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Show CtC'lUtDC ' et JlL,ii.iLiitJ!k.ijjj SELL B30ZE 10 BE PROFITABLE Secretary Payne Last Witness Examined in Probe of Shipping Board WASHINGTON Feb. 19. Conprea- "id InveftlKa'ion of the slilpplng board ended tjjday lth the cxamlna-j Hon of Secretary Payne, a former chairman of thi I Lrdi by the BTbtt-cial BTbtt-cial house comm.tt'je. A report on the results of thr Inquiry, which has been continued intermittently for eighteen tnonfns, will be submitted to the hOUBfl before Man h 4. The secretary of the interior criticized criti-cized the provision of the merchant marine act creating a board of seven members. A single executive, hu argued, ar-gued, should be id. iced In control. The provision directing the president t" abolish commercial treaties also was attacked ' 1 Ml sT SELL IU M Mr. Payne said he was convinced that the government could not sue-1 cesafully operate merchant vessels in competition with private shipping in-' tercsts and also said American pas-i-enfjer liners could not compete with foreign liners unless permitted to sell 1'itoxlcantn during voyages. .Secretary l ayne said that when he J became chairman of the board jifter the war. the accounts generally were in bail shape, and thnt none had been I spt of the lo.oo.j voyages made bj government-owned ships up to that, time. He decided a general shake -up I was due and in its process, he said, the general comptroller and treasurer lost their jobs. 1BOLISH m: lit REA1 "1 couldn't find out what one bu- reau employing 180 persons was doing' so 1 abolished it." be continued "Another "An-other division was dealt with in the same manner." Mr. Payne said there wts no l.asls for the charge of Colonel A. H Ahadle. former general comptroller, that ho had been railroaded out of hit position. Colonel Abadle was in-1 competent and had too many incu In! his department, the secretary said. AjBkej whv the accounting of the board had been allowed to get Into a tangle, Mr Payne said "no executive execu-tive could devote his time to building up enthusiasm and constructing a workable organization at the aamej time." Pit Ms, i ia HURLEa 'Mr. Hurley (E X. Hurley, of Chicago, Chi-cago, formerly chairman of the board I wag the greatest man that could have I been picked for the Job," said Mr. Payne. "It was his task to create an enthusiasm to 'Rcir shipbuilding to the i"ountrv as a war measure and he did It." Charges previously made before the committee that favoritism had been shown by operating officials of the board In allocation of tonnage, decision decis-ion "f ports and routes and other op-r. op-r. tuig 'fjestions. Were denied bj the. witness, who said some of the large shipping company - were sore" because be-cause they were not given all of the tonnage they sbught. I It. W. Boiling, brother-in-law of; President tVilson and treasurer of the shipping board, was before the committee com-mittee again today to den charges of Irregularities on his part made by Tucker K. ..inds, formerly a Washington Washing-ton bank cashier. A M Fisher, an Investigator of the committee, also tes-tlfled, tes-tlfled, He exonerated Mr. Polling, de-j elating that. ,i searching Inquiry had convinced Mm there was nothing Irregular Ir-regular about private business tranB-.iitliii,. tranB-.iitliii,. I.etween Mr Polling and Mr- Sands. |