New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-04-29
i. S. Lines to
Fight British
Ship Ratings
Rossbottom Serves Notice
That Shipping Board In
tends to Raise Question
of Classifying Vessels

Another development in the contro-
|s-sies between Shipping Board passen-
ge- lines ard foreign companies came
&c life yesterday when il was learned
taat the United States Lines will pro
tes' gainst the classification Of It's yes
sells by & committee composed entirely
O; foreign steamship officials sitting in
London. The rating given TO passen-
ger vessels by this committee - the
basis for the fixing OF fares. and il is
contended by T. II. Rossbottom. gen
IRA! manager of the United States
Lines. that in some instances the clas-
sifcations have Disseminated against
American ships
Nh. Rossbottom said Yesterday that
ne London classification committee
az been notified that at It's next meet
q, on May ? J. NJ Kennedy. repre-
senting the United States Lines IN
HTeat brtain, would bring up the CUES
ION OF having the rating of American
ships, done in this country. He said
mat the Trans Atlantic Passenger Con
ference had "forgotten" to place an
American Official on this committee and
mat, Furthermore, there was no reason
way Shipping Board vessels should not
bo classified here.
Under present procedure. the Pas
Eenser Conference fixes minimum rates
BASED upon the clas5ifications deter
MiHed by a Subcommittee on the age.
peed and accommodation Of liners
he conference includes officials Of ali
lorelgn lines. Before The war the emf
ran trade 70 The United States was
3pporuoned By thesc lines. but this ha,
no. been revived chiefly because Of the
eS'rictIons of imm grant traffic by this
country Inc shipping Board company
= memb er OF the conference
MY RossoOttom said that the United
states Lines was not satisfied with the
MINIMUM rates allowed for the State"
SHIPS plying between New York and
LONDON. BY fixing these higher than
competing vessels, he said, the latter
were given an advantage in attracting
passengers. He remarked that the
three ships of the Lamport E. Holt
hlne. which have been placed in the
transatlantic trade Of the Royal Mail
steam Packet Company for the sum
mer, had obtained rock bottom" rat
.rgs.
Ar. Rossbottom would not anticipate
What action would be taken by the
shipping Board If its demands were not
met, but indicated that there was no
mention of dropping the issue
The view Of the Shipping Board, it
vas said yesterday was that there
should be an American conference on
passenger fares as there was on freight
rates With regard to the latter, the
New York conference fixes the cast
hound figures and the London confer
ence the westbound One difference is
that the east and west freight rates
bear little relation TO each other, while
passenger charges are the same in both
directions. For this reason some
steamship officials contend that only one
conference Is needed.
Emil Lederer, general passenger
manager for the United American lines
said yesterday that officials of the com
pany We're satisfied with the classifca-
ton given 10 its new vessels, the
Resolute and Reliance, but that he
would favor an American conference.
Officials Of the North Atlantic lines
continue TO deny the probability of a
reduction in rates. such as that made
recently in the South American serv-
zee. and point to the heavy bookings
Tor the summer season as an argument
why there is no need for cut at this
time. In other quarters it was said
that tho controversy over minimum
rates is evidence that the trend is
downward, and that this demand must
be satisfied soon.