The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-06-07
MERCHANT FLEET
 ABSOLUTE NEED,
 ASSERTS PALMER
Head Of Fleet Corpora
 tiOn Predicts Cheaper i Construction

BOSTON, June 6.-That a healthy merchant marine is an absolute neces- sity to the safety and pro .perity of the American people, and that private own ership is the only fundamental solution to keeping the American flag afoat on high seas, was the declaration this aft ernoon of Admiral Leigh c. Palmer, president of the United States Fleet corporation, before the eleventh na- tional foreign trade convention.
 Discussing the relation of the gov ernment to the merchant mari: ?, Ad- miral Palmer said: While government aid for the merchant marine is to be encouraged and welcomed, it is more important for the lasting good of the merchant marine that private enter prise be directed to the solution of our shipping problems with view to di- fninishing. and eventually removing, the differential that exists between Amer ican and foreign operating costs. But I am an optimist, and l believe the time will come when we will build ships as cheaply as they can be built abroad.
 When shipyards are enabled to work continuously on the production of specialized types of ships, and when
 
 standardized types of marine motors that can be manufactured by quantity production methods and at compar- atively low cost, the problem of cheap ships will have been solved.
 Seeks Efficiency
 "A part of the differential that now exists is the higher cost of capitol to the American shipowner This prob ok Ky Ss 4IoA will adjust itself in due time. Fur thermore, in all items of operating costs in which labor is considerable factor, such as wages of ships crews and salarie of operatives, American shipping will continue to be at a dis advantage as long as the American scale of living is higher than the for eign, which we should expect to con- t1rue indefinitely. But, recognizing this, our recourse is to make our oper- atives and crews more efficient and more productive, and thereby minimize the differential.
 Needed In War
 The merchant marine should not be regarded from an exclusively commer- claI viewpoint" continued the speaker. While its prime purpose is to serve the nations commerce during times of peace, it's value as an element of na- tlonal defense should be kept in mind. Modern warfare is waged with prac- tically all national resources, and the commercial fleet is hardly second in i'm portance for purposes of national de- fense to that of regular naval estab- hshment. In proportion, as the prin ciple of naval disarmant is adopted and the regular naval fleets curtailed, the commercial fleet will become of in creaslng importance for both offense and defense. It has long been an es- abolished policy of certain foreign gov ernments to develop special types of commercial vessels for possible use as naval or military auxiliaries.
 Probably in view of the tendency toward disa armament, such a policy will be more fully developed, and our gov ernment must take cognizance of tbis Tn its encouragement and development or our merchant marine, more esne- clally in the creation If the high-class passenger and combination passenger and cargo types of vessels in which our commercial fleet is notably deficient.