Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-01-24
a New s,eam.hip Company.

A bill has been introduced, in both houses Of
congress, to incorporate and aid company Of
very wealthy capitalists who desire to engage in
the steamship business. The nominal capital
of the company is to be ten million dollars, and
it is TO be known as "The American Mail and
Ocean Transportation Company" The bill re-
quires the company to establish ship-yards, ma
chime shops, foundries, rolling mills, and other
machinery, for constructing iron ships of the
largest class, and to build, for its own use,
twenty iron ships of the first class. These ships
must be made of American iron, and the COM
pany must use them on at least three lines Of
ocean mail steamers which are required to sail
once week from their respective ports in the
United States, and, on each voyage, carry the
mails, specie, and officers Of the government
free of charge.
The government will be placed under ooliga-
tion to favor and aid this company as follows;-
81. To pay it bounty on the construction of
the ships equal to the import duties on an
amount of materials corresponding to that used
in building them; 2. The ships when in use are
to be exempt from government dues and port
charges; s. The company will have a right to
purchase coal and ship stores in bond, duty
free; 4. The government is to guarantee the
company's bonds to the amount of $40 ,000,000
and pay the gold interest on them as it falls
due. These are the more important provisions
of the bill. 1t should be added, however, that
it proposes to secure the government, in the
matter of the bonds, by first mortgage on the
property; and that, in case of war, the govern
ment may buy the ships at their actual value.
There will be a strenuous effort to pass this
BILL but, if passed. it will do very little to re-
vive the shipping interest In certain respects
it would injure this interest, for it would create
a powerful monopoly. No other American ship
would be able to compete with the favored ships
of this company in carrying freight; for, besides
the bounty on their construction, they would
have the great advantage of coal and ship stores
duty free and entire exemption from govern
ment dues and port charges. The advantages
specified are not given to the shipping interest
generally; mol they are given only to a company
of wealthy capitalists, whose operations, so ia
vored, will add to the embarrassments by which
the general shipping interest is now troubled.
Congress can not revive the shipping interest
by creating monopolies of this kind.
What is wanted is such aid as all engaged in
the shipping business can share on equal TERMS
aid against that successful competition of for
eign ships, which has arisen and become estab-
lished since the Alabama and Noridas went
forth from England against our commerce.
Congress should do something to favor the ship
ping interest, but its bestowment of favOrs
should be impartial; and it should not be so
misled as to believe it has favored this interest
at all, when it has only created monopoly.
We are not speaking against steamships and
lines of ocean steamers. We speak for the gen.
eral shipping interest of the country, to which
such monopoly would bring additional dsas-
ter, to a certain extent. If favor in the matter
of government dues and port changes, can do
anything to make it profitable to use ships, and
thus create demand for them, why should it
be confined to wealthy steamship company
The shipping interest, rightly understood, means
something more than favored ocean steamers.