The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

40 Wanted—Private Operator (Continued from Page 12) president of the Emergency fleet will not in our opinion accomplish the aim set forth above. The shipping board is faced with great responsibility and its members will be held accountable for decisions made. It is perfectly natural therefore that the board should wish to be convinced beyond a doubt of the financial responsibility and qualifications as an operator of a bidder before selling or chartering the lines. Claims Offers Were Too Low There is nothing however in the testimony of the chairman of the shipping board before the senate com- mittee to indicate that he is doubt- ful of either the financial. responsi- bility or operating ability of those who presented bids for the govern- ment lines. One of the bidders in fact has his confidence so completely that he is now operating for the board one of the lines involved in the pro- posed sale. His reasons for the board’s proposed rejection of all offers for the two lines as outlined in his testimony were: first, that no bidder offered a fair price; second, that he was in favor of selling the vessels to a purchaser with the right kind of a directorate, meaning large commer- cial interests, who would give these vessels the transportation of their own freight. As to the first of these reasons, what is a fair price under stipulated conditions in a limited market? The chairman thinks $15,000,000 and not less than $10,000,000, the cost of re- conditioning the LEVIATHAN. There is, we believe, a law to the effect that ‘ MARINE REVIEW the latter ship must not be sold for less than the cost of reconditioning. He does not apparently consider part pur- chase and part charter as provided in two of the proposals. Also his def- inite statement that if the American merchant marine is to be privately op- erated, a subsidy of some nature is imperative does not seem consist- ent with his desire for an arbitrary purchase figure higher than any of the bids received from responsible and experienced operators. No one would, of course, find fault with the board for getting as high a figure as would be consonant with possible success under efficient operation. In other words the board can in this specific instance provide the aid, to some extent at least, which it claims the operator needs, by keeping the initial cost low. There is also some- thing of good faith involved in re- jecting bids which comply with the conditions stipulated. Can the board keep on indefinitely asking for bids and rejecting them? Wouldn’t it have been much fairer all around to have published a minimum figure and then asked for bids above this figure mak- ing all prospective bidders qualify as to responsibility and fitness before acceptance of their bid? As it stands the whole proposition is farcical and appears as an insincere public gesture. Wants an Influential Directorate Mr. O’Connor’s second implied rea- son for rejection of the bids, that there was lacking a directorate of powerful commercial interests who would place all the freight that they controlled on American ships, stirs the imagination. Who would not want such positive assurance of business in hand at the very start of a new February, 1927 venture? But isn’t the board selling or chartering a going line with con- siderable percentage of space filled even under present conditions? Isn’t much of this freight and many of these passengers of American origin and is there any reason to think that the large commercial interests will be less favorable to a privately op- erated line? We are of the opinion that the proper kind of private op- erator will be able to increase this business and that it will not be difficult if necessary to enlist out- standing captains of industry to serve on the board of directors. Ships Must Be Replaced Chairman O’Connor aptly said that trying to maintain a merchant ma- rine -without replacements makes us the capital joke of the world, also that it is just as important to have shipyards as it is to have ships in the merchant marine. He should, there- fore, be particularly impressed with the Winchester-Gibbs proposal which included the offer of at least $10,000,- 000 of private capital toward the building of two new passenger liners to supplement the LEVIATHAN to pro- vide what is sadly needed, a proper high-class balanced service. The build- ing of two such ships in American shipyards would be of inestimable value to the art of merchant ship- building in the United States and -would encourage other shipbuilding projects. Let us by all means try to solve this extremely serious and important problem, with good will, without ran- cor, enlisting the wisest counsel, and with unselfish earnestness for the best interests of our common welfare as a nation. AQUQNULUAUUQUATEUONEESOSEUEQUUUTOCOULSEREAELTAAOLE EEA T#s interesting and | very practical yacht } railway and turntable |} was recently installed at the yard of Peirce & Kilburn, Fairhaven, Mass. It is of 75-ton ca- pacity and was designed and constructed by the {| Crandall Engineering } Co., drydock engineers, Boston. MOUDRAAUDHUOUOVUHNAATARAIMOHL DAA EE LAAN as