The nonpartisan leader. [volume], November 29, 1917, Image 4

About The nonpartisan leader. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1915-1921

Image provided by: State Historical Society of North Dakota

                
I
E
Washington Bureau
Nonpartisan Leader
N sharp contrast to the efforts
of old-line politicians in con
gress to grab the undeveloped
power resources of the nation,
now held in public control,
and turn them over to private inter
ests for the future exploitation of the
people, is the story of the government
and the ocean shipping problem.
Did you know that the first great
conscription of an industry had taken
place? That "conscription of wealth,"
in so far as the absolute use of all of
the materials and machinery of a great
industry is concerned, had been ac
complished?
The United States shipping board
requisitioned all American shipping of
over 2,500 tons dead weight, except
vessels on the Great Lakes, on October
12. These ships, to a total of consider
ably more than 3,000,000 tons carrying
capacity, are now working at the ex
pense and for 'the profit of the gov
ernment.
Huge profits were being earned by
the steamship owners and steamship
lessees before this order took effect.
Those profits, to the degree that they
have not been cut off, now go to the
nation. The companies are getting
simply a margin of "reasonable profit"
that will keep their machinery going.
The day of their excess profits of 200
to 500 per cent has gone. Uncle Sam
is master of every vessel. He is the
biggest shipmaster on earth today, ex
cept the government of Great Britain.
GREED OF MONOPOLY
CAUSE OF ACTION
This action on the part of the gov
ernment, in taking possession of the
shipping industry and running it on
public account, is due in part, of
course, to the fact that we are at war.
We were compelled to ship materials
and food to Europe, regardless of cost
and without reference to the previously
arranged schedules of sailings, which
had been based on private commerci
in times of peace.
But jus) as the railroads have thu:?
far escaped seizure, and the mines anil
the packing plants have remained in
private hands, the steamships would
have remained in the hands of the bij?
private corporations, but for one thing
—the greed of those corporations.
They were not content with big prof
its. They wanted double, triple, quad
ruple profits. They held up all ship
ments for a robber rate of toll. And
they held. up shipments so determined
ly that the president of the United
States put the stamp of condemnation
upon them. His address to the busi
ness men of the United States, issued
on July 12 last, was in fact the pro
nouncement of sentence upon the life
of the shipping monopoly.
This address will be remembered
throughout the war as the one In
which the president sounded the
slogar: "Patriotism leaves profits o\rt
of the question. Patriotism and profits
ought never, in the present circum
stances, to be mentioned together."
11 Via
The farmers are demanding public ownership of transportation
and marketing facilities such as affect farm products. "Impos
sible," "Socialistic," "disloyal," is the answer of the politi
cians and Big Business to this plan of the farmers. "Impossible?"
But wait a minute! Read this story of what has happened in one
of the country's greatest industries. The people of the United
States, through their government, now own and operate the
American marine transportation facilities, till recently a private
monopoly sucking almost- unbelievable profits from our people
and from our allies. It couldn't be done, of course! And yet IT
IS being done. How? "VYhy, the government just naturally
stepped in and COMMANDEERED—or requisitioned, if you like
—all the ships and all the crews and all the other shipping facili
ties it wanted, AND NOW IT IS RUNNING THEM FOR THE
BENEFIT OF THE PEOPLE AND OUR ALLIES IN THE
WAR. Has the subsidized Big Business press told you all the
details of this PUBLIC OWNERSHIP OF A PUBLIC UTILITY
IN SUCCESSFUL OPERATION? Certainly not, but
you can read it here.
THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES
^THROUGH THE GOVERN ME NT, NOW,
\OWN AND OPERATE THE MARINE
TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES
In that appeal to patriotism as abovo
greert he said:
"Lf:t me turn for a moment to the
shipowners of the United States, and
the other ocean carriers whose example
they have followed, and ask them if
they realize what obstacles, what al-
most insuperable obstacles, they have
been putting in the way of the success
ful prosecution of the war, by the
ocean freight rates they have been ex
acting.
"They are doing everything that high
freight charges can do to make the war
a fp.ilure—-to make it impossible. I do
not say that they realize this or intend
it. The thing has happened naturally
enough, because the commercial pro
cesses which we are content to see
operate in ordinary times have with
out sufficient thought been continued
into a period where they have no prop
er place.
"T am not questioning motives. I am
merely stating a fact, and stating it in
ore'er that' attention may be fixed upon
it. The fact is that those who have
fixed war freight rates have taken the
nio?t effective means in their power
to defeat the armies engaged against
Geimany.
PAGE FOUR
When they realize this we. may, 1
take it for granted, count upon them to
reconsider the whole matter. It is
high time. Their extra hazards are
cohered by war-risk insurance
One of the many mushroom, temporary buildings being built by the United States government at Washington, D. C., to
house the head offices of the many new and enlarged activities the government is engaged in as a result of the war. As
never before, the government is extending its functions into fields which, in the past, have been thought to be the pre
serves of private capital and "initiative." The taking over, under public ownership and operation, of the sea transporta
tion facilities is an instance, discussed in this article from the Leader's Washington bureau. In the picture, notice the
famous Washington monument at the national capital in the background.
Those who do not respond, who do not
respond in the spirit of those who have
gone to give their lives for us on bloody
fields far away, may safely be left to
be dealt with by opinion and the law,
for the law must, of course, command
these things."
The law did command, before the
profiteers responded to the president's
challenge. The order of October 12,
three months after the date of t'nis
warning, wiped out, for the period of
the war at least, the private profiteer
ing, of the American merchant marine.
GOVERNMENT TOOK
SHIPS BEING BUILT
This law gives to the United States
shipping board the power to requisition
ships, terminals and all other property
needed in the industry, until six
months after the ratification of the
treaty of peace at the close of the war.
Today the companies are agents of
Uncle Sam. They get their orders as
to where each ship shall dock, where it.
shall coal, when and to what port it
shall sail, and with what cargo.
Beside the Americar.-owned shipping
which has been requisitioned, there, is
a vast tonnage of seized German .sjiips,
and of ships requisitioned while under
construction in this country for owners
in neutral countries. Ships being
built for American and neutral -firms,
as fast as they are completed, are put
under charter to the shipping board,
which operates them with government
employed crews. This, also, will con
tinue until six months after the war
has closed.
Finally, there are the millions of tons
of new shipping now under construc
tion, every bit of it on government
0!&
WiF
account, which will come into commis
sion next year and in 1919,.'-.Uncle Sam
will operate all of this-.' tremendous
system of water transportation, on his
own responsibility, at his own expense
and for his own service and profit.
Profits in the ocean carrying trade
can be measured by.the price of ships.
Or put it the other way—the value of
a ship depends on what it is allowed to
earn.
Before the war, ships sold for $60 to
$70 per ton in the ports of the United
States. English shipyards could build
them for about $40 per ton.
When the government stepped 1n to
put an end to the war-profiteering ot
the shipowners, in October, ships were
selling at $300 per ton. If the govern
ment were to permit their sale to
foreign companies, they would sell at
that figure, or higher, today.
RATES ARE REDUCED
UNDER PUBLIC CONTROL
All of this unearned excess profit on
the investment in ships went to the
owners. When the government laid
its hand upon the ships, and informed
the private owners that they would
henceforth be permitted to receive only
a reasonable rate of interest upon ac
tual investment, there took place the
first act in the curbing of the trans
portation kings of America. Where
the process will lead, no man can say.
Before the ships were requisi
tioned, the rental pf a cargo ship
ranged from $12 to $15 per ton per
month. Neutral ships not controll
ed by the shipping board still com
mand that rate for charter. But
the present rate, under government
control, is from $5.75 to $6.07 per
ton per month, or a reduction in
rate of more than 50 per cent.
This is not, of course, the immediate
gain of the shipper. A- steel manu
facturer in Pennsylvania may have
contracted to deliver steel, over a
period of six months, to the Italian
government at a certain price. This
contract price was based on the old
profiteering rates for shipping. The
government now takes the profit, in
continued on page 12)