The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1924-09-18
WAGES NOT.
CAUSE Of
LOSSES
British Business United Be-
hind Merchant Marine.
Ships Are Faster
BY WILLIAM HARD.

BY WILLIAM HARD.
We shall have to spend more
public money out of the United
States Treasury or else we shall
tend to vanish from the seas.
That was the point from which
these articles started.
The point now reached is:
Why is it that an American
ship in foreign trade so generally
loses money?
Z The customary answer is far in
deed from an explanation.
1t customarily is said that the
/ La Toilette seaman's law and our
!, other navigation laws lay such
restrictions and such ol1erous ex-
penses upon our ships that they
$ cannot compete with foreign ships.
s This is really no explanation
: ct all.
Law Not Factor.
A great and grand committee Of
shipping experts was appointed in
Washington not long ago to study
our navigation laws and to suggest
changes in them. This committee
from our private shipping interests.
50 When its report was presented,
the changes which 1t suggested in
our navigation laws were found to
be almost infinitesimal.
Albert d. Lasker, former chair.
man of the United States Shipping
Board, and certainly no great friend
/. of Senator La Toilette, testified be-
fore a Senate committee to the ef-
feet that the La Toilette seaman s
law had only an extremely small in
fluence on the situation.
1t is customarily thought that the
La Toilette seaman's law directs
and compelS high wage scale for
seamen on American ships. 1t does
no such thing. It does not dictate
wages at all.
1t further is customarily believed
that wages are the principal item
IN the operation of a ship. This Is
not true.
What Figures Show.
On Shipping Board vessels last
July the total expenses Of operation
were approximately 100000. The
total cost of wages was approx
nately 81, $50, 900.
1t is clearly to be seen that wages
alone do not explain the handicaps
Of American vessels.
American vessels do, indeed, pay
higher wages than British vessels,
just as American steel mills pay
higher wages than British steel
mills.
That is inevitable.
But what is the resulting Diff
1erential?
President Farrell, of the United
States Steel Corporation, ought to
know. He operates ships a great
deal.
He says that in the total cost Of
vessel operation the differential be-
tween American wages and British
wages does not weigh more than
2 per cent.
No! The big basic reasons why
American vessels in foreign trade
90 generally lose money cannot be
found In our navigation laws or
IN our wages.
Old Friends Count.
The big basic reasons must be
sought elsewhere.
They are found in a multiplicity
Of historic circumstances which can
be only gradually overcome.
The British ship owner or ship
operator has old personal friends in
Hong Kong, in Cape Town, in
Odessa. Our new aspiring ship
owners and ship operators have not.
Established personal trade rela.
ttonships fight for the British and
hight against US.
Next:
British bankers, British investors
back home, are familiar with ship.
ping and are not afraid Of it ind
give it their money at relatively
low rates. Our bankers, our in,
vestors, are unfamiliar with tt and
shy away from it and give 1t their
money only reluctantly and only at
relatively high rates.
Next:
British buyers who are buying
commodities from us and British
manufacturers who are selling us
commodities are in multitudes thor.
oughly trained to demand that the
shipments resulting shall be &C
complished in British bottoms.
One of our largest manufacturers
Of motor cars received a British
order the other day conditioned
dpSolutely on the proposition that
the motor cars thus bought should
go to Britain over the Atlantic
under the British flag.
British Ships Faster.
Our business people, whether ex.
porters or importers, are not equal
~ trained to demand shipment in
American vessels.
Next:
The British ships, on the whole
are faster. This has to be ad
nnitted. The British ships, on the
whole, are better from the stand
point of speed. This means much
to the shipper. He owns, let us
say, q cargo Of silk. It Is extreme
ly vluable. He pays interest on Il
every day he owns It.
He wants II to arrive fast. The
superior speed OF the mass OF
British vessels Is an enormous
handicap to our American nner
chant fleet.
Finally:
The British ships are more nun,.
erous and therefore offer more IRE.
quent sailings.
This is one Of the most deciaivs