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I py wie TTT ice | <p: Sap if ao | D, | ( | D : é, ---------- om tl a TA Nl HUTT VOL. 50 NEW YORK JULY, 1920 CLEVELAND No. 7 Able Men Needed on Ship Board ~ High Grade Executives of Broad Experience Are Essential to Give Vitality to New Shipping Board IRST class tools when used by poor mechanics are likely to prove more damaging than inferior implements. The article being formed and fin- ished can easily be robbed of all value for its original purpose, even though the raw material was of the highest grade. All of which is worth remembering when consider- ing what is likely to happen to American shipping as a result of the enactment by congress of the "merchant marine act of 1920." In the judgment of the ma- jority of business men. associated with the multisided marine industry, this new law is an excellent tool, well ground and correctly tempered. The mechanics who will form the finished product--a strong mer-~ 'chant marine--from the raw material, are the mem- bers of the shipping board, and they can make or break the healthy young merchant marine as their ability permits or dictates. May Block Board Appointments Extended jockeying for advantage is predicted in _ the appointment of the seven new members of the ship- ping board. The new law increases the membership from five, raises the salary to a more attractive and Commensurate figure, and calls for a new membership, two each from the east and west coasts, one each from the gulf and Great Lakes, and one from the interior. Board members chosen by the President require con- sent of the senate which normally will not meet until cember, three months before the inauguration of the new President. With opposite political parties Controlling the administration and the senate during that three months, refusal to confirm the appointees 'S expected, particularly if a national Republican "ictory is won at the polls in November. Such delay, *i Course, permits the incoming Executive to make "Ppointments of men whom he expects to interpret : shipping law according to his views. | g cident Wilson undoubtedly will name the seven cach members of the board within.a short time, and sit guembers, with or without senatorial approval, uhetion until March of next year. In this way, the new shipping act will be executed for eight months by the men chosen at this time. The record of board member appointments made by the present administration is hardly one to inspire confidence in the ability of the new board to successfully handle its tremendous responsibilities. The board, from _ the time it was first organized more than three years ago, has been in a continuous state of flux. About the only assurance the general public had of. the future action of a new board member was that he would not remain in that office for more than a few months at most. Members came and went with the rapidity of a cinematographic shutter. At the present time, the old board has just two members, one of whom bears the honorable distinction of being the only orig- - inal appointee who has weathered the storms of presi- dential disfavor as well as resisting the impulse to higher political office. The other member has held -- the post for about three months. Congress Delegates Liberal Powers Board. members in the future will be unable to raise the familiar cry of legislative restrictions as the reason for lack of success. Congress in this instance delegated powers so liberally that the new shipping board will stand alone among federal. bodies as clothed with legislative powers and freed in some respects from financial accounting. -- One example will show the ability of the new board to control America's marine fortunes. Extension ot the coastwise laws to insular possessions was made contingent upon the provision of adequate ship serv- 'ce. American shipping will be immensely benefited as soon as the actions of the board permit the Philip- pine and Hawaiian islands to be included in the coun- try's coastwise trade. Fortunate as the American people are in having this new legislation passed in the closing days oe session given over largely to political maneuvers, the prize is not quite won. Upon the wisdom shown i appointing the new menibers rests in large measure me success of America's efforts to regain her old rank. 361