Mahlon Pitney

“ The provision of section 9 of the Act of September 7, 1916, that vessels purchased, chartered, or leased from the Shipping Board, while employed solely as merchant vessels, should be subject to all laws, regulations, and liabili ties governing merchant vessels, whether the United States were interested therein as owner or otherwise, was a most material restriction, deemed by Congress to be essential to subject them to the same duties and liabilities as privately owned merchant vessels with which they competed. ”

“ Section 11 (Comp. St. § 8146f) authorized the Shipping Board to form one or more corporations under the laws of the District of Columbia for the purchase, construction, equipment, lease, charter, maintenance, and operation of merchant vessels in the commerce of the United States, the total capital stock not to exceed $50,000,000, and the Board to acquire for and on behalf of the United States not less than a majority of the capital stock. The act contained numerous provisions imposing duties upon common carriers by water, and conferring powers of regulation upon the Shipping Board. ”

“ And when in fact he designated the Fleet Corporation to exercise those powers so far as they pertained to the construction of vessels and the requisitioning of vessels in process of construction, and the Shipping Board so far as they applied to the operation, management, and disposition of vessels, it is to be presumed that he did so because of the general powers that already had been conferred upon them by law, and because they were subject to the regulatory provisions that Congress had enacted. ”