New-York tribune., 1922-10-15
Depression in Shipping Driues
Thousands of Searnen ashore
By David S. Kennedy

&
The tide OF depression in shipping
has swept along the water front and
has licked 1t aInos. clean of the thou
sands of American seamen discharged
from idle ships in the last eighteen
months. Many of these men have left
the sea. never to return, unless pros
perots merchant marine offers them as
good or better employment than they
have obtained ashore in the railroad
shops, the building trades, the steel
issiiis or other inland industries which
compete with ships for labor. The
nucleus OF q seafaring race, which was
promised in the artificial stimulation
Of wartime shipping, Is diminishing
steadily under a reaction which has
affected ocean transportation to 81
Greater extent than any ether Ameri-
can enterprise.
Labor az sea has Jared worse than
labor on shore. This is due partly to
the ill-advised strike in the spring Of
LAST year. which broke the backs of
the marine unions, but more to the
economic defation that threw tens of
thousands of officers and men out of
employment. The American Federation
of Labor recently estimated that wages
en land have come down not more than
5 or 10 per cent. Wages at sea have
declined 40 to SO per cent. This was
not the result Of any conspiracy on
the part OF ship owners to disrupt the
unions, but to the fact that the ship
owners themselves have undergone, and
are now in the midst of, the worst de-
preston in fifty years. A sidelight on
the situation is the feet of 900 gov
ernment vessels in a total Of 1,400
riding at anchor, and the list of thirty
eight operating companies, compared
xut <,f l., ,r.lx q
perity. Freight rates have decreased
rs to 95 per cent, so labor is not
the only sufferer.
End of Defiation in Sight
The signs at present point to an end
TO this defation. This is not the con-
sequence of any revival in ocean trans
portation, but of the fact that men
cannot be obtained at lower wages, and
OF the better opportunities on land. The
tendency at the moment is toward
slight advance, though there is no evil
dence of any general increase in the
official scales of the Shipping Board
and the American Steamship Owners
Association. A number of steamship
lines last spring employed men below
the accepted rate, but the increasing
scarcity of experienced men has put
a stop TO this. Virtually all companies
are now paying equal to or above the
level established in January.
Since defation apparently has run
its course, it is possible to estimate
the situation from the point of view
OF the ship owners, as we'll as the Of
hcers and unlicensed men. Considera-
tion must be given also to the relative
standing of foreign maritime nations,
as shipping is international and is sub
iect to keener competition than pro-
teeted industries ashore. Outstanding
features are:
~ American sea wages are now as
low as they will be for some time.
Tssgy probably will advance rather than
decline.
Ge9 The tendency of wages abroad is
70 decrease, thus widening the breach
and making more pronounced the
handicaps under which American ships
operate.
st3) Owing to the greater severity of
shipping depression under the United
States flag, wages here and abroad are
nearer an equality than before the
war, but this condition is temporary.
ta) II we are to have American ships
manned by American citizens as officers
and crews, both pay and working con-
ditions on board must be maintained
at satisfactory standard, though the
ship owners themselves cannot estab-
iish this and compete with foreign
vessels operated on lower basis.
In normal times wages abroad aver
age rs per cent or more under the
american scale. The wage item is
about 10 per cent of the total cost of
operation. Accordingly, the wage diff
ferential imposes handicap of about
per cent on American shipping-a
small item, but one which, when ap-
Piled to dividends, means the distinc-
tion between profitable and a losing
enterprise.
The La Toilette law, which drove
me Pacific Mail and the Dollar Line
from the American flag before the war
changed the whole economic structure
Oh ocean transportation, is not opposed
SO widely by steamship owners as it
was once. Repeal of the act will not
save American shipping, and if United
states citizens are to be kept at sea,
some such standard must be main
famed. R existing handicaps in other
directions are to be continued. then
tne vessels which sought the American
VIII gradually be driven back to for
eign registry.
virtually all deep-sea ships now
oe1ng built for American trade are
Gnoer construction abroad for onera
ton under alien flags Several of the
largest American fleets, owned hy in
dustriai corporations, are awaiting de-
Velopments before making the transfer
While the La Toilette act is NOT a
matter OF primary Importance, it is one
OF those pieces of class legislation
which IN the aggregate constitute
serious impediments to the growth of
inc merchant marine. 1t is in the
same category with the present pro-
nlpition law applied to American ships
beyond the three-miie limit. Several
features OF the La Toilette act are In
Vidlous and should be repealed. There
IS no objection to the requirement that
90 per cent of the deck crew. exclusive
OF officers and apprentices, must be
aoie seamen, but there is no excuse for
the provision that these shall be rated
as such only after three years, service
NO such time is required under modern
conditions for the training of sea
man. The only purpose of this section
IS to strengthen the ranks of the In
Sensational Seamen's Union. Excessive
also are the restrictions as to l;fe-
saving equipment and tlifehoatuen -
During the war the wages of seamer
followed the general upward course
Inc average advance here and abroad
ranged from, 200 per cent to 500 per
cent.
About one-half of this increase has
now been lost. Foreign maritime ma
tions still are fighting for further dc.