Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-07-29
OPPOSING SHIP SUBSIDY

" political correspondent HUN
Washington that rocks and storms
are in the path of President Hard
ms ship subsidy bill. which he has
demanded that congress shall pass
at the current session, on penalty OF
being reconvened for that purpose.
These obstacles to the plain sail
of the presidents pet measure take
the form of facts. figures and ar
suments urged against it by Senator
Fletcher Dem. Fla.), generally re-
earded as one Of the highest au-
thorities on American shipping.
Senator Fletcher ascribed the
failure of the nations merchant
fleet to operate successfully and
economically to Chairman Lasker
of the shipping board. who, he
charged had converted the board
into a political machine and who
spent his time on political propa-
eanda instead Of attending to his
shipping duties as chairman.
Experts, some of them owners
and operators of ships, have esti-
mated that President Harding's
proposed present to the private in
terests which are pressing for the
passage of the ship subsidy bill
would take from the rank and file
of taxpayers not less than $5o,ooo.-
900 a year. The advocates of this
annual bonus" to powerful cor
uorations have been flooding the
country with their propaganda.
Chief among these press agents for
the is Chairman A. D.
Lasker of the United States ship
ping board, one of the p~utative au-
thors of the bill with Winthrop
Marvin, vice president and general
manager of the American Steam
ship Owners association.
Part of the campaign for promot-
ing the adoption Of the bill which
President Harding has made his
favorite child among the legisla-
tive proposals now pending, next
to the tariff, is the Jealous effort
to discredit the merchant marine
established by the Wilson admin
~istration. These ships are describ-
ed in Chairman Lasker's appeals
for subsidies as "a costly heritage
Referring to this slur on the
peoples vast and valuable invest
ment in serviceable ships, Senator
Fletcher said, in his speech in the
senate:
Think of it! The finest fleet
owned or controlled by any mari
time power in the world. or by any
organization. denominated a costly
heritage These people claim to
want an adequate American mer-
chant marine-American owned and
American operated-for the benefit
of American commerce and Amer
lean industry, and yet the first es-
sential to such a merchant marine
is ships, which they complain of as
"a costly heritage
IF we could only get rid of the
ships, the shipping board would be
relieved of annoyance and the
friends of this measure would be
happy. Their main purpose would
be accomplished.
Il must confess to being glad
we have the ships, and I value them
as a distinct asset. which l would
not like to see d~issipated and
wasted. ] want to see them taken
care of and properly employed.
They constitute the first essential
requirement to a merchant marine,
and instead of giving them away or
sinking them, or paying people to
relieve US Of them. I would put
them in service and operate them
as our needs demand and our in
terests call for until such time as
they are wanted by those who will
keep them under our flag, who will
take pride in their country's status
on the seas, who understand the
business they would engage in. and
who will see that they render the
service the people of this country
are entitled to have and must have.
"'The nation is numbered by a
great fleet of merchant vessels
they say. It is like saying to a
mar wanting to open a bank he is
numbered by capital, or to a mer-
chant who would like to engage in
foreign trade he is numbered by
goods or other assets"
The failure of the nations mer-
chant marine fleet to operate sue
,e~sfsfully and economically is the