Evening star., 1925-09-06
By FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

~ ONGRESS will be asked next
Winter by the united ship
ping interests of the United
~ States to enact comprehen-
sive new legislation for the
creation of an American merchant
marine. 1t contemplates the gradual
abolition of the Shipping Board and
Emergency Fleet Corporation and
the eventual transfer of the entire
shipping industry from Government
ownership to private enterprise. AS
perhaps the most sweeping proposal
of all, Congress is urged to create
new cabinet office, to be known
as the department of the marine.
1t would be headed by a Secretary
of marine" who would have jurisdic-
ton over all the activities of the
Government in connection with ship
ping matters.
The project, which is the most eX-
SenSive merchant marine scheme
upon which rival interests have ever
been able to agree, is officially spon-
sored by the American Steamship
Owners Association, the Pacific
American Steamship Association and
the Shipowners' Association of the
Pacific. 1t is the outcome of several
weeks of conference at New York
in April and May of this year, in
which more than 100 of the foremost
ship owners and shipping authorities
of the country participated. Winthrop
i. Marvin, general manager of the
American Steamship Owners Asso-
citation, and Capt Robert Dollar,
president of the Shipowners' Asso-
citation of the Pacific, We're prime
movers in the conferences delibera-
tionS.
Agreed on Recommendations.
These resulted in the preparation
of a series of 4S recommendations
embodying every phase of the Amer
lean shipping problem. The recon-
mendations" have just been sub
mitted for scrutiny and approval to
the leading commercial organizations
of the United States. Eventually
they will be laid before the Presi-
dent. the cabinet and members of
Congress. By December, when the
SiXty-ninth Congress has assembled,
1t Is hoped that national sentiment
may have crystallized sufficiently to
pave the way for legislative action.
The project to create a privately
owned, but Government fostered
merchant marine is based broadly
and bo' y on the contention that
Govern 1T att mpts to conduct a
shipping business have proved a dis
NAL and costly failure It is the, opin-
lon of the ship owners that .'the Gov
ernment should be liquidated out of
the shipping business as rapidly as
possible" To that end it is pro-
posed that Hquidating duties and
authority should be vested in the
Fleet Corporation, under control of
/. the Secretary of Commerce, or a
newly constituted department of ma
rine.
Organization Is Urged.
The shipowners' associations be-
heve that the time has come to re-
organize the whole Shipping Board
system and divorce the Emergency
Fleet Corporation from it altogether.
Regulatory powers should be the
only function of the Shipping Board.
the shippers think, while "liquidating
powers" should be the sole occupa-
ton of the Fleet Corporation. With
reduced authority, it is proposed that
the Shipping Board be curtailed in
size and henCeforward consist of only
three members. These should be ap-
pointed by the President without re-
gard to political or geographical con-
siderations, but with special regard
to their business qualifications. One,
it is required. should have had com
mercial shipping experience" The
diminished Shipping Boards duty
erS necessary to the promotion of
an American merchant marine"
The shipping leaders of the country
asSail the Government experiment
of the past five years in vigorous
terms. The preamble to their recon-
mendations says:
with the exception of few serv-
ices, no marked progress has been
made toward the goal of a perma-
nent merchant marine in foreign
trade, notwithstanding the expendi-
ture of millions of dollars from the
public treasury. The associations be-
lieve it is conservative to say that
further efforts along the lines follow
ed in the past will not only fail to
place American shipping on a sue
cessful and permanent basis, so as
to fulfill the object of a merchant
marine, but, instead, hope of ever
having a privately owned merchant
marine, adequate for national require
ments, will be destroyed, while the