The Washington times., 1924-09-16
SHIPS ARE
QUIT TING
SEAS
Private Owners Have But IS
Now In Foreign Trade,
Asserts Hard
By WTLLIAM HARD.

BY WILLIAM HARD.
Another crisis is upon our Gov
eminent ships.
Either the taxpayer must come
across with more money to put
more American merchant ships On
the seas or else our declared
policy Of carrying the greater
portion" of our commerce in our
own vessels under our own flag
Is on the point of lapsing into pitt
able failure.
If we continue on our present
course, and if we fail to put en-
more ships, it will not be long
before we might almost as well
60 out of the ship pane alto
gether and have no ships at all.
O'ConnOr Emphatic.
r. v. O'Connor, chairman of the
United States Shipping Board. is
emphatic on this point.
Speaking of United States Ship
ping Board ships, he has expressed
his conviction and his policy in
three short words. They are:
None or more"
Give 1t up or get it done! No
ships or enough ships-enough to
provide the service to really get the
business!
This crisis, which will be detailed
IN these articles, comes at a mo.
ment when public ownership Is g.
political campaign issue.
The La Toilette platform demands
public ownership Of railroads and
Of water-power.
The Democratic platform declares
that "the Nation should retain title
to its water-power."
Experiment Under Way.
Meanwhile the nation is already
conducting a gigantic experiment in
public ownership Of ships.
The course Of that experiment be-
comes politically instructive as well
as industrially and commercially
vital to the nations future.
The start Of the experiment is In
the basic fact that private American
ships do not come forward to carry
our commerce.
That is, they do not come forward
In numbers at all equal to the need.
This is not because our Govern
ment ships compete our private
ships out Of their profits.
Our Government ships compete
with our private ships virtually not
at all, anywhere.
Our Government ships virtually
everywhere keep entirely away from
competing with our private ships.
Moreover, our Shipping Board
stands ready at any time to sell
Government 'ps at any reason
able price to private ship operators.
In these circumstances, thus
Governmentally favorable to private
ship operation, how many private
ships have we that are engaged in
foreign trade?
Foreign trade means trade be-
tween the United States and any
foreign country except the coun.
tries in the Caribbean.
1t means trade to Asia, to
Australia, to Africa, to South
America, to Continental Europe, to
Great Britain and Ireland.
How many private ships have we
In all that trade?
Twenty-six.
Manifestly twenty-six ships can.
not carry any very large portion Of
the exports and imports Of the
United States.
Navy Strength Effected.
Our naval treaty with Great Brit.
ain and Japan lays down the propo-
sition that in naval strength Great
Britain shall be as five and the
United States as five and Japan as
three.
Naval strength, however, is only
one part of sea strength. It is only
one part Of sea security. The other
part Is merchant marine strength.
1t is the carrying strength, 1t Is the
auxiliary strength, necessary for
supporting and experimenting the
naval strength in war.
In war, today, If we trusted to
our ocean-going private merchant
marine strength, we would have
twenty-siix ships.
Both from the commercial stand.
point and the military standpoint,
these twenty-six ships are absurdly
inadequate.
Therefore, government ships to.
day are not the product Of q theory.
They are not the product of an
academic passion for ownership.
They are the product OF a condition,
Of a set of facts, Of driving necess.
ity.
Questions That Arise.
We have approximately three
hundred and fifteen Government
ships in foreign commercial trade.
The questions arise:
Why do they go? What do they
do? How much of our commerce
do they succeed in carrying in
competition with foreign ships?
The questions also arise:
Why do not private ships come
forward to supplant them? Why
Is the sea unattractive to private
American investors and operators?
The questions finally arise:
Will there ever be an end to this
situation? Will a privately owned
American merchant marine ever
again sail the sea and be the glory
of 1t as were the American wooden.
winged wandering clippers before
the Civil War?
To these questions these articles
will endeavor to provide the
answers most approved by most
students of the problem.
Tomorrow: Where We Are Going.)
Copyright, 1924. by Current News
FAntuFAa InR