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Marine Review December 1934 « EDITORIAL » Mail Pay for Higher Speeds Should Be Increased ONTINUATION and improvement of the C transatlantic service begun by the United States lines may now confidently be ex- pected. The strength in finance and in prac- tical operating knowledge of the new group which has taken over this service will com- pare favorably with any shipowning and ship operating management anywhere. Chapman deserves great credit for his courageous at- tempt to keep the American flag in competi- tion on the North Atlantic, but in these troub- lous times and under the terms of the contract by which he and his interests acquired the line, it was impossible to carry on successfully. The new company headed by experienced shipping men and adequately backed financial- ly not only possesses much greater strength, but it also receives the benefit of modification of the terms of the original purchase con- tract. On this new basis there is every as- surance for success. The flag must be main- tained on the North Atlantic. It must be made worth while for patriotic, honest, competent operators to ultimately furnish the traveling public with an American service equal to the best under foreign flags. A number of factors enter into the success of the new venture. The obligations incurred for the existing ships are, if anything, less than the current sales price of the vessels in the world market. Efficiency and skill in every department of operation should henceforth be the rule in the management of the line. The facilities and experience of old established shipping companies can now be applied with the greatest energy to securing patronage, both freight and passengers. The United States government, recognizing the commercial neces- sity of being adequately represented in this trade, should so change the terms of the mer- chant marine act of 1928, that proportionately as equitable a mail contract be entered into MARINE Rreview—December, 1931 with this line, considering the needs of the service in the way of modern, fast and costly ships, as is now the case with the many Ameri- can lines to whom mail contracts have been awarded. No merchant marine law ever passed has been of such definite help in keeping Ameri- can ships on the trade routes of the world, but in arranging the rates of mail compensation for the higher speed ships, our lack of expe- rience led to the fixing of a rate in proportion to increase of speed which bears no true re- lation to the tremendously increased cost. For every increase of a knot in speed for the grey- hounds of the Atlantic a fair rate of increase in mail compensation per mile can be deter- mined. The coming congress should amend the law accordingly. All fair minded men will allow that this is not proposed for private sel- fish ends. It is a measure needed by the na- tion if we are to launch and keep in opera- tion a really first class successful transatlantic service under the American flag. If it would seem to anyone that those who now manage and control this service would directly benefit by such action on the part of congress, the logical answer might be that the experiment of operating this line has been thoroughly exhausted, first under direct gov- ernment control and then under private con- trol. The results show that it is impossible to expect any human agency to overcome the disparities in competition with foreign lines. These disparities do not include, or only slight- ly so, any greater skill of management and personnel on the part of the foreigner. They are mainly founded on the difference in the standard of living. The American standard of living cannot be maintained on the wages paid by foreign lines to their personnel ashore and afloat. Therefore, if we are to compete successfully, and the merchant marine act of 1928 is the de- liberate mandate of congress that we shall do so protecting our American standards, then it merely becomes a question of adjusting and correcting an article of the law to a fair and equitable basis as a return for service rendered py ships of the costly transatlantic liner class. ag &