Evening star., 1925-07-19
BRITISH GIVING THE u. S.
SQUARE DEAL In TRADE
Reports of Discrimination Mostly
Founded on Misinformation or
T Isolated Instances.
BY SHELDON =. CLINE.

v ONDON.-I am going to devote
this letter to a discussion of
the combined subjects OF ship
IL ping and trade, with particular
reference as to how these prob
lens hear on the relation between the
United States and Great Britain.
But don't think II is going to be a
technical discussion Of the intricacie
Of the questions involved. | will leave
that to the experts. who have done
and will continue 10 do it Voluminous-
~ in heavy and awe inspiring reports
that hardly any one reads. ! am not
writing for the technician. but for the
average reader. But. of course, |
couldn't leave the technicians wholly
out of it. 1t was necessary that /
read lot of their heavy reports and
10 talk to a great many of them In
order to get the back kground for the
picture. But now | am going to lay
their heavy reports aside and forget
as many as | can Of the intricate and
perplexing things they have told me
and try in simple words to tell a sim
pie tale.
British vs.. L. :. Shipping.
I will deal first with shipping, be
cause that subject is shortest and
soonest disposed of. As | said In a
great deal of bitterness because the
America people seem determined to
have a merchan mt marine of their own.
But ] don't think that is anything the
American people need worry about
There was no bitterness here when
the allies were calling upon us to
build ships and more ships TO trans
port American troops To France and
TO take The place food and munition
nj a.
rines were sinking. threatening Eng
land with starvation and the possi-
hility OF surrender. In response to
those appeals the American people
spent about three billion dollars build
ing ships at a per ton cost two or
three times what it would have been
had we been building ships in normal
times merely for our own use. And
having built these ships at the ear
nest solcitat ton OF Great Britain and
her European allies. il seems to me it
comes with ,ra ther poor grace to criti-
ciZe us now hecauSe we have them
and are anxious to get back some
little part Of the money their build
ing cost us.
] suggested = much to an English
man interested in shipping the other
day, and he was quick to acknowledge
the Justice of the American view
point. And then he made point
with respect to our shipping which
] had not heard made before. He
said in substance. that ii was not the
ships America had in operation that
worried British shipping interests, but
the ships America had laid up and
was not operating.
Keeps Freight Rates Down.
Asked for furt her light. he explained
Hot Io ton Gyo nf mo
ica's war-built fleet. now laid mp in
Hampton Dads and elsewhere. much
of 1t almost worthless. but a great
deal still potentially usabie. was
veritabie wet blanket on British ship
ping interests and the shipbuilding
industry. 1t served to keep down
ocean freight rates and to discour
age new construction. He recalled
that there had been recent talk of
euuipping many of these vessels with
Diesel engines and putting them into
service. and he assumed this would
he done whenever ocean carrying
reached a point of recovery where
profitable cargoes were to be had.
That operated as A matter OF course,
he said. to prevent advances in ocean
carrying charges, and ii operated also
to deter shipping lines from placing
orders for new tonnage to meet future
needs. for there always was this un-
used but usable American tonnage
hanging over the worlds pool or
shipping. He intimated that if the
United States Government only would
take this laid-up tonnage out in the
Atlantic Ocean and sink 1t, no one
would then complain because the
Americans wanted to try their hs nds
a the shipping game. / gathered. in
fact. that he rather thought the Brit
ish would he able to make monkeys
NJ us meeting on an equal footing.
I called his attention to the pro-
posal of Senator Edge of New Jersey,
member OF the Senate commerce
committee. that the Government
should build two 35.000-ton liners TO
Take their turns with the Leviathan
IN fast ira nsa tia ntic service. That
didn't worry him A bit. He rather
thought It would be sporting thing
to do. He hadn't any fears, he said,
hut that British liners would get their
full share and a little more of even
strictly American passenger trade, so
long s American laws kept American
liners dry.
Don't Like Ship Subsidy.
Then l spoke of revival of asita ton
for ship subsidy. and OF the fact that
IT was being supported by the Cham
=.
He didn't like that so well. He didn't
think British lines ought to have to
compete with lines subsidized outright
by the American Government. though
he admitted that most of the lines OF
other countries were subsidized in
some way or another by their govern
ments. Then he fell back on the
ground I have grown so familiar with
over here. dema nding to know why
America persisted in losing money in
a gam for which she was not qualified
when other nations could serve Amer
lean shippers more economically. eSpe-
cially in view of the fact that these
other nations owed America money
which they must find some way of
paying.
1t did not seem 10 occur to him, and
I did not raise the point. that under
his hypothesis even our tied-up ship
ping of which he complained might be
a good investment for America il it
served to keep ocean freight rates
down.
7 have quoted this British shipping
ma n AT length because from the best
informa ton l can get on this side,
both from America ms in a position TO
know and from British shipping inter
ests. he fairly presents the general
British view of the American program
for an American mercha mt marine,
Question OF Discriminat tion.
At home | had heard a great many
stories about unfair discrimination
against American ships by British and
other shippers and shipping interests,
and IL was not infrequently charged
that the British government lent moral