t
comes under none Of the 10 departments
Of the government, hut is an independ,
emit body.
so the President has had to appeal To
the cabinet as whole for advice. Last
Friday the subject was discussed at
some length but as is the case with sub
iects that. involve, personnel. no concm-
SION could he reached except as to the
type OF man who ought to be selected
All seem to be agreed that the job
should be put in the hands of Il prac-
teal shipping man. The trouble about
that, however, Is the fact that the men
who have made success OF shipping
are in the shipping business and it is
difficult to pick a man whose hrm may
be doing business with the shipping
board now or. in the future. This OBJ
Jectlon, however. is purely the result
OF Il fear OF muck -raking or political
opposition. Every body in the govern
| ment knows that ii the man selected
Is a person OF integrity Il does not
make any difference with what company
he was previously affiliated. MIR. Hard
ing did not hesitate heretofore to name
| A. W. Mellon secretary OF the treasury
| in the face of the fact that the latter
| is repute ed to be the second richest man
| in America with holdings III many I'M
| portant business concerns.
VIII Name TeagIe.
The chances are that President Hard
| ing will appoint Waiter {. Teagle,
| president of the Standard Oil company
| OF New Jersey, rs the chairman of the
shipping board. Mr.. Teagle Is shipping
expert. lie is the one man in America
on whom everybody hereabouts seems
| To be agreed that so far as making Il
| success of the job Teagle could do it.
/ But as has been the case with many APP
pointments. il is one thing for the Pres
| ideut To select and it Is quite another
| thing To persuade man of big business
/ affairs to come into the government
/ service.
i There is no certainty ut this writing
i that Eeagle could Inc persuaded To take
H hold of the government 5 shipping prob
Il lem but the chances are fair that he
Il viii do so. The search for a practical
/ man to be chairman of the shipping
H board began even before Mr.. Harding
was inaugurated He did not hesitate
to summon to his. side. men who had
some experience IN the government
shipping board He asked Edward y
Hurley, former chairman for his views
and he recommended Teagle. He asked
II Charles NJ. Schwab to come to Washing
ton the other day to get his advice. The
II President has spent more hours OF reI
worry and concentration trying To solve
the shipping problem than anything else
/ And that's no eNaggeration for even
/ UcrpleNing matters OF foreign policy
have not been 80 hard to settle because
so able Il lieutenant as Secretary
III Hughes shared : that responsibility. Mr.
Harding has asked his cabinet to dc
/ some thinking about the shipping board
and give him some ideas about pos
sble solution.
For the moment the question con
verges on the ability of one man tn,
chairman. As for shipping policy, that
! too, is literally I'M in the air, but wher
tonce capable executive Is chosen, il
il Mr.. Harding hope that the chair
man will be the Moses 10 lead the gov
eminent out of the wilderness of it
previous shipping policies.
Would Get Out of Business.
The tendency here is to Hquidate-tc
get the government out of the shippinl
business Just As soon as II Is practica
! and economical to do so. But if tn,
government does sell its ships to private
owners. can those owners operate tn,
ships in competition with the ships o.
other countries where labor costs ant
; labor regulations are not so expensive,
as in the United States: The seameI
; contend that economies of operation cal
be achieved without reducing the labol
standards: the ship-owners insist that
, the labor cost Is the prohibitive factor
When the government ships are in the
hands of private owners. however. tn,
problem will not be theoretical but
practical. Then it is predicted, the ship
owners will be asking the government
for subsidy to cover the heavy cost
and they have in the past argued TO
it on the ground that other governments
found ii necessary to make ship subsi
dies to maintain a good merchant ma
] rine. For the moment. il Is a question
of whether the government will los
more money trying to operate tire ship
itself or whether ship subsidies woul;
actually be cheaper in the long-run.