Evening star., 1924-12-07
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directly responsible TO the President.
dent
ALLEGATION of ships, the determina-
tions of routes, the sale of ships, are
among the most important matters
affecting their operation which, as
matters stand today, have to be sub
mitted to the board for it's decision.
1t is felt in administration quarters
that these functions should be in the
hands of the Fleet Corporation, sub
Ject of course, to the President of
the United States. Any attempt TO
place the operation of the fleet in the
Fleet Corporation more effectually
than it now is would prove abortive,
1t is believed, unless such action
should be taken
1t has been suggested that the
Shipping Board should constitute a
kind of board Of directors of the
Emergency Fleet Corporation. In
fact, in its recently published annual
report. the Shipping Board said:
1t has been the desire of the
board, as far as possible, to place
the operation of its vessels on a
basis approximately commercial prec-
edents and practices. For this pur-
pose II was felt that the officials of
the Emergency Fleet Corporation in
the conduct of the business should be
given free hand as ministerial Of
ncers, reporting TO the Shipping
Board as to a board of directors
fixing the broad general practices TO
be followed"
Suggest Advisory Council.
On the other hand, the suggestion
is advanced that there should be no
such connection between the cor
poration and the board, but that an
advisory committee or council, con-
ststing of the Secretary of the
Treasury, the Secretary of the Navy
and the Secretary of Commerce,
should De created. This council
would advise with both the President
of the United States and the head of
the Fleet Corporation. Further. a
board of trustees consisting of the
president of the Fleet Corporation
and six other officials of the corpora
tion should be established. All Of
the ships and other property under
such plan would be transferred TO
the Fleet Corporation, acting for the
Government. The Fleet Corporation
would be responsible directly to the
President and to the Congress. AS a
matter of fact, under such a plan.
the Congress itself would occupy the
position of a board of directors to
the Fleet Corporation, laying down
circumstances demanded Except in
a very broad sense, however. the
Congress would not direct the ac-
tivities of the president of the Fleet
Corporation. Hence desirability of
the establishment of an advisory
council composed Of Cabinet officers.
who shall confer both with the
President and with the head of the
Fleet Corporation regarding general
policies.
In view of the proposal of the
President the question as to what
are the duties and functions of the
board outside the operation of the
feet and other property becomes in
creasingly interesting. What has the
board done with them?
Compares With 1. c. c.
These functions of the board have
been likened to the duties of the In
terstate Commerce Commission. 1t
has been said that the Shipping
Board should have the same relation
to American shipping, Government
owned as well as privately owned. as
the Interstate Commerce Commission
has TO the railroads.
Chairman O'Connor of the Shipping
Board has been keenly interested in
the development of these functions of
the board. He called the attention
of the board to these matters early
in the year, outlining the activities
of the board distinct from the opera
tion of the fleet, as he saw them.
In order to facilitate the work of
the board, its functions have been
separated into various bureaus, with
commissioner at the head of each,
as follows: Bureau of Traffic, Com
missioner E. c. Plummer, vice chair
man of the board; Bureau of Regula-
ton, Commissioner +. L. Thompson
Bureau of Construction, Commission
er ". S. Benson: Bureau of Opera
tions. Commissioner T. V. O'Connor,
chairman OF the board; Bureau OF
Law, Commissioner B. E Haney; Bu-
reau of Research, Commissioner
Meyer Lissner; Bureau of Finance,
Commissioner w. S. Hill.
Under the Bureau of Traffic come,
among other things. domestic and
world trade conditions: under the bureau
of regulation, agreements and con-
ferences of water carriers, rates and
tariffs, and relations with the rail-
roads; under the bureau of construc-
ton, domestic and foreign construc-
ton and costs, the construction loan
fund provided by law to foster Amer
lean ship building, transfers of flag
new designs and hull machinery; un-
der the bureau of operations, labor
costs and conditions. pier and port
facilities, cargo handling equipment;
under the bureau of laws, scrutiny OF
foreign and United States laws affect
ing shipping, Investigations and
hearings, legal advice and litigationsi
under the bureau of research, general
research, marine insurance, and the
insurance fund. and under the ou-
reau of finance, construction loan
fund and all matters pertaining to
finance.
Wide Range of Duty.
It is easy to see by a glance al
these divisions of the work OF the
board that 1t has many and varied du-
ties of great Importance both from a
regulatory and advisory standpoint
1t has wide powers of research into
all matters affecting shipping
Further. the board has the very i'm
portant duty of passing upon rates
charged by common carriers by wa
ter-foreisn and interstate-with
certain exceptions. The board does
nor have the power to fix rates-but
it's power is comparable to the power
first granted the Interstate Com
merce Commission in the early days
of railroad regulation-it may declare
rate unfair or discriminatory. Fur
ther, the board may investigate and
determine what practices constitute
unfair competition and discrimination
on the part of water carriers.
The division of regulations during
the fiscal year ending last June 80
had filed with IT, in conformity with
the law, 80 active freight and pas
senger conference agreements OF
copies of minutes of tariffs In ad'
dition 10 subconferences functioning
as snhsidiaries of major conferences