The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-01-14
STEAMSHIP LINES
 ASK MODIFICATION
 OF VO[STEAD ACT
Declare They Are Unable to Compete With Foreign Ships Unless Permitted to Handle
 Liquor for Patrons
By Associated Press


 Washington, January 13.-Amerjcan passenger steamship officials. appeal- l ing today to the House Judiciary com
 mittee for modification of the yolstead
 act, frankly declared they would be unable to compete with ships of Cor eign registry. for the trade of the world unless permitted to handle, liquors for use by patrons bevond the three- mile American Iiasit ~ l About the only consolation they cb. tained at the end of an all-day hearing was a prediction-not for record--by Representative sDyer, republican. Mis- souri, that they didn't have a chaace." This comment was made in. open ses7
 sion, after Wayne Wheeler, general counsel for the AntiSaloon Lea .suc,
 in opposing any let-down in the press ent law, expressed the opinion that some day the world would be dry, dno that the ships of all nations would sail over the seven seas without a drop
 not sell liquor.
 The shipping interests insisted low> iever, that they had to deal with prob> lems of the present day. that there had i been wholesale cancellation of reser-
 
 | CTS who found other vessels bound tor the same ports unaffected by prohibi- i tion restrictions, and that the great task of trying to make the American 1 flag supreme on the seas could not he i carried on in competition with Great Britain and other nations free of all Legislative handicaps.
 MEANS DEATH KNELL 1 P. A. s. Franklin. president of the l IInternational Mercantile Marine. l Warned the committee that the death- knell of the merchant marine was
 sounded if the ruling by Attorney tien~ eral Palmer that American ships at
 sea or anywhere in the world could not seel liquor.
 Speaking in all seriousness and with no attempt at flippancy.y E. A. Quarles, president of the United States Mail Steamship company decli -ed owners would be fit subjects for ex- animation in psychopathic ward" if they invested any vast sum in the building and conditioning of ships without assurances that they would be allowed to compete on equal | terms with the countries endeavo ing now to dominate ocean comm .rce. Representatives of other lines said all they could hope to obtain was the overflow of travel.
 | Harris Livermore president of the United American line. told the commit tee that construction of many trans> atlantic vessels had been coritempIated but with this hanging over as, we cannot go ahead until the question is determined" Half a dozen witnesses representing many corporations -esti- 1 fled that as the law stood today is gave distinct and tremendous sd- vantage to foreign traders. because foreigners and multitude of Am>ri> cans refused to travel on dry ships, if they could book passage on others was not crime.
 WHEELER ONLY OPPONENT MT. Wheeler alone was heard in op- position to the plea of the steamship folk, made at a hearing on bill by Representative Edmonds of Pennsyl- vania, ranking republican member d1 the American Merchant Marine commit tee. to exempt passenger vessels en- gagged in foreign trade from provisions of the. Volstead law. Asserting that
 many ships now were 'bootlegging,"
 MT. Wheelersaid the amendment would multiply the difficulty of the dry laws enforcement. and that it would he a
 bad precedent to rush to the relief of everybody whose business was dam- aged by prohibition. It was in answer to suggestion by Representative Igoe, democrat. Missouri, that the ship owners merely wanted an equalization of liquor laws so that they would be on the same footing swith Great Britain, that MT. Wheeler touched Iupon the hope of spreading the fight against saloons to the four quarters of 1 the earth a 'The steamship companies are llnduly lalarmed." MT. Wheeler declared The lcompany that adopts sound policy looking to the moral welfare and pro- Itection of the people will win in the ,snd. The public wants service, not eooze. And let me say that the com pany. that renders rood service and le<s] liouor finally will dominate. Representative Edmonds, in fur6{i1 approval of his amendment. said f3
 looked at it strictly as business pr{
 oSf{ion.