Merchant Marine Vitally Needed by
U. S. -Federal Operation Impossible
(The Summer Nobraskan herewith
mints tlie first of a series of eight
articles by Albert V). I.asker, chair
man of the United States shipping
board, in which he will explain the
conditions of the American merchant
marine ).
By Albert D. Lasker, Chairman U. S.
Shipping Board
Nations, like individuals, are seldom
the masters of their own destinies.
Whether America wills it or no, the
. ome when we must perforce
occupy the first place on the stage of I
...,.mpn e- a Place never occu
pied in history by any nation not
strong in its own right in sea power.
Sea power means a strong merchant
marine; for there is no need of a navy
save to protect the nationals, in ;
shores, and the water transportation
of a nation.
The first act ever passed by an
American congress was one designed
to encourage American shipping. Dur
ing the period from the establish
ment of our republic' until the civil
war, America developed into one ot
the leading maritime nations of the
world.
Halted by Civil War
With the finding of gold in Califor
noa, the lure of adventure and profit
attracted our young men from the sea
board and the Alleghcnies to the great
and at the time, undeveloped empire
lying to the westward. The move
ment then inaugurated (a movement
of vast importance to ourselves and,
indeed, the whole world) marked the
beginning of the decline of the Amer
ican merchant marine.
The hurt given our merchant ma
rine through the civil war, historically
known to all. followed by the great
demand for men and capital in the
development of our country, resulted
in a steady drop of interest in ship
ping. At Outset of World War
At (he start of the world war in
l!tl4, Americas passenger fleet in the
North Atlantic had dwindled to the
shameful total of six. to-wit: The Fin
land, Kroonland. St. Paul, St. Louis.
Philadelphia and New York. The aid
given them in the way of postal sub
sidy by our government was undoubt
edly the chief reason four of them
were able to continue in service at
that date.
In other words, 1914 found us no
longer a merchant marine power, but
one utterly dependent on foreign flags
for the carriage of our surpluses; and,
or course, we had had to pay, and pay
heavily, for the service rendered by
them.
Fortunately for us. Great Hritaln
and its allies, in the prosecution of the
world war, needed all the materials
we could give them, and therefore
sent their ships to our shores in their
own interest.
Lesson to U. S. in Boer War
Perhaps not as fresh in public
memory is the marine experience of
the Hoer war. This, conducted on a
lesser scale but at a greater distance,
required more of Firi tain's tonnage for
her own use and less of America's
materials. It resulted in the seriolis
curtailment of our industrial line; for
when Britain, on whom we were de
pendent for the greater portion of our
sea carriage, withdrew a million tons
of ships from the North Atlantic, our
farmers and our manufacturers saw
their surpluses on which tholT foreign
market depended waiting vainly for
ships, until even their domestic mar
ket was destroyed.
Immediately upon our entrance into
the war in 1917 there arose a cry from
all the allies, voiced by Moyd George,
the prime minister of the greatest ma
ritime nation of the world for "ships,
more ships, pnd again more ships",
as the foremost contribution from
America.
Building to Fill a Gap
We all remember the feverish en
thusiasm with which, through treas
ury drains, shipyards were created at
all available points, resulting in gov
ernment building of more than 1.700
ships, with more than 11,000,000 dead
weight tons capacity.
We started to build these ships that
we might quickly and in great quan
tity carry our men and supplies to
the battle f'-mt. No one factor
brought the war to a quicker conclu
sion than the kaiser's recognition that
America was verily aranging to span
the Atlantic with a bridge of ships.
So that if every ship built or then
being built by the government, in
volving a total cost of more than
three billion dollars, bad been disman
tled or sunk at the war's end. they
would properly have piid for them
selves in the short cut that resulted
in the ending of the war and in the
saving of men and treasure.
Hasten Return of Prosperity j
Happily, while everything else ere-,
ated for war purposes has had to be ;
salvaged as scrap, America's war ;
built merc hant marine has been turn
ed into a peace-time asset, thus es
tablishing the possibility of turning
the sword into the plowshare. It is
apparent that after the war terminat
ed the great prosperity America en
joyed would have been impossible
without the existence of our govern
ment owned fleet.
America c ame out of the war a cred
itor nation, whereas before it had
' been a debtor nation. Prior to 1914
the maritime nations of the world, to
' whom we owed vast sums, could sure
' ly be counted upon to send their ships
to our shores that we might pay in
! our products the debts we owed them.
Today, however, they are the debt
ors, we the creditors; there is not
the same reasons why they should
. send their ships for our surpluses.
Moreover, we must compete with them
: if we are to dispose of our surplus
products in the available markets of
' the w orld. It is not to be supposed
they will give us those facilities which
are essential to world commerce to
; enable us to compete with them,
j Stop Government Operation
Of the 1,430 steel ships owned by
the government, 9S3 are tied up; the
'other 447 the government has been
'operating to make sure the American
flag shall reach eveiy needed port of
th world. This operation is being
conducted at a cash loss of $50,000,00i
a year and at the expense of the de
terioration of the fleet.
; President Harding and the present
j shipping board aver, because of rea
; sons to be covered in subsequent ar
'tides, that government operation of
i . ... ... 1 X
ships is unpossiDie on ine one num.
and that tor America to turn back anil
depend on foreigners for its sea car
riage is unthinkable on the other. The
only alternative is to make it possi
ble for private American initiative to
maintain American flag ships on the
seas and to get the government itself
out of the business of ship operation.
The editor has been good enough
to give me an opportunity, in a series
of articles of which this is the first
to discusse the premises here laid
down and the remedies the govern-
men! proposes.
LAW COLLEGE SENDS
OUT CASE BULLETINS
First Issue of Nebraska Law Bulletin
is Being Sent to Lawyers
of State
The first issue of the Nebraska law
bulletin is being sent out from the
University of Nebraska lo lawyers ot
the state. The bulletin is a compila
tion of criticism of the laws of Ne
braska in selected ways. The college
of law is endeavoring in this way to
better serve to members of the pro
fession practicing throughout the
state.
The Nebraska law bulletin is to be
published quarterly. It will be sent
out in Julyk October, January and
April of each year. It is sent free to
lawyers of Nebraska upon request to
the college.
There are four divisions to the first
issue. The introductory division deals
with the" kinds of covenants, division
two with the running of covenants for
title, division three with procedural
matters and division four with title
by estoppel.
7he
KLINE PUBLISHING CO.
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