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

Marine Review FOUNDED 1878 SHIP OPERATION : Volume 64 SHIPBUILDING - January, 1934 CARGO HANDLING Number 1 American Merchant Marine, A Reply to Its Critics F SUCCESS may be measured, to some extent at least, by the notice taken by competitors, the American merchant marine is on a fair way to become a real factor in world shipping. Lately criticism aimed at American shipping and our national merchant marine policy has been especially active, particularly so from Great Britain. What we consider an eminently fair reply to foreign critics of American ship- ping has been made by Franklin D. Mooney, president of the Atlantic Gulf and West Indies Steamship Lines and chairman of the committee on foreign competition of the American steam- ship lines. Mr. Mooney said in part: ‘American shipowners are compelled to re- iterate, once again, that we are not seeking the cargo of Great Britain or any other nation. We earry but a third of the freight originating with- in our own borders. Sixty per cent of Great Britain’s ships must seek employment in out- side trades. Our vessels are confined almost exclusively to our own business. “Walter Runciman, president of the British board of trade, on Dec. 4 asked Britons to use only English ships. Such a policy, extended to other nations, would wreck the British mer- chant marine. English vessels carry almost half the trade of the entire world. They carry a third of the American business, aS much as we ourselves carry. Yet Alexander Shaw com- plains because a couple of American lines have picked up a little freight in the Far Hast. ‘Any move to reserve the business of ocean transport to the country of origin would be to the detriment of England and the wholesale advantage of this country. We originate more commerce than any other nation. Reserving our trade to domestic flag ships would give us the mightiest ocean fleet on earth. In the pas- senger carrying trades, we are in an even more fortunate position. Americans constitute 70 per cent of all travelers on the North Atlantic. We pay 85 per cent of the fares and occupy 95 per cent of all first class cabins. Withdrawal of American patronage would ruin every for- eign line serving on our shores. Such an even- tuality is sincerely to be deplored, but could easily come about through public preference should international conditions convince the American people of the wisdom of such a course. “Mr. Shaw characterized the American mer- chant marine policy of the United States as a ‘big stick’. American shipowners earnestly deny that there is any big stick involved. If we were carrying as much of Great Britains’ commerce as she herself carries, if we were carrying the bulk of her passengers, if we were running holiday cruises out of her ports, and demanding a still greater share of her busi- ness, then we might justly be accused of wield- ing a ‘big stick’. We give two-thirds of our freight to foreign ships and about three-fourths of our passengers. Any greater percentage would mean the extinction of American lines in foreign trade. “The principle of government support for shipping, as provided in the Jones-White act of 1928, seems to anger our foreign friends most of all. All of the woes of world shipping are laid at our door. Our policy is variously de- scribed as unfair, unethical, unfriendly. British shipowners know full well that, without some form of government aid, American vessels can- not possibly compete with the more cheaply operated vessels of foreign powers. Hither we have some measure of support to offset the higher cost of operating under the American flag, or we have no ships in foreign trade. ‘Another foreign charge has to do with the alleged dumping of a vessel tonnage by the United States. This country has built 42 ships as a result of the merchant marine act. Our competitors have turned them out literally by the hundred. England has outbuilt us ten to one during the past decade. At this very mo- ment, when Mr. Shaw is loudly proclaiming our MARINE REview—January, 1934 7