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February, 1919 Franklin was not re- tained in any capacity whatever has been at- tributed to the desire on his part to tbe sev- ered entirely from the affairs of the board. He owes a_ peculiar duty to the_ stock- holders of the Inter- national Mercantile Marine Co. and at the last moment the ship- ping board had_ be- come interested in the affairs of that com- pany. Although the interference was over the question of the sale of the British tonnage owned by the company, the incident placed Mr. Franklin in a rather embarrassing position. Undoubtedly he desired to sever his oficial connection rather than appear in the eye of the pub- lic-aS serving two masters. The meth- od of handling this incident was indicative of the high-minded- ness of the men _ in- volved. Chairman Hur- ley was in Europe when the resignations were handed in. He cabled immediately to Mr. Franklin as fol- lows: “Upon your resig- nation, which I hope you will postpone for the present, I want to Say that your fine or- ganization capacity and high ability proved of tremendous influence in the success of our shipping efforts in the war. An enormous burden was imposed upon the ship control committee and each member of your or- ganization, but its work was done so fairly and impartially that the radical requi- sitions that were necessary were met by the shipowners with- out complaint or hesi- tation. Your work was done so quietly that I doubt whether you will ever receive the complete recogni- tion it deserves. The Bt is Bal MARINE REVIEW © By Press Illustrating Service © by Underwood & Underwood ABOVE—SIR CONNOP GUTHRIE BELOW—H. H. RAYMOND 83 maximum service was obtained from every ship under your ex- pert and efficient di- rection and I am pleased at the oppor- tunity to make this statement to you.” It was through the Franklin committee that tonnage was pro- vided for taking care of such important re-_ quirements as nitrates, manganese ore, sugar, hemp, wool, hides and tanning extracts. The committee had no con- trol over the place where new tonnage was- tendered to it. Ships were delivered on the Pacific or the Atlantic and the em- ployment of such ships, until they were in a position to take care of a useful trade movement was at times a rather serious problem. The com- mittee also had charge of the coastwise move- ment of coal to New England; a trade re- quiring a vast amount ef tonnage and most careful supervision. The committee allo- cated approximately 1,000,000 tons of ships for the transatlantic and the transpacific trades and also exer- cised jurisdiction over all tankers, an average monthly handling of 1,400,000 deadweight tons. The committee operated approximate- ly 750,000 deadweight tons in trade with South America and the West Indies. Fix- tures were made for the carriage of coal and coke, and some vessels were placed on berth for general car- go. The more impor- tant commodities moved were nitrates, canned meats, linseed, sugar, iron ore, man- ganese ore, sisal, fruit, cocoanuts, coffee, sul- . phur and _ phosphate rock. Incidentally the cominittee kept ac- count of all sailing vessels.