The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-06-24

dollars and fifty cents; if above hi<j tons,
| four dollars and if above thirty on< and if
the crew consist of ten persons, nd ,aving
been actually employed in the CO f ,,ery at
sea, for the term of three and one-. alf ,aonths
at least, but less than four months of re sea-
| son aforesaid, three dollars and SfttS cents
| Provided, That the allowance afort aits on any
one vessel for one season shall not Sc,sd three
hundred and sixty dollars" (ses stsates at
Large, vol. 3, page 520.)
| This act has been said TO repes til, act of
! 1917, requiring the OWNERS and thrf >fcArths of
the crew to be citizens of the. u tex States.
But there is not the slightest war; 1t Or such
an assertion. The former act ia MOI 20 eauch as
referred to- and therefore all parts of w SIGH are
not specifically changed by the act If ssI9, re-
manned in full force. The rate of lo,sance is
enhanced, and the term requisad r s certain
class of vessels to be at sea is moe fie-. but in
| every other respect the act of 1917 EN- ined in
| full force. On the suppositon Mai hi Nact re-
peals the former the salt duties wot tsnd re-
| pealed, since they were not re-en~cti bxthe act
of 1919, and in that case the bouftys sttsr would
| stand aloof from any pretence eeen # n.tanding
the duty on salt. But this ques siol sA,uthori-
tatively settled by the regulation Is tATreas-
ury Department, which requir il c0HeSormity
with the statute of 1877, that the mss1er and
three-fourths of the crew of any vel eel 4siming
bounty must be proven to be cit 1en.s of the
United States. (See Circular 1ast lcts,ns de-
ted February 20, 1862, issued b. 81 ref-ty Cor
win. 1t is to be noted that the bets >as.sd since
the revival of the system of bo,,nt g ess silent
as to the bounty being in lieu If lie s.;t duty,
or being measured by the amo ant of AAe duty
collected. These acts are still il for e. chile the
bounty has continued at the hig ,esf pOiyt which
| it ever attained. The salt duty as een reduced
from twenty cents the bushel OF eft, sia pounds,
to less than two and half cent, tt bl shell; in
a word, the increase of the bon lty Seet on pars
passu with the diminution of the sal drty The
exact figures, which find in tie zee report
of the Senate Committee on Co nm rec. are two
cents and thrty-three hundredths PEE bushel.
1t is clear therefore, that the systen of)ounties,
though originating in the salt dpy, as gradually
been separated from it, and nov ste ads upon its
own merits as an independent policy. 1t HIS been in
existence, with an interval of We srs sfrom the
organization Of the Governme OF t. tbs present
time and think that have sUunG anEy shown,
from the very terms of the Sc vera aGAs on the
subject of bounties that lea ling Obi sct in the
inception, and the sole object fe for " ears past
OF their continuance, has feen the maintenance
of school for seamen.
Sir these bountes to the bBrdy tsl ermen of
New England stand before the Anne tcasa people,
for their yindication upon the same footing with
the Naval School at Annapolis and thu Military
School at West Point. l admit this t,e'system
U II
ENTERPRISES is Objectionable, ind, ndsie,l, indie
fensible. But where the object is Soyedly the
training of American seamen, with view to the
national defence, there can be 40 re objection
to this particular plan, than to thos a4oated for
the education of officers at the mil 'afi and ma
val academies. 1t is no objection io.1t that a
branch of private industry is foster Ey it but,
on the contrary, that circumstance is. strong
recommendation of it, for, by tht al os the fish
cries, the Government is enabled t, a cOmplish
with three or four hundred :aou inl dollats,
what millions would scarcely d. W hclt them
The expenses of the Navy Depar neat for the
last fiscal year, according to pie pcrt of the
Secretary of the Treasury, vert tw w. milioks
seven hundred and twenty six tlou aHl dolla&
and this sum exceeds, by more hal tAlf mil
lion, the whole amount of bouil les an acconl-
ing to the same authority, frou tb foundatiOn
of the Government to the ptS.sen tslne The
average amount Of bounties per AMI ins has been
about three hundred thousand &olls g.. In 1856,
it was only one hundred and 'hir fur thqp-
sand in 1857, the amount re'l "a t. six hun
dred and one thousand
Sir, can that be regarded as h sxpenske
system of training seamen, which, " The paltry
sum of three hundred thousaId ,lI..rs, gives
the best kind of practical inst,fictii E, thirteen
or fifteen thousand men yearly2
Your Naval Academy at AnIapol t,,st thirty
nine thousand dollars during the IL lscal year,
which is more than a tenth of the etx,ge yearly
expense of the school for seamen. to.r Military
Academy at West Point cost one lu.,dred and
seventy-fve thousand dollars, 4hicl is-nore than
half the expense of training thirt ems thousand
seamen. Are you ready to aoolis t4scse insti-
tutiOns? Have they not indicated th.9r utility2
But, sir, they stand the same fot i'm with the
school for seamen and must fs,l ,hAt
Mr.. Chairman, while the duty on saEs has been
reduced to very low figure, there by furnishing
the opponents of the bounty syste Nth what
they regard unanswers4ble argument in
favor of repeal, it must not bt' for otsn, on the
other hand, that protection agi,inst folsign COM
petition has been withdrawn from ur.6shermen
in great measure. | have already drkwn atten-
ton to the protection afforded oy Il at of $780,
when duty of seventy-fve cents ! sr s,arrel was
imposed on imported picked Ish, hdsssifty cents
per quintal on dried fish, Under ttS tariff of
1916, the duty was twenty pir ce' t. ~ all i'm
ported fish, but, by the recirrocit tsaty with
the British Provinces, we were depIivel, in 1854,
of the advantages this duty gave U.S. in the do
mestic market, and our immediate oeLshbor and
greatest competitor in the product in If fish was
placed on footing of equality W tn sls. They
are given by that treaty the freedoia G. o market
among thirty millions, and we ha e she benefit
of their market of three millions. H. her words,
we are permitted to carry cOAi to feycastlel
The tariff of 1857 still further rec nc. the duty
on imported fish, so that now the Whsle benefit
of that sort of protection amounts tosjfteen per
cent. al oaiorem upon the products o..ceuntries
OF whose competition we have it'll ts>fear even
without protection. Here, then, is an. additional
reason for bounty, unless the poli' & Govern
ment is to break down the fsheries
will proceed to show tina: the condition of
the fisheries is by no means prt'sp,fous, and
without some efficient protection troLe the Gov
eminent, they must sink into tnsig aif-ance In
order to place the matter beyond lsrrlte, will
quote from an authority which ca,,no be gain
said The Committee on Comtuerc. ii, the other
wing of the Capitol, have reported n fA,or of the
repeal of the fishing bounties. They ssy nothing
of the repeal of the salt duties and wtire there
fore left to infer that they desire 10 tirden the
6sheries with that duty, at the ssmStime that
they deprive them of what was origi nalS designed
as an equivalent.
The report embraces table make B, which
is too large for my purpose, elae shoS,d be glad
to incorporate it into my SPEECH. | ~,ust con-
tent myself with the following ror -I,ns of it,
which relate more Immediately to IT,. subject in
hand
COD FISHEIsY.
Years. No of Tonnage. Crews, -Allowances
vessels men. 10 fishing