Evening star., 1923-03-16
THREEP[ANS OPEN
| IN NSH|PP|NCP POLICY
President to Withhold Def
| mite Action Until Return
to Capital. {
ny DAVID LAWRENCE.


Announcement Of the government .
shipping policy will not be MADE until
after President Harding returns TO
Washington. Reports that the Presi-
dent might make known his plans
while on the vacation trip have grown
out of the fact that one OF his COM
panlons here Is Chairman Albert Las
ker OF the United States Shipping
Board. But while It Is true that
program could be agreed upon ana
made public if the President was dis.
posed to tackle the subject now, tho
desire Of Mr.. Harding is to deliberate
further and take up the whole prob
lem in detail Immediately on arrival
In the National Capital.
The President, of course. has been
thinking a great deal about the snip
ping situation as consequence or the
failure of the ship subsidy proposal.
There are three courses OF action
open to him:
Three Courses Open.
First, to sell the ships a { whatever
prices are obtainable and take the
government out of the shipping busl-
ness at once.
Second, to charter the vessels under
the existing merchant marine act 10
private interests and afford them all
the indirect aids possible to encour-
age them without any direct aid, such
as the ship subsidy bill itself pro-
vided.
Third, to continue government oper-
alton and ownership and call upon
Congress fCf substantial appropria-
cover current loss.
Broadly speaking, Mr.. Harding has
the right under the present la"s 70
select any of the three courses of
action. He will not be Influenced by
pique or disappointment OF any klnd
over. the failure Of the direct SUBSIDY
method, as such policy Woulu not
be in harmony with his expressed oe
sire for the upbuilding OF an Ameri-
can merchant marine. His choice whl
IL, made after he is convinced that the
policy selected Will best secure the
desired objective-a merchant marine.
Some Disadvantages In Each.
Taking up each of the three courses
OF action, there are some disadvan-
tages in all. For instance. if the gov
.rnment were TO sell the ships 1t built
during the war, rather than keep on
operating them, the administration
would have to prepare to meet the
criticism that il had disposed of the
vessels at too low a figure. or that it
had liquidated a business which 1t
should have kept on operating even
At a loss.
The chartering of vessels to pri-
vate interests ~at nominal rates, to-
Rether with indirect aids, would, in
The opinion of many experts, build
up merchant marine. But this,
,f .-ifi fi.siS rn
matter how conscientiously the job
might be done, because it would be
argued by the opponents of ship sub
sidy that the administration was en-
deavoring to accomplish by indirec-
tion some: thing which Congress had
f1atly refused to sanction. The last
alternative. namely, continuance OF
government operation, with requests
from Congress for appropriations to
meet the losses. as at present, is
probably the most likely of all.
VIII Not Ignore Congress.
Mr Harding is not the kind of a
President who ignores Congress. es-
pecially on major policies. and, while
he is disappointed over the failure
of the ship subsidy bill he is not
sure that Congress has made up its
mind as to the proper alternative and
there is no better way to get con-
crete expression Of congressional
opinion than TO ask for appropria-
lions at the next session of Con-
gress. The President has said that
a ship subsidy would cost less than
the annual appropriations which Con-
gress has been making, but this
argument has not seemed to drive
away the desire of many members Of
ttner
large sums, but to keep the expendi-
ture in government hands, instead of
giving il to private interests
Congress, of course, having rejected
ship subsidy. stands more or less COM
mitted to government operation for a
time at least. The test will come wnen
the executive asks for more money,
not only to cover current operating
losses. but to build new ships to replace
some of the war fleet now wearing out
and to construct new cargo carriers of
the type which We're not built during
the war. but which are essential for
q well balanced merchant marine. This
Is a political era-at least the ship sub
kidy bill failed through n flibuster in
which many democrats participated.
Began Under Democrats.
The shipping problem itself began un-
der democratic administration, so
that the democrats are not likely to
oppose program of continued govern
ment operation, while the republicans
can point to the reduced costs of opera
1ion under the Lasker regime as an evil
dence Of efficiency.
Some democratic senators have said
privately that if Chairman Lasker
would put as much enthusiasm into
government operation as he was in
fa <,fy hn 1Ny MIA al a
continue to manage the fleet for the
government as efficiently in the fu-
1ure as he has in the past they would
unhesitatingly vote for all the neces-
sary appropriations. So from the
viewpoint of political controversy, a
continuance of government operation.
with a virtual postponement of any
radical changes in policy until Con-
gress meets again, is the one least
open to objection. Meanwhile some
liquidation would be carried on as
well some chartering to private in
terests, but the government would
stay in the shipping business until
Congress directed otherwise.
Copyright. 1921 =.