San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-03-31
Administration May Be
Forced to Direct Opera
ton of Fleet.
HARDING Is PUZZLED
President Is Inclined To-
ward Private Manage
ment of Vessels.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

Copyright. by The San Antonio Light
st. Augustine. Fla. March 30.-The
Harding administration is liable to
be driven to direct government opera.
ton Of the shipping board fleet as a
permanent policy.
AS the trend of affairs may be read
between the lines Of the statement
issued on the one hand by Chairman
Lasker of the United States Shipping
Board, insisting that If the govern
ment ships are sold below market
prices to American purchasers the
latter must guarantee 10 maintain
specified routes and the negative
answer returned by the principal ship
owner groups that it would be use
less under existing circumstances to
expect the purchasers to do any such
thing.
What the ship owners may find in
the end is that they have uninten-
tionally convinced the government
that it cannot sell the ships on terms
favorable TO the upbuilding of mer-
chant marine as the administra ton
sees it and that therefore, the only
alternative is direct operation.
Won't Give Ships Away.
OF one thing the ship owners can
rest assured at the outset-there is
TO be no giving away of government
ships at nominal prices without cor
responding benefit to the government
and that the events of the last two
or three days have already tended to
swing sentiment in favor OF direct op-
Grafton.
Heretofore the shipping board has
allocated its ships TO private owners
and has not directly operated any but
the United States line in the North
Atlantic, but if the fee system isn't
attractive to American ship owners,
the President is likely to concur in
the suggestion that the whole fleet be
operated by the government without
any private managing agents.
Congress cannot very well refuse
the necessary appropriations because
prominent Democrats who fought the
ship subsidy bill committed them
selves during the recent debates to a
policy of government operation and
it is tradition that millions will be
appropriated by the government for a.
losing venture in the interest of the
public, but not cent would be voted |
to enable private interests to make |
money at the expense of the govern
ment.
This fundamentally, was the basis
of the opposition to the ship subsidy |
bill Notwithstanding the conviction of
the President and his associates that
the proposed law limited profits and
otherwise safeguarded the national in
terest.
Can't Work Out Plan.
Although the President still sees
many advantages in private opera
lion and dislikes government owner
ship OF anything. no plan that he will
work out will entirely remove the
element of government regulation and
control. From q political
it would be wiser, of
course, for the President to work out
a policy of direct operations Of gov
eminent ships because Congress,
both Democrats and Republi-
.ans, would share the responsibility
Tor the move and criticism would be
reduced to a minimum.
any pan tudt OstenslDly encourage
ID private management, but is devoid
n the necessary restrictions, might,
t is recognized, lead to incessant de-
bate from now to the end Of the
NTt campaign about the "giving
Way OF the merchant fleet" and
'irAilar insinuations Of favoritism to
,pecial interests. |
The President has hoped that the
ship owners would agree to a plan
which would make improbable and
baseless any such criticism, but the
statements Of the last few days from
the ship owners indicate men have
not grasped the situation. for no mat
ter how much inclined Mr.. Harding
Is TO private management, he cannot
afford to turn over the merchant
Murine except through the guaranteed
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