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May, 1924 By J. E. Dockendorff, President, Black Diamond Steamship Corp., New York Attempts at retaliatory steps by foreign lines will not prevent the effectiveness of Section 28 if put in operation, marine, for the establishment of an American merchant privately owned. Its enforcement does not entail cost to either railroads or American shippers using American boats. * * OK By James Arkell, President, Charles Hill & Sons, Inc., | New York I represent ships‘ bartying the British flag, so my opinion will doubtless. be considered prejudiced and biased, and possibly it is, but nevertheless, I try to look at the pro- posed new law with unbiased eyes, and my opinion is as follows: In the first place, the consignee who buys.a shipment of whatever product it is from this side should have something to say about the flag carrying his cargo, as the consignee pays the freight, but evidently people on this side overlook this fact, and I simply wish to point MARINE REVIEW 167 this out to you as a condition that evidently no one out here considers. If the American flag ships on the ocean can not live with- out preferential rates made in their behalf they should go out of business. In other words, they have the same chance as foreign flag ships, and why this country should make a preferential law in favor of American flag ships is be- yond my comprehension. If such a law is carried out it will certainly bring retaliation from foreign countries, and I can not see any other result from it. * * From J. R. Cordero, secretary, K. H. Butler & Co., Inc. Exporters-Importers, New York If it is to be expected that American merchants shall obtain the portion of the part of trade to which they are entitled in foreign markets, adjustments should be made, not only as regards rates for shipping but also as regards banking and other facilities, so as to put us on the same basis to compete with countries better organized to dispose of their surplus abroad. What English Think of Section 28 By Our European Manager London, April 5. (special dispatch)—British maritime cir- cles are considerably exercised over the proposal to give preferential railroad freight rates in the United States on exports sent abroad in American vessels. The opposition which has developed in the United States to this proposal is being magnified to the utmost and nothing whatever has been published in Great Britain indicating that there is any favorable sentiment toward the suggestion, the British shipowner being led to believe that it is merely an arbitrary action on the part of a bureaucratic govern- ment department. Vague threats of reprisals are voiced. “The irony of the situation,’ says the London Times “lies in the fact that American business men took a prominent part at the congress held last year under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce in protesting against discrimination in favor of national ship- ping. shipping board’s proposal seems regrettable, because, if persisted in, it can hardly fail to lead to retaliation on the part of other nations, and grave complications will be However much shipping man- In the interests of international trade the American introduced in commerce. agers may regret this prospect, they may reflect that such preferential treatment could not indefinitely be one-sided, and that they might gain compensating advantages. “The Imperial the adherence of the British nations to the principle of equality of treatment for the shipping of all nations at all ports of the world, provided for consultation between the conference while reasserting economic governments of the Empire should the need for it arise, owing to discrimination, ‘open or disguised,’ on the part of other countries. A curious situation would be created if all the British nations felt compelled to follow the ex- ample of the United States and grant preferential railway rates for British shipping, while it is clear from the mes- sages from Washington that the interest of other nations in the scheme is at least as close as that of England. The business men who participated in the discussions of the International Chamber of Commerce foresaw something of the conditions that would be produced as inevitable results of the carriage of the American scheme to its logical conclusion. These would, in fact, be the negation of real international trade. Shipowners would find some compen- sation in the development of commerce between those lands where there are no such restrictions, while merchants would not find it so easy to change their trade, but would en- counter serious difficulties in the conduct of their business with the inevitable effects on the volume.” British Rail Rates Elastic Other comment is in a similar vein. The virtues of the British system of treating all shippers and all exporters and importers alike, regardless of nationality, are again being paraded. Nothing is said of the fact that preferential rates are already granted by British railroads, in effect, if not in name. This results from the fact that the railroad rates in ‘Great Britain are not uniform. British railroads give special rebates to favored shippers and even quote special None of these practices are Although the published tariffs would indicate that uniform rates prevail, the fact rates on certain occasions. forbidden by law, as in America. is that big companies which control large amounts of traffic are able to obtain special favors from the railroads, which come to the same thing as preferential export rates. Similar practices exist on the Continent. The strict uni- formity and impartiality with which railroad rates are ap- plied in the United States has no counterpart in Europe.