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A N Cw Fleet Policy Recommended Private Ownership Favored—Removal of Ban on Railroad Ownership of Foreign Going Steamships Urged—Details of President's Committee Report BY FRED B. PLETCHER Washington Correspondent, Marine Review N ITS report on matters affecting the merchant marine and admin- istrative needs of the operation of the government-owned fleet, the com- mittee appointed by President Coolidge on March 12, last year, joins fully with the recently expressed views of the administration that an American merchant marine must be kept alive for commercial and defense purposes, at least until “such time as it is possible to ‘transfer the operation of these vessels to private hands.” The President’s committee is composed of Chairman T. V. O’Connor of the ship- ping board; President Leigh C. Pal- mer of the Emergency Fleet Corp.; Secretary of Commerce Hoover; Sec- retary of the Treasury Mellon; Sec- retary of War Weeks, and Secretary ot the Navy Wilbur. The committee points out that its work had been based on the President’s instructions “to keep definitely in view the de- termination to maintain our position on the seas through government con- trok” The comprehensive policies set forth in this report are regarded as expres- sive of the merchant marine policy in general of the Coolidge adminis- tration. The members of the commit- tee placed their report, together with recommendations of the sub-commit- tee dealing with the promotion of commerce through the merchant ma- rine routes, and with the merchant marine for national defense, in the hands of the President a month ago, but it was not made public at the White House until several weeks later. All of the President’s committee did not join in the recommendations of the sub-committee and for that rea- son these latter recommendations were not made part of the report. These were sttbmitted for the information of the President. “The committee appointed by you on March 12, 1924, to study certain matters with respect to the future policy of our merchant marine has in detail gone into different phases of the question, and the sub-committee appointed with representation thereon of each member of the main commit- tee has submitted concrete recommen- dations based upon such analysis as it was possible to make in the limited time,’ says the report. “The commit- tee does not consider it necessary to enter into a reiteration of the impera- tive need from a commercial and de- fense point of view of the facts which confront us today in the operation of a government fleet and its bearing on the future development of an Ameri- can merchant marine.” Among ‘the outstanding recommen- Chief Recommendations Outstanding the President's follow: 1. The complete separation of the Emergency Fleet corporation from the shipping board, the cor- poration to have entire charge of operations, while the board is to be restored to its original status of a semijudicial regulatory body for the merchant marine as a whole. ~ 2. Every effort should be made at all times to place the lines in private ownership. 3. Regular services should be maintained by the Fleet corpora- tion upon trade routes of national importance where private enter- prise will not undertake the task. 4. Creation of local corporations in the various ports to take over ships and maintain trade routes. 5. New construction of ships for replacement after the next five years. 6. Cost of construction and maintenance of fast passenger liners should be met, where it ex- ceeds regular cargo liner figures, by appropriations on behalf of the postal and naval services. 7. Restrictions upon railway ownership of vessels in interna- tional trade should be removed. recommendations of Special committee dations of the committee are the fol- lowing: Every effort should be made at all times to place the lines in private own- ership. Complete separation of the Emer- gency Fleet Corp. from the shipping board should be accomplished, with the corporation in charge of opera- tions and the board to be restored to 39 a semi-judicial regulatory body for the merchant marine. Building of ships for replacement af- ter the next five years. Maintenance of regular services by the Fleet corporation upon trade routes of national importance where private enterprise will not undertake the task. The setting up of local corporations in the various ports to take over ships and maintain trade routes. “Every trade route on which an ap- preciable quantity of American com- merce moves is now served by Ameri- can ships. About 80 per cent of the American tonnage in operation in over- seas traderoutes is government owned and about one-half of the remaining ZO per cent is owned by ‘industrial car- riers’ not employed to any consider- able degree in the competitive field,” the committee says. The report comments as follows upon the necessity of getting the ships into private ownership and operation: “Every effort should be made at all times to dispose of the various lines to private ownership. The gov- ernment can never operate commercial shipping as economically as_ private capital; the very presence of the gov- ernment in the business, with all the uncertainties of government policies that are inherent, stifles private growth. It is far better to pursue a liberal sales policy and take an immediate loss on the sale of ships than to con- tinue their operation over long pe- riods with the prospect of a greater loss, provided sales contracts can be made of such character as will guar- antee the continued maintenance of necessary services. Lines which can- not be disposed of to private inter- ests in the near future, but which are necessary in the national interest, should be placed on the best possible business footing and maintained there- after by the government until such time as it may be possible to deter- mine the character and amount of aid that may be necessary to bring about their purchase and continued mainte- nance by private American citizens. Any line which does not develop real prom- ise of becoming self-sustaining, even with reasonable government aid, should be discontinued.” The report strongly favors the opera-