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March, '914 In point of comfort and luxury, al- though the White Star Line set a new. high standard when building the Olympic, the new Britannic will com- mand even greater admiration. Every- where the fullest advantage has been taken of the ship's enormous. size. While the public apartments and the magnificent staircases are easily com- parable in size to those of our fore- most hotels, it is in the passenger staterooms themselves where _ space is. most lavishly evident, and_ this in itself assures great comfort to the passengers. The equipment and dec- orations of the passenger accommo- dations throughout the Britannic are in.the hands of prominent British and continental firms. The Britannic will steam in the Southampton - Cherbourg- New York service of the White Star. Lime, in connection with the Olympic and Oceanic, but no date has been set for her maiden voyage. The Britan- nic will have accommodations for 2,500 passengers and 950 crew. _ Shipping Combinations Tne conclusion that foreign and domestic shipping of the United States is so combined by agree- ments, pools' and conference arf--- rangements that an attempt' to dis- solve the combinations would cripple trade, is reached by the house mer- chant marine and fisheries committee in the final report of the so-called Shipping Trust investigation, made public March 2. The committee, after two years of exhaustive inquiry, rec- ommends that both foreign and do- mestic shipping combinations be placed under the strict control of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and that if necessary the commission be enlarged to care for the additional work. The final recommendations of the committee are embodied in the four- teenth volume of its report, just com- piled. It sets forth that shipping lines in practically every trade route from or to United States ports are operated by agreements to restrain competition. The reports state that the advantages accruing to both ship- per and ship line through these agree- ments, are so great that the combina- tions should be allowed: to continue, under the supervision of the Inter- state Commerce Commission as to rates, classification, rebates and dis- crimination. It would be futile, the committee stated, to attempt to re- store' competition by ordering exist- ing agreements terminated. The report deals with 800 foreign versal - competition between THE MARINE REVIEW and domestic navigation companies and 200 railroad lines. In a statement summarizing the committee's findings and recommen- dations, Chairman Alexander said: "Relative to the foreign trade, the report shows that it is the almost uni- practice for steamship lines, both on the inbound and outbound voyage, to operate under agreements and conference arrangements which have for their purpose the control of the conference lines or between them and non-con- ference lines. Eighty agreements and understandings, involving nearly all the regular lines operating on nearly every American foreign trade route, are in effect dealing respectively with the traffic to and.from Europe, Africa, Australia, Asia, South America, Mex- ico, Central America and the West Indies. "In the few instances, where sev- eral lines served the same trade and denied the existence of co-operative arrangements, it appears that one line was sufficiently powerful to dominate the other lines and, without effecting any definite agreement, to secure the desired conditions in rates. The nu- merous agreements referred to pres- ent fourteen distinct methods by which the lines seek to control competition, either through the fixing and regula- tion of rates, the apportionment of traffic, the pooling of earnings or the elimination of non-conference lines. "With reference to the domestic trade, the facts show that competitive rates. between steamship been as effectively eliminated as in the foreign trade. In this trade, however, written or formal nents are rare--apparently have been scrupulously avoided--and the elimi- nation of competition in rates has been accomplished by other methods. Domestic Trade Mainly Controlled : "Nearly three-fourths of the line tonnage operating in the American coastwise and- great lakes trade is owned or controlled by railroads and shipping consolidations, Even as re- gards bulk carriers, there is a strong tendency toward the establishing of a community of interest between the owners. This is especially indicated on the great lakes, where a commun- ity of interest, through common of- ficers, directors or large* stockholders or charter relations, - exists between 37 groups of bulk carriers, represent- ing three-fourths of the American bulk tonnage on the great lakes. "The committee concluded to recog- nize agreements and _ conferences among carriers in the foreign trade lines have agree- that 109 only if the same are brought under some form of effective government supervision.. Open competition can- not be assured for any length of time by ordering existing agreements ter- minated. Such termination would either cause: the lines to engage in rate wars, which would inevitably re- sult in the survival of the fittest, or, to avoid a costly struggle, they would consolidate through common owner- ship. "For this reason the committee felt that effective government supervision is the only means of eliminating ex- isting abuses and assuring to ship- pers the benefits which may flow from. co-operative arrangements among the lines. Such supervisory control, the committee felt, should be vested in the Interstate Commerce Commission because of the close -relations be- tween rail and ~ water -- transpor- tation. If necessary, in view of the added duties involved, the mem- bership of the commission should be enlarged." Recommendations As to foreign shipping, the com- mittee recommended: "That all agreements and under- standings between navigation com- panies or such companies and rail- roads or shippers be filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission; that the commission be authorized to determine the reasonableness of rates and to 'order' rates changed; that rebating be prohibited by law; that the commission be empowered to enforce fair treatment of all shippers; and the use of cuthroat 'fighting ships' and deferred rebates be pro- hibited." As to the domestic trade the com- mittee. recommended: "That in addition to the above the jurisdiction of the Interstate Com- merce Commission be extended to in- terstate port-to-port traffic, with full powers to regulate and fix rates; that water carriers, if cutting rates against a competitor, be denied the privilege of restoring rates; that all traffic as- sociations pertaining. to rail and water or all water transportation be brought under the commission; that railroads be prohibited from making discrim- inatory rates or unfair divisions of rates on rail and water routes; that railroads be compelled to make ter- minal facilities available to all water carriers under the regulation of the commission; and that canal transpor- tation in interstate traffic be placed under the supervision of the commis- sion." ;