Albuquerque morning journal., 1922-11-29
DEFEAT MARINE
MEASURE, PLEA
OF GOMPERS To
HOUSE MEMBERS
LABOR OenounCeS the Ship
Subsidy Bill as ''Eraud, a
Robbery and Wholly In
defenSibIe, " He Says
SUPPORTERS PREDICT
COMFORTABLE MARGIN
Final Vote Is Scheduled for
Not Later Than 4 P M.
Today Radical Changes
Made by Amendments

Washington, Nov. 2S.--Radical
changes in several provisions OF the
Adrian shipping bill. all Of them
proposed by republicans, were
made today by the house as 1t ap-
nroached O final vote on the meas
me More than two score OF
amendments were offered, but less
than a dozen were approved
In quick succession. amendments
proposed by democrats hostile 10
the legislation. were rejected Frac-
tically all of them came from lour
democratic members of the mer-
chant marine committee, Repre-
sentatives Davis of Tennessee,
Hardy and Briggs of Texas ana
Bankhead of Alabama. Friends OF
the bill, encouraged by their sue
cess in turning back the democratlc
attack. predicted they would nave
n comfortable margin 'on the pass
age vote scheduled for not later
than y. m. tomorrow.
Among the Changes
Among the important changes
made i'm the measure during the
day was an amendment by Chalr-
man Madden of the appropriation
committee, making it necessary ior
congress each year to authorize
payments from the merchant ma
rine fund to operators of American
ships. .. 7
At the suggestion OF Represent
ative Fdmonds of Pennsylvania. /
ranking republican on the mer-
chant marine committee, the house
decided not to make government
aid available 10 Industrial concerns,
such as the Standard Oil company,
for the operations OF vessels carry /.
ing their own products. The bill /
as amended, permits such COM .
panies, however. to receive assist
ance for transporting cargoes Of
other shippers,
As expected Representative /
Bankhead proposed that he bill /
specify that compensation was not
Au be paid to any operator whose
ships carried liquor. The supreme
court, it was pointed out might .
decide that ships outside the three /
mile l~.'4 were not subject 10 the
prohibition ana the Bankhead /
amendment was offered to make
doubly sure disbarment Of liquor
from American vessels.
MIR. Edmonds offered a substi- .
tute for the Bankhead amendment .
narrowing it's scope to provide that
ships should not receive govern
ment aid for voyages on which .
liquor was carried. After brief dis /
cussion the Edmonds substitute .
was adopted Sc to 81. There was .
a general assault on the provisions .
of the bill relating to the powers Of /
the shipping board, but they re-
mained intact until one section,
stipulating that the general ac-
counting office was not to review
the boards determination Of the
amount Of compensation to be /
paid, was eliminated at the sug-
gestion OF Representative Graham,
republican Of Illinois. by a 81 TO 40 /
vote.
Annual Check
Mr.. Madden's amendment pro,
viding an annual congressional
check on the payments Of compeu-
sation was offered after Mr.. Davis
had attempted to strike out the
provision creating a merchant ma
rine fund from which payments
would be made. Mr.. Davis and
others contended that applications
should be made annually for the
purpose so the public would know
how much the law was costing.
The Madden amendment retained
the merchant marine fund section
in the bill but required that no
payments were to be made to OPP
orators having contracts with the
government until congress had au-
thorized them.
House members were appealed to
by President Gompers of the Amer
lean Federation of Labor, in letters
sent out during the day to defeat
the bill. Expressing the opinion
that it would place a tremendous
drain on the treasury without ef-
fectively rehabilitating the Ameri-
can merchant marine. Mr.. Comp
ers declared that labor denounced
the bill as fraud, q robbery and
wholly indefensihIe