The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1885-08-22
JOHN ROACHISM.


as,s of this country has been John Roach
iOm BEFORE the war American sails whit
.ned every sea on the globe, and our
marine outstripped that OF every
other country. The simple solution OF such
prosperity was that ship building was free'
and Yankee skill was able to outstrip the
world in the cheapness and excellence Oh
is ships. Then came the war OF the re-
bellion, and confederate cruizers drove 'he
larger part of our merchant marine from
the seas or turned it into foreign hands
The war over, the question arose, how 10
ret back the lost supremacy OF our mer'
chant marine. Common sense said remove
all restriction on ship building and make
the raw material and supplies Of ships free
John Roach and his school of economists
raid No; Levy such a duty on all material
Earring into the construction of ships that
meican iron, copper, hemp, &c, alone
u, w." - used, and while this will enormous
- o,h ,e the cost of oyr ships over those
mods m hyntries let the difference be
owners ST from or I fitting subsidies to our ship
shape Of liberal pa ont for carrying the
mails, The Roach syst, wos az far adop.
ted that exorbitant duties 900 ,ou;od an
all the material entering into /. b., oonotrnc
ton Of ships, but the voting Of laI q subsi
dies to the body of our ship owner was
such gross violation OF every principle
a sound public policy, and the selection O
"A few favored steamship companies, instead
of our entire merchant marine, as the oh
jects of government favoritism, so glarnl
an injustice, that the latter half of Roach
ism has thus far remained failure. The
last congress, however, veered so far toward,
ROachism as to place 100000 at the dis
pOsal of the Postmaster Ger eril, to be so dis
trbuted in his discretion among American
ship owners os he might find expedient to
improve the ocean mail service. The ap-
was no sooner made than five
Of our leading steamship companies put in
a demand for these 100000 to be divided
among themselves, But Postmaster Gen.
eral Villas demurred. He was authorz d
to expend the money only as a means to
'mprore the ocean mail service, and it re-
NAMED to be seen whether this could be
lone only by distributing the money in the
way demanded. To force him to a decis-
on in their favor, the five steamship compa,
hes in question notified him that after
certain date they would refuse to carry the
oreign malls Of the government at the old
ates. Then Mr.. Villas took look into
he condition and possibilities of the ser.
ice and he soon found that 1t could be
Materially improved by letting the five
In question slide. For example,
instead of depending upon the Havana
teamers to carry the mail once week be-
ween New York and Cuba, Mr.. Villas
ound that the mail could be sent by land
} Key West and thence ninety mil"a by
'ater to Havana, not only in much shorter
me, but at so much less cost, that two
lails week can be sent by the new route
n the same money that was paid the
eamshlp company for one mail week.
lie found substantially the same in refer.
nee to the other routes covered by the five
companies In question. In fact
lere were numerous other American
lines-not less than ten-cover
Y Central America, both coasts of MeXi- |
}, Brazil and the La Plata ports and the
andwich Islands, all of which readily &C
,pted the terms offered by the Post Office
apartment, to all points covered by the
'evious service of the kicking steamship
and instead of demanding the
lge rates hitherto paid those companies,
ably accept the Postmaster Generals Of
r as their only compensation the land and
can postage on the matter actually car.
ed.
The outcome must go far to be the death
Roachism. The subsidy business, al
ays odlous to the people, will be more 80
an ever Instead of subsidies congress
III take the wiser course to make ships
ID the raw material entering into their
and the supplies needed for
cir equipment duty free. That is the
lie and only way to give healthful i'm
tus to our shipping business. Subsidies
9 like crutches; they may help invalids
hobble about, but they are useless to
althy man.
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Cor MoRRIsON The Washington cor.