Evening star., 1921-05-31
TEAGLE PROBABLE
SHIP BOARD HEAD
Standard Oil President Ex-
pected to Be Named by
Mr.. Harding.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.


President Harding has had no more
difficult problem to solve since he took
office than the selection of a chairman
OF the Shipping Board-and he thinks
that at last he has ii solved. Mr..
Harding has been able when knotty
question arose to pass it over to some
member of the cabinet in whose do
main the matter lay, but not so with
the Shipping Board. 1t comes under
none of the ten departments of the
government, but is an independent
body.
SO the President has had to appeal
to the cabinet as a whole for advice.
Last Friday the subject was discussed
at some length but as is the case with
subjects that involve personnel, no
conclusion could be 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
4 practical shipping man. The trouble
about that. however, is the fact that
the men who have made a success Of
shipping are in the shipping business
and it is difficult to pick "a man whose
firm may be doing business with the
Shipping Board now or in the future.
This objection, however, is purely the
result of a fear of undertaking Or
political opposition.
Everybody in the government
person of integrity, it doesn't make
any difference with what company he
was previously affiliated. Mr.. Hard
ing didn't hesitate heretofore to name
y. W. Mellon Secretary of the Treas
ury in the face of the fact that the
latter is reputcd to be the second
richest man in America. with hold
inss in many important business con-
Germs.
Mr.. TeaEIe Recommended.
The chances are that President
Harding will appoint Walter c.
TcaGle. president of the Standard Oil
Company of New Jersey, as the chair
man of the shipping Board. Mr.
Teasle is "A shipping expert. He is
the one man in America on whom
everybody he reabouts seems to be
agreed that 50 far as making sue
cess of the job. TeaSle could do it.
But as has been the case with many
appointments. il is one thing for the
President TO select and il is quite
another thing to persuade Il man of
government service.
There is no certainty at this writ
ing that Teagle could be persuaded
to take hold of the GovernNent's
shipping problem. but the chances
are fair that he Will do SO.
The search for Il practical man to be
chairman of the Shipping Board be-
gan even before Mr.. Harding was in
augurated. He didn't hesitate to sum
mon to his side men who had had
some experience in the government
Shipping Board. He asked Edward y.
Hurley, former chairman. for his
views. and he recommended Teagle.
He asked Charles VI. Schwab to come
to Washington the other day to get
his advice. The President has spent
more hours of real worry and concen
tration trying to solve the shipping
problem than anything else. And that's
matters of foreign policy have not
been so hard to settle, because so able
= lieutenant as Secretary Hughes
shared that responsibility. Mr.. Hard
ing has asked his cabinet 10 do some
thing about the Shipping Board and
give him some ideas about a possible
solution.
For the moment the question con-
vergeS on the ability Of one man. the
chairman As for shipping policy, that. |
too, is literally up in the air, but when i
once a capable executive is chosen it |
is Mr. HarlingS hope that the chair !
man will be the Moses to lead the gov |
ernment out of the wilderness of its /
previous shipping policies.
Question Of Subsidies.
The tendency here is to liQuidate-
to get the government out of the |
shipping business. just as soon as it is !
and economical to do So I
But if the government does sell its /
ships to private owners, can those .
owners operate the ships in competi- !
ton wit hthe ships of other countries /
where labor costs and labor regula- !
tionS are not so expensive as in the !
United States. The Seamen contend !
that economies of operation can be |
achieved without reducing the labor
the ship owners insist that |
the labor cost is the prohi bitive fac
tor. When the government ships are
in the hands of private owners. how
ever. the problem will not be theoreti-
,al. but practical. Then, il is predict
I'd. the ship owners will be asking the
for "A subsidy to cover
the heavy coSt-and they have in the /
past argued for il on the ground that
other governments found ii necessary
to make ship subsidies to maintain a
good merchant marine. For the mo-
ment it is question of whether the
government will lose more money try !
ing to operate the ships itself or I
whether ship subsidies would actually |
be cheaper in the long run.
Copyright. ls2lJ