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July, 1920 Remaining 50 per cent to be paid in equal semiannual installments during the remainder of five years from date of contract. Interest on deferred pay- ments at 5 per cent per annum." Like all the rest, . this: plan. had numerous variations. At one time it stood as an offer to sell for 10 per cent down, plus a charter purchase of $8.30 a month, title . to pass to the purchaser when 40 per cent had been paid. Late in April an extreme case of the charter purchase plan was evolved when the shipping board re- quired a cash payment of only 2% per cent, plus a charter-hire-purchase of $5 per ton per month. This sales plan was in effect for a few weeks, but proved popular during the time it was in existence. For the wooden ships special terms were worked out, one providing for: 50 per cent. initial payment, the rest within 18 months, and the other for a first cash payment of 25 per cent and the balance three years. in Hurley Plan Favored In a total of 132 ships sold by the shipping board of which a compilation with respect to purchase plans has been made. by the Marine Review, it is found that 66 or exactly one-half have been disposed of on standard terms, or the Hurley plan; 34, includ- THE MARINE REVIEW ing many old vesselg, tor cash "as is'; 11 for discount for casiis; IT On a partial payment plan; 7 on the char- ter purchase plan, and 3 with option to purchase. Shipping board officials say that the Present market for ships is limited and that it will be impossible to solve the problem of disposing of government tonnage within a brief period. Esti- mates by officials place the time which will be required as between 5 and 10 years, and in the meantime. the gov- ernment will be compelled to operate _ the unsold portion of its fleet. The success of the shippin® board's ef- forts to dispose of its holdings de- pends largely upon the terms of sale and the price per ton, and upon the stability of such term and price pol- icies as may be adopted by the board under the broad authority bestowed by the Jones act. In _ his testimony before the senate committee on com- merce during its hearings on the mer- chant marine bill John Barton Payne, then chairman of the shipping board, stressed the importance of proper terms if sales are to be made. He said that he regarded it as very important to sell the ships and that he thought it more a matter of terms and confi- dence; "terms on our part and confi- dence on the part of the purchasers racer than the prices. et the. ships." \ 367 Pending the passage of the Jones act, Admiral Benson, present chair- man of the board, suspended sales of ships. But with the law now on the statute books a definite sales policy is being adopted and will be adhered to by the board. The act authorizes and directs the board to sell the ships, as soon as practicable and consistent with good business methods, at public or private competitive sale and on terms to be fixed by the board. Prospective Sales Plan On April 15, an important confer- ence was held.in the office of Admiral Benson in Washington for the purpose of securing the aid and advice of rep- resentative business men of large pro- ducing and merchandising experience in the solution of the problems aris- ing out of the disposition of the gov- ernment's merchant fleet. A commit- tee headed by Eugene Meyer Jr., for- merly managing director of the War Finance corporation, was appointed to present some formal stiggestions and recommendations to the _ shipping board. This report was submitted on May 8 and has been accepted in principle by the board, which is now working' out the details of its sales policy in accordance with suggéstions of the Meyer's committee. How the Meyer plan compares with Hurley's ~~ Z ED Years 6 7 9 f08 fp te> (G2 Fe Meyer PIar ure La SUNIL CA TAOUSA/?A DOW QS MLYy : BoOAGANSOSSTAGEEORYN SS WB = : aos ie Hepount Lele é neath + --- ORIGINAL AND LATEST PLANS FOR SELLING GOVERNMENT SHIPS COMPARED