Evening star., 1927-11-03

| president that the Government should
dispose of its vessels and get out of
business, regardless of other consid.
erations. does not tally with the act of
Congress, according to members Of the
board. in reference to the national in
terest in national defense, as well as
commerce. Nevertheless It would be
difficult to find any advocate Of perma.
| nent Government ownership, il it is
possible to maintain the merchant ma.
rine under private ownership and man.
| agement.
| There is no law more generally crit.
| icized for what it does not REQUIRE
than is the so-called La Toilette pes.
tiferous seamen's act" Both in the
Department of Commerce and in the
Shipping Board, it Is conceded that it
| is not that act which is responsible
| Tor the higher wages and subsistence
cost of American vessels: that excess
cost Is attributed by all to the higher
standards of living in America and
| the resultant competition of American
shipping with other American indus.
tries, in the matter of wages. A de-
tailed investigation shows that Amer.
lean pay rolls on ships of the same ton.
mage, as compared with wages paid
by foreign competitors. are about 100
to 300 per cent higher for America. To
operate an American vessel Of 10 200
tons costs for sailor wage three times
as much as similar Italian or Jan.
anese vessel pays in wages, and near.
ly double what Italian and fully double
what Japanese subsistence costs,
Besides, there Is not a competing
vessel Of European nations which is
not subsidized either by mail contracts
or other special concessions. Our pres.
ent deficit of approximately a million
dollars month may be called a. Sub
sldy, just as a rose may be called bv
another name and retain it's sweet
odor. Yet shipowners cannot entice
men away from shops unless they nav
shop wages.
Experts point out that the merchant
marine concerns not merely ship.
owners, but Is vital to producers Of
crops and manufactured goods. In
the fiscal year 1926. our shipments to
Europe alone amounted to $2,31O. 600. !.
600. and imports, $1,286, ,00O, 900. About
half was carried in our own vessels.
Without the balance wheel of competi.
tion, it Is undisputed that foreign YES.
seis holding monopoly would be in a
position not only to raise freight rates.
put to discriminate against American
freights, and when their own nationals
had competing goods, they would leave
our surplus piled on our docks, with
consequent ruinous loss Of markets
and OF values. This is a record of re.
cent history. .Es
The Shipping Board has sold manv
lines of ships. with the requirement
that the buyers shall operate them
D years or more. Now, the conten.
ton Is that it. Is unfair tVsrequire O
1e'year guaranty of the buyers Of the
three lines remaining in the Pacific.
The reply Is that those are the last
remaining lines in, the Pacific under
Governbent control. and S years is
too short a period to risk On that ac.
count. The risk of failure, whore
there would remain no Government
lines to hold against competition of
foreign shipping, they contend, is too
great risk. although 1t is recognized
that private management makes many
economies, which are impossible under
Government control.
tcopyright 1927. by Paul v. Colllns.)
Official Concord in Macedonia.
In last Tuesdays issue, under Back.
ground OF Events, appeared the fol.
lowing sentence: THE Macedonians
who are making border troubles are
Bulgarian 'gunmen,' bent on personal
robbery and general unrest" In
other words, they are not authorized
by the government of Bulgaria to
commit their deeds of violence.
The Greek Minister expresses the
belief that the troubles reported In the
section commonly referred to as
macedonia were not SO serious as indi-