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- 632 : penditure of such items as are found proper, and only the questionable items held up for further investiga- tion, much of this trouble would be climinated. In some cases bills amounting to thousands of dollars have been held up, and reimbursement of the entire expenditure denied the manager and/or operator for months because some items amounting to a small fraction of the whole seemed improper or were not fully sup- ported. (b) Accumulation of United States Shipping Board revenues unaccounted for in hands of operators and/or man- agers is bad practice, in that in some cases one manager and/or operator will be holding up shipping board ships for lack of funds to operate, while another company in the same port will have more money in_ its trust fund than it knows what to do with: These funds, under present practice, must from time to time be sent to the district office, and while 'they are in transit to the district of- fice and back again to the port from -- which they come, to relieve an emer- gency need of some other company, a ship operated by the latter com- pany may have lost two or three days in a domestic or foreign port. (c) Losses on voyages are unavoid- able at times, but where a managing and/or operating company shows a continuous loss in operation of ship- ping board ships something is wrong with his management and/or opera- tion, and his contract should be can- celed. Yet there are companies man- aging and operating shipping board 'vessels which have for months, from the very beginning of their opera- tion in fact, shown such losses, yet they are given more tonnage or are allowed to operate the original ton- nage allocated to them. The remedy lies, it would seem, in a closer co- operation between the comptroller's department and the operating de- partment, particularly the allocation division, Under the shipping board's new regu- lations, government vessels are now per- mitted to take part cargoes from Brit- ish Columbia ports. Heretofore, this privilege was denied operators. Scarcity of freight, however, resulted in a change of regulations under which American vessels may compete with foreign lines for oriental offerings. _-- > A cargo of 5041 tons of molasses in bulk recently was discharged at Port- land by the tank steamer City or RENo. The product came from the Hawaiian islands. It was handled expeditiously in the big tanker's holds. THE MARINE REVIEW Government Fails To Build Up Loyalty HE natural tendency of men and women is to be less careful of government funds than they are ef their personal funds. Another point which arises is the fact that many persons who would be strictly honest. in their personal dealings with other persons seem to view the "governinent" as an_ abstract something at Washington, of which they themselves are not a part, and they seem to consider that io over- charge this government is not an offense similar to that of over- charging their. friends and personal patrons. Many a man who would yo hungry to pay a debt' of -- honor jeels a thrill of satisfacticn when a street car conductor fails to take up kis fare. He does not feel he is cheating any one. He is merely "beating a corporation." course, this state of mind .can not be proved except by opinion, it ts an wportant factor. For that rea- son, it 1s necessary to minimize the result of this feeling of detachment. on the part of so many persons by the departments of the shipping board giving the closest supervision and having the most intimate knowi- edge of the affairs in the field, yet the departments admittedly do not do this. Ancther grave danger is ihe lack of method employed by the ship- ping board in determining the re- sponsibility of companies. Under present practice of allowing operat- ing companies to retain for long periods immense sums of shipping board meneys, collected in prepaid freights, etc., there is grave danger that the failure of some of these companies would result in loss of such shipping board moneys and recovery be difficult, if possible at all, Anather condition making for loss to the shipping beard is the lack of co-operation between the central organization of the shipping _ board and the operators in handling strikes and other disturbances at foreign ports. As in case of the Jacksonville Shipping C orb., losses on the operation of shipping -board slips may go on for an indefinite period through some labor dis- turbance at a port like Habana before the shipping board acts.-- Froni report to congressional com- mittee. While, of December, 1920 U. S. Wins First Race 'The recent international fishing smack race caused great excitement in north Atlantic fishing ports. Capt. Marty Welch, Gloucester, Mass., sail- ing the Esperanto, also of Glouces- ter, won two out of three in closely contested races at Halifax, N. S,, against the DreLawANna of Lunenburg, N. S., sailed by Captain Himmelman. The race was for a cup offered by W. H. Dennis of Halifax which is to be contested for-each year in an international fisherman's race. Ac- cording to the opinion of north At- lantic fishermen it was the greatest race ever sailed in the north Atlantic. It was a plucky, hard fought race, full of exciting moments when the dangers of rocky ledges were risked to gain position or when on turning a buoy the vessels were so close that the bowsprit of one overhung the stern of the other. After the race, Captain Welch and his crew were banqueted by representatives of the dominion government and of the city of Halifax. The city of Gloucester which furnished the sturdy vessel and clever captain which captured the cup for America has declared a holi- day in celebration of the event. William A. Fairbanks, director of the Massachusetts commission on foreign and domestic commerce, in contradiction of the report of the shipping board, says that Boston occupies third place among the seaports of the~ United States. The shipping board figures indi- cate that Boston occupies tenth place in total overseas tonnage, twelfth place in export tonnage and seventh place in im- pert tonnage. Mr. Fairbanks maintains that the port of Boston is only sur- passed by New York and New Orleans in the value of her total overseas trade and by New York only in imports. Commerciai relations with Vladivos- tok, which were terminated several years ago because of unsettled condi- tions in Russia, are being resumed on a limited scale. The steamer Cross Keys has arrived at Seattle with 3500 tons of Siberian cargo, the first from Vladivostok in many months. freight is now offering from the Siber- ian gateway and it is. expected that the former active trade with Vladivostok will gradually come back. Beginning. the new service between Puget Sound and New Orleans, the steamer Iris has sailed from Seattle for gulf ports. The Iris was formerly a shipping board training ship. Steamship connections with the gulf have been long desired by Seattle shippers and a permanent trade is expected to result. Other .