The times., 1899-11-20

lean shipyards produced only 213. 000 gross
tons of ocean steamships. while in the same
period German yards turned out $50 600
gross tons and British yards 1850 600 gross
tons. The difference in the cost of con
structiOn and operation of American and
British vessels is considered in some de-
tail. 1t is also pointed out that of the 362
steamships Of IA knots or over now in ex-
istence in the world. over so per cent are
receiving in one form or another assest-
ance from the Governments to which they
belong, aggregating upward OF 500 600 600
This is deemed justification for the propo-
sition in the Frye bill TO give a distinct
allowance to American steamships of IA
knots or upward. Comparison is made at
length between these special rates under
! the bill with the eight principal ocean mail
| contracts, and il is shown that while the
! British mail contracts involve the annual
payment Of $500, 000, the payments under
this bill, designed as an Offset to the Brit
| ish payments for similar services with sim
liar vessels under the American flag would
be $3.50 GOO.
Mr.. Chamberln says the American lines
| which will be established under the bill,
however. 10 Asia and Australia will not be
compelled TO pay Suez Canal tolls, and the
| compensation proposed will thus be ade-
quate. Comparison is also made in detail
with the new North German Lloyd sub
sidy of 81. 800 COO, and it is shown that cor
| responding American steamships under this
bill would receive 81 .295, coo, though the
| cost of building and operating the German
steamships is much lower than the cor
| responding cost of American vessels.
Wages of American senmen.
Full official tables OF the wages on Amer
lean and British vessels are printed, and to
elucidate the conditions the monthly pay
roll of five steamships, each Of about $500
gross tons, is printed in full the Amer
ican Cherokees roll being 81 ,3S5 the Brit
ish Critics 1852 the German Connenburgs
$64G the Dutch Teutonic's S554, and the
Norwegian Fortuna S $511.
The report recommends moderate in
/ creases in the tonnage taxes equalizing
them with those imposed at the prime pal
European ports; fayors the passage of
bills applying the American laws relating
/ 10 commerce, navigation and merchant sea-
men to Hawaii and Porto Rico, thus bring
ing those islands under the coasting laws
of the country 1t is recommended that
I vessels owned by Cubans be placed by
law on an equality with vessels belonging
to the most favored nation. Under an ex-
isting statute it has been necessary to i'm
pose tonnage tax of 81 per gross ton
practically prohibitory- such vesss Is.
and this injustice both TO American and the
Cubans can be remedied only by legisla-
ton.
Under the White bill for the protection of
seamen, American sailors now enjoy a
larger degree Of personal liberty than ever
before and much more than the seamen of
any other nation, that law radically chang
ing the nature Of the seaman's agreement
Reports from shipping commissioners show
that the allotment sections have been Of
decided benefit to seamen and that efforts
TO break down these sections during the
spring aud early summer have failed. and
the law is in the main successfully en-
forced Attention is directed to the menace
TO navigation resulting from long tows Of
cCal b3Tgss along the Atlantic Coast, es-
pecially at New York. Boston. and other
important harbors, and Of large timber
RATS On the Pacific Coast, Besides the
usual tables the report contains a list Of
the worlds fast steamships and of Ameri-
can steamships registered for foreign trade
at the end OF the fiscal year. and tables
showing the distance between American
seaports and the principal ssap0rts of the
remainder of the world.