The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-06-06
HARDING INSISTS
ON SHIP SUBSIDY
Will Call Congress In Spe-
cial Session If 1t Fails M
to Act ON Measure
WILL ASSUME REAL
LEADERSHIP NOW
Feels Party Pledge Must BE Kept-Bill
VIII Be Reported to House Within 10
Days--SI8wness of Senate Is Disgust
ing Everybody.

Days-sIewnessi of Senate Is Disgust
ing Everybody.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Especial Despatch to The Reformer.)
Copyright 1922
WASHINGTON, June 6.-President
Harding has come to a showdown with
members of his party in congress. He
means to keep congress in session until
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 October are rapidly vanishing.
The President is in earnest in his in
Sistcncc upon the passage of bill Gre
ating a new American merchant marine
and viii make the fight Of his. career for
it. If congress adjonrns without ac-
/ ton, a speciak session will probably be
called 1T once.
Urged by his friends to assume active
leadership of his party on the tax bill
last year and then the tariff and the
bonus, Mr. Harding has refrained from
| taking the reins. But lie 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 re-
garded currency reform as paramount
and kept congress in continuous session
! all summer until he obtained action. so
! Is Mr.. Harding convinced that the ma jor
/ act of his administration is to provide a
| merchant marine.
Mr. Harding is willing to stand or fall
/ as party leader on the merchant marine
/ issue The nation is today losing $50
/ Oo0,00O year in operating the ships in
/ herlted from the war and the vessels are
! steadily depreciating i'm value and no
| others are being built by private ship
/ ping companies To replace the war feet.
! 10 drag on this way means in Mr.
/ Hardng,s judgment, an absolute failure
/ OF the United States to keep her place on
! the seas with Il consequent loss to Amer
| lean industry and commerce of untold
proportions.
/ Provisions of Measure
The pending bill. which will be re-
/ ported to the house in 10 days. provides
4 for direct and indirect aid The first
| year it will cost about $4,000. 900 The
/ annual outlay viii he gradually increased
! to about S4j,OO0,0O0 until at the end of
/ 10 years approximately $3.50. 900. 900 will
/ be spent. The government expects to
/ get this sum back through the sale of
| ships and through the profits. from pri-
bAv liz hH ,limii"d to- III PER MT ia the TAX
/ ing of profits and must divide 30 per
] cent of their excess with the govern
ment 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 can
/ not take mere than specified amount
! Chairman Albert ID. Lasker of the
/ shipping board, who IS largely response
bic for the evolution IF n concrete plan
/ TO bring order out Of the chaos i'm which
| the government found itself after the
i war with respect to ships, is of the
! opinion that the government today by
/ operating its own ships Is paying out
| sums out of the treasury To kill the in
| itiative of private owners. He calls the
present method "A subsidy of death for
| the merchant marine" and in contrast
he characterized the aid which the gov
ernmcnt will transfer to the private
| owners as "a subsidy Of life" for the
! American merchant marine.
Congress VIII Delay 1t.
/ The plain truth Of the matter is that
congress does not Yet see the enormity of
the shipping problem and is looking al
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 cleo
| tons than before. The Republicans
have said the stump speakers of the OPP
| position would say the government has
stolen taxpayers money to favor rich
| interests. To MI of which reply is made
by the Administration that the opposi-
tion party will@merely change its tune
if the bill is held up and declare the Re
publieans are contemplating a steal
| which would so far as campaign twad-
die goes be just as effective as the other
/ statement.
Fears Of partisan opposition are
largely groUndleSs Democratic leaders
in the senate have told their Republican
| colleagues within the last few weeks
that the Democrats as a party wouldn't
onnose the passage of the merchant ma