The daily critic., 1890-07-16
SHIPPING BILLS
ONLY ANOTHER SCHEME TO LOOT A
BARREN TREASURY.
Deficit as Large ne Possible. for tho
Advantage Of Persons or Glasses.

Advantage Of Persons or CLASSES.
t1ou nr rlVq7aplia Erauq 7.,elrrot
tin7'ptnHeat Republican,.
The Senate on Saturday passed both
Of Senator Frye's shipping bills. The
one gives a bounty to the American
owners Of American built ships. the
other provides for the payment on an
extraordinary liberal scale for the car
wing of the United states mails. The
now go to the House, which will
promptly pass them unless It stulufes
its thus far wholly consistent record OF
looting the Treasury for the benefit Of a
small class Of honest tradesmen That
IL is most unlikely TO do, as it must be
conceded that in taking the public
moneys Of the taxpayers for The
INCLUSIVE BENEFIT or INDtvIDUNLs
the House has been most consistent.
There were hopes, not great ones. en-
tcrtained by the wiser better class Of
Republicans that the Senate would pre-.
vent the contamination Of these wholly
indefensible raids up9n the Treasury.
which have been condemned in advance
by the merchants OF nearly every prin.
cipal port in the country; but this Con.
gress. having scattered the surplus. is
evidently also determined to make the
deficit as large as possible, and chiefly
for the advantage of persons or classes.
Those who depended upon the Senate
to stop the
LoOTtNG OF THE TREASURY
did not understand how entirely that
business was to be made the policy of
the majority Of both the House and
Senate. The latter has showed them
their mistake. Every American built
and owned vessel sail or steam, EN-.
ployed in the foreign trade IS to receive
from the National Treasury 10 cents a
ton for the first and second 500 miles
sailed, both outward and inward, aud
30 cents a ton for every mile sailed over
1000. This is to continue for ten
years, after which time the rate per ton
is to be % cents.
This is a subsidy or bounty bill pure
and simple, and there was No more
reason for its passage than there would
have been for the passage Of another
giving a bounty to every railway car, or
TO every cart or wheelbarrow going a
certain distance. In the case Of the
ships the bounty begins to run IL the
voyage is no longer than seventy miles
THE ALLEGED MOTIVE
for the bill is that Of restoring Amer.
can commerce 10 the seas The real
motive is that Of insuring certain profits
to ship builders and ship.owners who
want To embark, at the country's ex.
pcnsC, In the ocean. carrying trade. The
bill Is In absolute keeping with the
class coddling policy which has been so
Characteristic Of the present Congress,
and which has already exhausted the
surplus and prepared for a deficit which
will probably render necessary Senator
ingalls, proposed reimposilion of the
stamp and income taxes Of war times.
IL did not matter a whit TO the
JoBBING STATESMEN OF THE SENATE.
who had resolved 10 pass the Frye
bills, that the experiment Of granting
subsidies 10 American ocean going
ships, for the purpose Of restoring our
commerce on the high seas, had been
faithfully tried and had signally failed.
II was In vain that Senator Vest showed
that, between 1913 and 1873, the Gov.
ernment had given S2l ,000, 900 for the
same purpose without success. and
that after that great sum had been
paid 10
THE CoDDLED SHIP OWNERS,
the commerce was. In the language of
Senator Frye dead as a door nail. This
Is a Congress Of subsidy and bounty job
bers, and the Ship Subsidy bills are
only parts Of the policy Of looiing the
Treasury, a policy represented By the
Mckinley bill, the Dependent Pension
bill and the Silver bill which finally
vaaEra.R HI4 NInvsaa So
Ships that the Government keeps
Gtloat with bounty bladders are likely
10 continue 10 float; but why should the
whole country be taxed for these ship
subsidy bladdersy Why should ship
builders and ship owners OF silver mine
owners be given assured profits out of
the public Treasury, and not everybody
else as Welll Let Il be admitted that
the subsidies viii restore our commerce,
they are still indefensible, because tue
same desirable results would nave been
more quickly and certainly obtained by
the repeal of
OUR SUICIDAL EAYIGATION LAWS,
which prohibit American merchants
buying their ships In the cheaper mar
kets In which their successful rivals
buy theirs The American merchant
has never yet failed, If given an equal
chance with his competitors. Under
the navigation laws he has no chance.
They absolutely prohibit him going into
the shipping business as the owner Of
an American ship. Those who have
gone into II as the owners Of fOTeigs
ships, though denied the right Of an
American register, or to carry the
American flag, are competing success
fully with their alien rivals aud they
could and would, no doubt, drive them
largely from the foreign trade of the
United States, If they were allowed
FREE SHIPS,
which is an the advantage they ask for.
Mainly. Senator FTye's Ship Subsidy
bills are for the benefit Of shipbuiliers,
who are TO become shipoWneTs or The
mortgagOrs Of shipoWners. As the
Telegraph has SO often shown, not a
single ship has been built for the trans
atlantic trade for fifteen years, and not
a bali dozen for thirty five years. Not
a dollar Of capital is now invested in the
building Of ships for the transatlantic
trade, not a dollar Of wages paid 10 any
workman for building ships for it; bat
ID Is a trade which Congress proposes 10
create By insuring shipbuilders aud
ship0wneTs profits By paying their
profits out Of the Treasury.
THE POSTAL BOUNTY BILL
is of the same sort, being in degree only
less Objectionable ships should not
be paid bOunties for any service. They
should be- however most literally and
directly paid for carrying the mails
just as steam ears and Stage coaches
are paid for carrying the mails inland.