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ne RR p gies : Pf f L | J 2 V2 D ' HH} ! ATT y Ua i) ei | Sp ' K( N ' | Dp ; k H 4, \ So sq i) y Ny Tm TUTTI HI TAT AT VOL. 51 NEW YORK AUGUST, 1921 CLEVELAND No. 8 Makes New Move in World Game England Is Now Selling Ships to Germany--America Handicapped by Federal Extravagance in Marine Race NE dollar out of every $8 turned over last year by.» American . citizens fa suppor: fe federal government, went to maintain the great national marine venture. Aside trom the direct corporation and individual taxes of rather poignant memory to most citizens, this ratio of one to eight holds good for the innumerable indirect taxes which are still being collected. More general realization of the stupendous cost of this marine crusade would arouse that degree of "ship minded- ness" which has been regarded as so essential. Washington, on the surface at least, is showing a realization of the outrageous cost of keeping up the $3,000,000,000 marine gamble. President Hard- ing has made his position emphatically clear on the need for bringing government expenditures more 1n line with the common-sense view of what the cost of being governed should be. The selections for the new shipping board were quite apparently made with the thought of obtaining a group of men ex- perienced in business.: Their work, as cut out for them by the President, is to curtail immediately the outflow of public funds, to instill sufficient busi- hess management in the shipping board that the inexcusable wastage of money will be stopped and to insure the permanent removal of this colossal financial loss by going out of the shipping business. New Board Has Proper Course Charted Early signs point to the sincerity of the efforts to Carry out this policy. The new board members, particularly Chairman Lasker, are working hard ; they are out to sell the wooden ships at any figure ; they are apparently committed to a policy of get- ting rid of the steel ships at a low price, eee recognition to what shipping people have urge since the armistice that the excessive cost of the War-built vessels be written off as a direct war charge. In addition, the most hopeful sign for the work of the new board is the agreement with phe dent Harding that all questions of war claims be handled by a separate body, permitting the board to occupy itself solely with the problem of getting itself out of business. Too much time was devoted by the previous board to considering financial claims, with the inevitable result that the broader problems of policy and business efficiency could be studied only at odd times instead of being made the first order of business every day. Students' of economics, who 'have lately made a tour of the British Isles and Germany with un- usual facilities for study and observation offered in both countries, return convinced that thé radical reversal of the shipping board's. policies begun with the selection of the new board, comes none too soon. Marine enterprise, unstifled by govern- ment competition, is on the move in both countries. English Now Willing To Aid Germans An unexpected result of the marine depression of the past months, has been the growth in England of a spirit of willingness to help the Germans to recover their marine strength. This feeling comes directly from an appreciation of the Teutonic prob- lem of paying off war debts. A nation, forced to work off a debt running into trillions of dollars, has first call on the rest of the world, in the judg- ment of many English shipping men. Success in paying this debt will prove a stimulus to every other nation. This feeling has led the English to consent willingly to the sale of vessels to Ger- many. The defeated Teutons are today the only prospective buyers of large tonnages of ships. America's great adventure into the shipping' field reveals more clearly each day the fact that building up a merchant marine is not a problem to be solved solely along national lines. With world . trade as the prize, world conditions must be rec- ognized and met. America has been supremely successful in domestic business. This success makes for confidence when seeking export trade and ma- rine independence but does not guarantee results.