SUPPORT BADLY NEEDED FROM COLLEGE MEN IN THE MERCHANT MARINE

The Student Council of New York University has instituted a movement to interest college men in the Intercollegiate Marine League for the establishment of which the National Marine League has already taken the first steps. Attention has been directed to the 70 of the TAO has been called to the severity of the emergency caused primarily by the decline of the American merchant marine and now heightened by the war's destruction, as follows:

"There never was a time when the merchant marine problem more insistently called for solution. To take the place of the tonnage destroyed in the war our government is seeking to build wooden ships by the thousand. But an even greater question is involved; for the stability of our industries, the very prosperity of the country, depends in large part on our overseas shipping facilities. On account of the lack of ships our exporters have suffered severely from excessive freight rates, unfair discrimination in favor of foreign competitors and, in many cases, actual loss of business. The great factor in correcting these conditions and stabilizing our home industries will be re-establishment of the merchant marine which will restore to American industry the control of the distribution and sale of its products.

"This can never be done, however, so long as the American public remains apathetic to the shipping problem. Obsolete restrictive legislation must be repealed and friendly laws substituted; the accomplishment of this will come only from an enlightened public opinion. It is in the formation of this opinion that College men can perform a valuable and truly patriotic service because our centres of learning must be well-springs of correct opinion."