The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1922-05-19
STOCK ARGUMENTS REFUTED
SHIP OWNERS CLAIM THAT SEAMENS HIGH" WAGES MAKES
A GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY NECESSARY is
DECLARED FALSE BY FURUSETH
Says Americans Pay Has Been Debated More Violently Than Any Other
Nation, Causing Many of Them to Quit the Sea

Washington.-Tes before a
joint committee of the house and SEN
ate, President Furuseth, Of the Inter
national Seamen's Union, shattered
the ship owners claim that high"
wages paid American seamen makes
a government subsidy necessary to
compete with foreign ship owners.
President Furuseth showed that
American seamen's wages have been
Debated more violently than those of
any other nation, and that the month
ly cost of seamen upon British ship
is now 81 per cent higher than upon
an American shipping board vessel of
the same class and tonnage, because
of drastic reductions in, the number
of seamen in American crews, under
the shipping boards order.
In his comparative study Of wages
and manning on American and for
eign ships of the same tonnage and
class, Presidet Furuseth said:
while American seamen have had
their wages reduced by amounts rang
ing from $40 to $40 per month (27
to SO per cent?, the wages of Japanese
seamen have been increased 45 per
cent, the wages of Australian sea-
men increased by 8 per cent and the
wages of Chinese increased by an
amount not yet accurately reported.
"As a result of these reductions the
wages of American seamen are now
much lower than the wages of Cana
dian and Australian seamen; are prac-
tically on a level with British wages,
and are substantially higher than the
wages only of japanese among the
principal maritime nations"
President Furuseth declared that
the undermining of American ships
prescribed by the United States ship
ping board 'is dangerous to the lives
of all those who sail on them, and
must necessarily result in huge loss
of vessels manned by crews which are
too small to handle them during
storms and other emergencies. The
British do not carry seamen on their
ships as ornaments; they are there
because they are necessary for the
efficient operation of the vessel and
the maintenance of British sea su-
premacy.
The British carry 10 able and or
dinary seamen on a 6,500-ton cargo
ship, because crew of that size has
been proved by generations of eXper-
ience to be necessary for safe and
efficient operation. For the United
States shipping board to attempt to
operate a ship of similar size with
as suicide, so far as the life of the
vessel is concerned, and murder as
regards the lives of the crew. No sea-
men would ship under such conditions
unless he were driven to desperation
by unemployment and hunger.
Furthermore, crew so greatly re-
duced in size as that provided for by
the present standards of the United
States shipping board cannot main
tain the upkeep of the vessel while
it is at sea. Ships which are not
properly manned must be scrapped
much sooner than ships which are
maintained in proper condition.
| FINALLY, there remains the broader
consideration that the present poll
cies adopted by the United States
shipping board and the American pri-
vate owners are driving Americans
from the sea. No American who can
find other employment will ship on