New-York tribune., 1922-05-20
Ship Lines Ask
Drastic Change
In Subsidy Bill
Would Restrict Authority
of Shipping Board Over
Government Contracts:
!. Increase Is Suggested
Urge 2O-Year Subvention
Owners, Builders and Oper.
= ators Cause Surprise by
Amendments They Favor

Drastic changes in the ship subsid,
bill. designed to limit the power Of the
Shipping Board in the award anc
supervision Of contracts with private
lines and also to provide an appea
from the decisions of the board. are
requested by steamship owners, build
efs and operators in a report made
public simultaneously in New York and
Washington yesterday This was ir
1.-The torDl of letter addressed to Sen.
stor Wesley L. Jones. chairman of the
Committee on Commerce. and Repre-
sentative William S. Greene. chairman
OF the House Merchant Marine Com.
mittee
d. The recommendations urge an in.
g crease in the subsidy paid to slower
vessels. but provide for no change in
tie compensation For the faster and
bigger ships. The letter represents the
views Of the American merchant ma
rine JOINT committee. composed o:
owners, builders and operators There
are also dissenting opinions made sep
arately b. each of these groups.
Came as Surprise
Among the important points Of diff
terence are the question OF requiring
al! Amer can vessels to be classified by
the American Bureau of Shipping. and
the provision directing that after three
years all companies obtaining the sub
sldy must have 75 per cent of their
feet under the American flag. These
.wo sections are upheld by the Council
Of American or,pbuilders, but are op-
posed by tne ship owners and oper-
ators.
IL had previously been intimated that
some textual changes in the bill would
be scked by the ship lines. but the i'm
ports nee Of the suggestions came rs a
comrlete surprise to other interests.
Ire recommendations made by the
merchan, marine joint committee are
summarized briefly RS follows:
That the ship owner shall be re-
quired to put up from his own funds
only one-third. instead of one-half, of
the capital required for the construc-
ton OF new ships with money saved
through exemption from excess profits
taxes
i Industrial corporations sending their
products on their own ships shall be
entitled to the deduction from income
taxes of per cent of the freight pay
nents, calculated at the current market
rates.
The War and Navy departments
shall be allowed to make their own
contracts with private companies for
the movement OF government supplies,
Board approval.
The subsidy shall be payable to
charterers and operators of vessels, as
we'll as to owners.
The minimum subsidy shall be
seven-tenths cent q gross ton instead
OF one-half cent for each 100 miles in
foreign trade, and the excess compen-
satlon shall begin to apply with ships
Of ten knots and over instead of thir-
teen, as at present. This is the most
important change suggested in the bill
and would greatly increase the COM
pensation paid to- American owners on
the ships now in their fleets, about 80
per cent of which are less than twelve
knots in speed.
: The subsidy shall be payable not
the United States and the foreign
country, but shall be calculated also
upon the mileage between ports of call
necessary to complete the voyage.
= That section of the bill shall be
eliminated which requires industrial
corpora tons, owning and loading their
ships, to offer one-third of their cargo
space to the general public ten days
before sailing.
Ask Aid for Twenty Years
:. The Shipping Board shall have au-
thority TO make subsidy contracts for
twenty years instead of ten, thus
doubling the period of government aid.
- The section giving the President au-
thority to take over and purchase ships
for any public purpose at any time, "
shall be changed to make this possible
only during the existence of national
emergency declared by the President"
!. Elimination of the provision req1ir-
ing ship lines to carry the United
States mails free.
That section shall be eliminated Civ
ing the Shipping Board authority to
refuse to make q subsidy contract if
1T decides that the ability and char
acter of the ship owner, charterer or
operator do not justify confidence.
. II the above recommendation is not
accepted, then it is asked that the shin
lines may appeal from the decision of
the board to the Supreme Court of the
District of Columbia, which shall have
the authority to direct the execution
of the contract.
The board shall not have authority
70 reduce the subsidy provided in the
Want Contrac' Assignable
II the preceding recommendation is
not adopted then it is urged that the
board shall not have authority to re-
duce the subsidy after the contract is
signed. 1t is also recommended that
the subsidy contract may be mort.
gagged, assigned or otherwise conveyed
to a citizen of the United States
. The section shall be eliminated pro-
yiding that the Postofice Department
shall pay the subsidy fund the moneys
ordinarily paid to the ship lines for
carrying mail.
The restriction Of profits above 10
per cent shall be calculated on the
basis of FIVE years instead of one.
The 10 per cent profit clause also
shall not be applied to the individual
ships of an owner, but to the feet as
an entirety.
The requirement that after three
II