Evening star., 1945-09-02
US. Urged to Hold Fast
To Huge Merchant Marine
Admiral Land Says Security Requires Is to 20
Million Tons in Service With 2l Million
More Kept in Reserve
Bv Gould Lincoln

miral Land, head of the Maritime
Commission. The record of accomplish
ment has been amazing.
Ten private shipyards, containing 46
ways and employing 10000 workers were
available. Shipbuilding facilities have
been expanded to 81 yards with 300
ways, and with 100000 workers. 1t is
not feasible, of course, to keep all the
shipbuilding facilities in operation or
to continue to employ all these workers
and crews. But it is possible to retain a
sizable portion of all three. A proper
nucleus of trained snipbuilders, both for
the merchant marine and for the Navy,
should be maintained. Some of the
shipyards are being converted now to
repair yards.
There will be plenty of employment
for the merchant marine personnel for
from six months to three years after
the surrender of Japan. American ships
will be busy bringing troops home, ro-
tating others, supplying occupied areas,
returning prisoners of war, carrying re-
lief material to foreign countries-and
carrying an expanding American trade.
The rest of the world will rely upon this
country for masses of goods and ma
terial, for long time to come. Eventu-
ally, however, this employment will fall
off
Must Continue Training.
Something will have to be done to
keep on training, recruiting personnel
and manning the merchant feet of the
future. Kings Point Academy has been
the great training school for the mer-
chant marine. 1t and some of the other
training institutions should be retained,
although reduced to peacetime size
Despite the fact that without this
great merchant feet his country could
not have won the war. could not have
carried the fight to the enemy, economic
appeasers are likely to arise, saying that
shipping is an expensive luxury to the
United States. They will add that
shipping earns the daily bread of the
maritime nations of Europe-of Britain,
Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands,
France, Italy and so on. They will
American merchant marine will cost
this country many. many millions of
dollars in operating and other sub
sides. They will urge that European
ships will carry our goods cheaper and
better. They will add that unless for
eigners are allowed to carry our goods
and American passengers they will not
be able to purchase goods from the
United States, because they earn a good
proportion of the money to pay for
American exports by selling transporta-
ton services to U.s.
sExamined one by one these arguments
turn out to be questionable Huge sums
Of money are not paid for operating and
construction subsidies to the shipping
companies and shipyards. The sub
sides make good the difference in costs
between operation of ships under our
flag and under foreign flags, and the diff
ference in costs of building ships in this
country and elsewhere.
Higher Wages Paid.
We pay higher wages all along the
line. The operator gets this difference
in cost and nothing more from subsidies.
Obviously he could not afford to COM
pete constantly for the carrying trade
at loss. Further, this money, this
differential in cost does not go into the
pockets of the operators but into those
of American workmen and crews. Ad-
miral Land put the case succinctly when
he said: when the uniformed talk as
they do of huge operating subsidies,