Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-09-27
The Ship Board Problem.


Abolition OF the United States Ship
ping Board and the transfer of the
duties performed by it to the Depart
ment of Commerce, or the creation OF
an agency directly responsible to the
President to handle the Government.
owned fleet, is being actively urged by
some members OF Congress who have
given much study to the merchant
marine problem.
The present system, which gives a
bipartisan board Of seven men au-
fhority to administer a great business
enterprise-for such is the Govern.
ment's shipping business--is funda-
mentally wrong. Such a board is not
SO constituted as to handle expetii-
tiously and advantageously to the
Government, no matter what the per-
sonnet of the board. the Government
shipping business. Business is bust.
ness and politics Is another thing.
The operation of the Government fleet,
acquired during the war at tremen-
dous cost, is distinctly an admins
trat!ve and executive function. But
under the merchant marine act the
Shipping Board, which was set up as
quasi-judicial body to regulate ship
ping, much as the Interstate Com
merce Commission regulates rail
transportation, has final authority
over the operation and disposition Of
the Government ships.
The proof of a pudding Is In its eat
ing. The record made by the Ship
ping Board as an executive is a sorry
one. The constant friction among the
members themselves has led to delay
on important matters that required
prompt attention. The shipping in
terests of the country have been kept
'at sea" on questions Of vital interest
TO them The Congress made 1t clear
in the merchant marine act Of 1920
that the ultimate aim was to get the
Gorernment-owned ships into private
were fair to the Government and to
the shipping interests and to the
American people. But the board has
wrangled constantly over the disposi-
ton Of the ships
President Coolidge became cognizant
OF the shipping situation soon after
he came into office. He realized that
the Governments shipping business
could not be successfully handled by
q. bipartisan board, and he sought to
have this strictly executive function,
which as Chief Executive he was in
duty bound to try to have handled
properly, turned over to the Emer-
gency Fleet Corporation, the agency
which Congress itself provided to op-
crate the Government ships. Unfort u.
nately, however, Congress made the
Fleet Corporation subservient to the
Shipping Board. The President Sc
lected former Admiral Leigh c. Pal
mer Of the United States Navy to
the members of the Shipping Board
to permit Admiral Palmer to have a
free hand in the Governments ship
ping business. He later recommend.
ed to Congress legislation separating
the Fleet Corporation from the Ship
ping Board.
The Constitution Of the United
States makes the President the Chief
Executive. If the Shipping Board is
to be set up as an executive agency,
Independent of the President, that
provision Of the Constitution is at
tackled, and serious precedent is es-
fablished. 1t is uncomfortable that the
Congress, in passing the merchant
marine act, intended to establish an
executive agency which would defy
the Chief Executive of the land
Notwithstanding the Presidents pro-
posal the Shipping Board members,
with few exceptions, have sought to
retain control over ship operation and
particularly over the sale of ships.
They have continued to fight among
themselves, but with few exceptions
they have made common cause against
the president OF the Fleet Corpora
ton, until today President Coolidge is
again seeking to unravel this tangled
skein.
Congress doubtless will be called
upon to unscramble the eggs when it
meets in December. 1t has been clear
~ demonstrated that the law must be
amended II there is not to be constant
friction, lack of cooperation and eff
ficiency and a return to the wasteful
methods which have been in large
part eliminated during the period Of
President Palmer's service as head Of
the Fleet Corporation.