Evening star., 1933-01-04
COPELAND ACCUSES
BRITISH SHIPPERS
Of TRADE TR|CKERY
interests Are Seeking to
ScuttIe U. S. Merchant
Marine, He Says.
CONFERENCE HEARS
ATTACK BY SENATOR
Chaplin Urges Patronage Of Amer
lean Bottoms-Father Walsh
Defends Subsidies.


fore the Sixth National Conference on
the Merchant Marine that British ship
ping interests have stacked the deck
against the United States" in the fight
for supremacy of the seas.
AS evidence to support charges that
Britain is attempting to "scuttle the
American merchant marine" Copeland
quoted from a report on merchant ma
r1ne policy, just adopted by the British
Chamber of Shipping, which will be
submitted to the British government for
use during the forthcoming World Eco
nor1ic Conference. Addressing the con-
ference assembled in the United States
Chamber of Commerce Building, the
Senator said:
The ninth recommendation of this
report reads as follows
1--WE recommend that both pending
the conference and at the conference
itself, Great Britain should endeavor to
secure the cooperation of as many ma
Uone as possible, pledged to work for
the establishment of world trade
/. through the removal of trade carriers,
including the modification of tariffs
upon goods carried and the removal Of
all forms of discrimination Qncluding
SuhsIdies) in favor of ships under the
national flag by which goods are car
ried. We further recommend that Great
Britain and those cooperating nations
should agree to conf.ne most-favored-
nation treatment to each others trade
and shipping"
"Retaliatory Steps,"
The eighth recommendation, Copeland
pointed out, speaks of the methods OF
reservation, restriction and discrimina-
ton, as regards shipping, that are or
could be made available to the country
(England) If 1t be forced to take re-
taliatory steps in defense of its own
shipping policy"
taliate," said Copeland, member OF
the Senate Commerce COMMITTEES. Sne
proposes to set up the pins in advance
and gain her point before we have had
q chance to confer with anybody.
What Is the purpose OF the World
Economic Conference? Is 1t to be q
forum for free, frank and unprecedented
discussion of world conditions? Or Is
T. to be a place where Uncle Sam viii
loSe his shirt because of secret agree
rnents made in advance?
Ponder these things and then ask
yourself how any American can stand
Idly by and let Great Britain outgeneral
us in the war fo- trade. Has the pro-
bnged eccncmic pressure caused sucn
weakening of the old-fashioned British
character that cur cousins across the
sea have become hysterical? 1t does
not harmonic with their TRADITIONAL
yDortsmanship to find that the cards are
Being stacked against the United
States"
Hits Anderson Statement.
The recent statement from London by
SIR Alan Anderson, chairman OF the
orient Line and a recognized British
shipping authority, decrying the assist
snce given the Amerncan merchant ma
rine by the United States Government,
ais little less than hypocritical," Cope
land asserted.
Every informed person knows how
far Great Britain has gone In supporV
az her merchant marine" he continued.
att was not until our country used
similar methods that any considerable
portion Of our own commerce was car
ried in American bottoms. 1t would be
fhrillingly welcome to British shipping
interests for them to learn that the
united States has cast adrift our de-
yeloping fleets. But so long as the
Jones White act remains intact, Sir
Alan Anderson will have to compete In
a fair field.
Let no American forget that while
England and her European allies were
beegine for ships, ships and more
sf1ins.I she had no complaint to make OF
cur appropriations for their building It
comes with poor grace for any Britisher
to throw bricks now at policy deter
mined upon when all the Western Eu-
ropean world was begging for this par
ticular form of assistance.
"I am confident no American states
man will be moved by British critics
to abandon the wise policy that has met
with such great success IN so snort
time By persisting in our course
American agriculture, labor ana INDUS
try will reap rich rewards from our
increasing commerce"
Two Groups of "Scuttlers."
The two-day conference. which was
called by the United States Shipping
Board, was formally opened this morn
ing by the chairman Of that board,
". O'Connor, who warned that those
who now are attacking the Jones-Wh1te
act "are working to scuttle the Amerl-
can merchant marine" The scuttlers,
he said. fall in two groups, those VINO
know what they are doing ana tnose
who are the innocent dupes OF the
master minds who direct the attack
He cautioned the conferees, composed
of representatives OF the shlppltlg IN
61,sfry. other industries, agriculture,
labor and the Army and Navy, TO
abolish the ocean mail contracts Is 10
abolish the merchant marine"
Secretary of Commerce Chaplin urged
increasing the American foreign trade
carried in American vessels from the
present 35 per cent by value TO % per
cent, and advocated placing American
flag shipping on parity With forelgn
flag shipping. Such program, ne SAID
would put men back to work and en-
able the shipping companies 70 increase
their capital expenditures.
Representative Briggs, Democrat OF
Texas. told the conference this coun-
try's merchant marine is facing the
most critical situation it has ever ex-
perienced" and said 1t has never
reached quite as an acute stage as 1t
has today" 1t Is mot only trying to
weather the most violent depression 1t
ever faced" be said, "but at the same
time is being made the target Of at
tacks from both at home and abroad"
Father Walsh Is Speaker.
IF you want to preserve the Ameri-
can merchant marine" he told the
shippers, don't use subterfuges or
artinces- There is no room for spoils-
men in the American merchant marine
service. Let the people know how vital
the merchant marine is TO this country
and to our foreign trade"
Rev. Edmund A. Walsh, vice presi-
dent OF Georgetown University, pointed
out Government assistance 10 Shipping
was not peculiar to America, and cited
subsidies granted in other countries,
land,