Evening star., 1932-02-23
PRIVATE. SHIP LINES
FIGHT j. S. SERVICE.
Move Under Way to Slash
Army-Navy Transport
Appropriations.

A determined move Is being made
in the Appropriations Committee of the
House to eliminate the Army and Navy
transport services and have these two
military branches give their tranSporta-
ton to American ship lines which are
suffering acutely from lack OF business.
This objective would be achieved oy
the cutting of appropriations In the
Army and the Navy appropriation bills
for the operation of these services In
times of peace. The move Is being
sponsored by shipping interests fighting
for living after buying lines and YES
sells from the United States Shipping
Board.
1t is asserted that the Government
is in direct competition with the prl-
vately owned merchant marine which
it attempted to set up and that the
services operated by the Army and the
Navy are extravagantly run for the
benefit Of the officer personnel. The
Panama Steamship Line, operated by
the Panama Railroad, is also subject
to attack.
Barnes Leads Fight.
The fight against the Government
transport services Is being led by James
E. Barnes as the representative OF ship
building companies and the privately
operated merchant marine. He has fur-
nlshed a vast amount of data to the
committee and to Representative VIII
r. Wood of Indiana, ranking Repubncan
member of the committee and 1or many
years its chairman. Mr.. Wood believes
economy. efficiency and justice demand
that these Government transport units
u r.
tation turned over to goVernment-foS-
tered private lines.
The War and Navy Departments are
fighting valiantly for their respective
services and there Is support from patrl-
otic sources, which believe the mainte-
nance of a transport service is necessary
for the training of personnel for posi-
BILE war service. Opponents counter
with the statement that when the
United States entered the World War
the Army and Navy had nine trans
ports. Only one of them went to Eu-
rope, they say.
Representative Wood said hundreds
of ships purchased from the Govern
ment are tied up at their docks for
lack of business, while Army and Navy
transport lines ply their routes regular
ly laden with freight carried at below
cost rates and passengers junketing at
the expense of the Government, The
Governments Panama line, operating
out of New York, carried 5000 tons
of freight last year, 102, 900 tons Of this
amount being strictly private freight.
400 Ships Rotting. He Says.
Meanwhile nearly 400 privately own
ed American ships lie rotting in port
without passengers and without
freight" said Mr.. Wood. These ships
totaled 1.635.000 tons ON January l.
Pacihc coast and the rest along. the
Atlantic Seaboard. In addition to this
sorry collection Of Idle shipping, the
United States Shipping Board has 227
ships out Of use with total tonnage
of 1,365,000.
Under the present system of oper-
ating the Panama Railroad Steamship
Co., the great Mississippi Valley is
practically barred from doing business
with the Panama Canal Commission.
The Army transport service is only op-
Grated out of the ports of New York
and San Francisco, and in order to
justify their operation they ship troops
and supplies going to Panama Canal
or other stations from San Antonio,
lumbus, Chicago, Baltimore, Philadel-
phia and Portland, Me, to New York.
The records show that most of their
troops on the East Coast come from
San Antonio and Fort Benning, Ga.
On the West Coast they ship from St.
Paul to Seattle, then to San Francisco
and from FL PaSo to Los Angeles, and
then to San Francisco in order to load
transport.
West Coast Records.
1.-THE records on the West Coast show
that two-thirds of their cargo originates
in the vicinity of Seattle, Portland and
San Francisco"
Resolutions condemning the military
transport services have been passed by
the Mississippi Valley Association, the
Midwest Foreign Trade Association,
the National Rivers and HarborS Con-
gress and the San Francisco, Seattle
and numerous other Chambers of Com
merce. They condemn Government
transport services because they say they
do not. give all sections of the country
a fair chance in bidding for the many
millions of dollars of Government busi-
ness in supplies for military outpostS.
(Copyright, 1922