The Washington times., 1922-07-25
PURPOSES OF
SHIP SUBSIDY
!. ARE CLARIFIED
Lasker Prepares Primer De-
signed to Clear Up Cues
tions in Doubt.

A Subsidy primer" dealing With
the question Of ship subsidy from
the standpoint of simple funda-
fnentals and making 10 easily
understood by those Uho tOunt TO
giue the problem only casual con-
siderution as i0eu as guiding Those
uho t1ish to dig deep into its udft-
Gus phases, hos been prepared 6y
A. D. Lasker, chairman OF the
United States Shipping Board, IN
the form of a neW series Of articles,
which, complete, Wiu dnsUer direct
Nv questions uppermost IN the
minds of the general public.
Herewith is presented the intro
ductory article of the series.
BY A. d. LASKER,
Chairman Of the q. S. shipping Board.
copyright. 1922. by Cosmopolitan News
serviceD
Seven sane questions regarding
the problem of the American mer-
chant marine have been put to me
by the Cosmopolitan News Service.
1t is a pleasure.to read and answer
these questions, not only because
of their sanity and fairness, but
because, it seems to me, the Cos
mopolitan News Service has en-
bodied in them points regarding
our merchant, marine which the
rank and file of the American
people must be turning over in
their minds, points on which they
would like to have their thoughts
cleared.
Issue Is Studied.
Furthermore, these questions in
dicate that the people are seeking
to rid the merchant marine ques-
ton Of technical language and con-
slider it from the standpoint Cf It's
simple fundamentals. This is an
extremely encouraging sign to those
of us who have had more oppor-
tunity to study this problem in all
its aspects than has the average
American and who, as a result Of
that study and as American citi-
zens, are convinced that the PAS
sage of the pending ship subsidy
bill will result in aid to the gen
eral prosperity of the country.
All we ask is an honest discus
sion in which every man and woman
will use the best intelligence In an
effort TO look only at the funda-
mentals. That's is not easy, I ad-
nit, because the question Is not
only a big one but one which, in
certain aspects, appears involved.
Also, there are certain foreign
and international business interests
H. - - rtssA
with an independent ocean carrying
system OF her own, a system WHICH
would give her even greater free
dom among the nations than she
now enjoys.
Seven Questions.
Conforming to the request OF the
Cosmopolitan News Service. shall
endeavor to answer its seven ques-
tions with seven brief statements.
I repeat: Unless the development OF
an American merchant is to bring
benefits to the country as a whole,
about that development. But IL will
bring good to us all, as am sure the
people Of the country will realize II
they will give the problem study.
Now for the seven question. Here
they are:
l. Why cannot the United States
Government operate ships at a
profit?
2. Why should the American peo-
pie pay taxes to help the ship own
ers?
3. How will American labor be
benefited by ship subsidy?
4. How will the American farmer
be benefited?
S. How will the average citizen be
benefited?
s. How are we going TO pay for the
ship subsidy?
Z. What special benefits, II any,
will the various sections of the coun.
try derive from 1.-THE Atlantic, Pa,
cific and Gulf coasts, the Great
Lakes, the interior?