Evening star., 1922-06-06
PRESIDENT WILL
FORCE ACTION ON
SUBSIDY MEASURE
To Stand or Fall as Party
Leader on Merchant
Marine Issue.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

President Harding has come to a
in Congress He means to keep Con-
gress in session until a ship subsidy
bill is passed. Hopes of adjournment
in August so as to give members an
opportunity to participate in their
own campaigns in September and Oc-
tober are rapidly vanishing. The
President is in earnest in his insist
ence upon the passage Of the bill
creating a new American merchant
marine and will make the fight of his
career on it. If Congress adjourns
without action. special session
probably will be called at once.
Urged by his friends to assume ac-
tive leadership of his party on the
tax bill last year and then the tariff
and the bonus. Mr.. Harding has re-
Trained from taking the relns. But
he is up in arms on the ship subsidy
measure. 1t is to his mind a pledge
the party must keep. Just as Mr..
Wilson in his first term regarded
currency reform as paramount and
kept Congress in continuous session
all summer until he obtained action,
so is Mr.. Harding convinced that the
major act of his administration is to
provide a merchant marine.
Stakes All on Issue.
Mr.. Harding is willing to stand or
fall as party leader on the merchant
marine issue. The nation Is today
losing s50.O00,000 a year in operating
the ships inherited from the war and
the vessels are steadily depreciating
in value, and no others are being built
by private shipping companies to re-
place the war fleet. To drag on this
way means, in Mr.. Harding's judg-
ment, an absolute failure of the
United States to keep her place on
the seas, with a consequent loss to
American industry and commerce OF
untold proportions.
The pending bill, which will be re-
ported to the House in ten days pro-
vides for direct and indirect aid. The
first year it will cost about S2O.0OO.-
600. The annual outlay will be gradu-
ally increased to about s45.O00,00O,
until at the end of ten years ap-
proximately s25o.0OO,oOO will have
been spent. The government expects
confidently to get this sum back
through the sale of ships and through
the profits from private operation:
The private companies will be limited
to 10 per cent in the taking Of profits
and must divide SO per cent of their
excess with the government to repay
the subsidy. The 10 per cent is not
guaranteed nor are losses to be
covered by the government, but If the
private owners are successful they
cannot take more than specified
amount.
~subsidy of Life."
Chairman Albert D. Lasker of the
Shipping Board. who is largely
RESPONSIBLE for the evolution Of a
concrete plan to bring order out of
the chaos in which the government
found itself after the war with re-
spect to ships, is of the opinion that
the government today, by operating
its own ships, is paying sums out Of
the treasury to kill the initiative of
the private owners. He calls the
present method "a subsidy of death
for the merchant marine" and in con-
trast he characterizes the aid which
the government will transfer to the
private owners as "a subsidy of life"
for the American merchant marine.
The plain truth Of the matter is
that Congress does not yet see tine
and is looking at subsidies with the
political vision of pre-war days.
Republican leaders have told the
President the bill would have better
chance to pass after the fall elections
than before. The republicans have
said the stump speakers of the op-
position would say the government
has stolen taxpayers money to favor
rich interests. To all Of which reply
is made by the administration that
the opposition party will merely
change it's tune If the bill is held up
nd
templating steal," which would, so
far as campaign twaddle goes, be just
as effective as the other statement
Democrats Favor Bill.
Fears of partisan opposition are
largely groundless Democratic lead
ers in the Senate have told their re-
publican colleagues within the last
few weeks that the democrats, as a
PARTY. would not oppose the passage
of the merchant marine bill, though
individual members will, of course.
express their views and vote against
it When the measure comes to
houses and will have a substantial
amount of democratic support.
Neither House nor Senate republi-
cans can risk repudiating the chief
executive on major issue which he
himself makes an absolute party
matter. The trouble is not in the
House, where Leader Mondell has fol-
lowed implicitly the administrators
wishes and has moved his Legislative
program nicely. 1t is in the Senate.
The House leaders. by the way, are
tired of sending bills to the Senate
only to see them get caught In the
jam Of the tariff. Republicans in the
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