Captain Dollar Speaks

Captain Robert Dollar of San Francisco, dean of American ship owners, appeared in New York, and made several speeches stamped with his incisive personality. A Scotsman by birth, the self-made magnate of American Pacific Shipping, the leader of the unsuccessful right against the La Follette Seamen's Bill, he is still, although nearly 80, the eager champion of an American privately owned merchant marine.

He gave a dinner to 100 members of the shipping industry, among them Edward P. Farley, the man appointed to succeed Albert D. Lasker, Chairman of the Shipping Board, and he took the opportunity to make some remarks on the state of American shipping.

On the Pacific, he said his company has now only two ships operating to the Orient. On the Atlantic there are only 14 privately owned passenger ships and 22 freighters now operating, aside from those engaged in the island trade--a condition no better than before the war. He asserted that American shippers must combine to remove the discriminating measures, in order to restore the flags of privately owned American Merchantmen to the high seas.

Before the National Association of Manufacturers he made another speech which throws considerable light on his attitude towards the question of labor and shipping:

"I am in favor of labor unions. But I am desperately opposed to the leadership that labor unions have been having." San Francisco was formerly " the biggest and best labor union city in the world." But now it has open shop, because five years ago the unions tied up tne entire port. They resorted to violence. The result was that a million dollars was subscribed to fight the strike. "We went to the District Attorney," continued Captain Dollar, " and said to him: ' If something isn't done about this tomorrow evening you are going to be strung up to a telegraph pole.' There was never another man assaulted on the waterfront of San Francisco."