The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-10-07
SHIPS ARB NEEDED
Continued From First Pare

Continued From First Pare.
employed in bringing forth the material
out Of which the steel Is made that is
used In the construction Of the half bill
non collars worth of ships that do our
foreign carrying? How many shiploads
ana carloads of coal and ore do you SUD-
pose our domestic vessels and our rail-
roads could have moved to the iron mills
IL We constructed our own ships? When
you get back to your farms this Is worth
figuring out and thinking about And
now many luen In the blast furnaces and
the rolling mills do you suppose could be
employed in making the shapes used In
the construction of ships? Again, how
large portion Of our domestic trans
portatlon agencies do you suppose would
be required TO bring that finished material
10 the sn1pyards upon our seaboard
ana then, how many men do YOU suppose
could have been employed in our ship
yards In the construction of these ships
LID you ever think Of that? Just think
now, and think hard about what il
means.
HoW many men would be employed in
the United States with the 500, 900 600 we
annually pay to foreign shipowuers? If
they earned an average of $500 a year, 1t
would mean the employment of a quarter
OF a million men; 1t would mean the
maintenance of million and a quarter
OF our people! But it would not stop in
the nrst employment of such a number;
lie money, II paid to our own people,
would be turning over and over again.
going from hand to hand, from EMPLOYER
10 employee, from employee to merchant.
from merchant to manufacturer and
larfnef, and back again, endlessly, from
employer to employee, to merchant, to
farmer, and to manufa cturer.
FOREIGNERS REAP REWARD.
But that 5000, 100000 is sent abroad
every year. and is spent in other conn
lrles, instead of in our own; 1t Is. as an
eminent member of the British narlia-
nlent said, an astonishing evidence of our
inherent national strength to he ab1e +o
stand such fearful drain for so long r.
is the mines, the mills, the domestic
transportation agencies. the shipyards. of
otlier countries that reap all of this re-
ward Waro, VINO enjoy this employment and
us accompanying prosperity. 1t is their
employers and employees their mer-
chants, their farmers and manufacturers
WHO earn that money, over and over
again And all this, while our miners and
our transportation agencies, our mill and
Sb1pyard workers. our r,ercbants o,,r
farmers and our manufacturers aro
denied the opportunity to enioy the nroso
perlty That would surely follow the con.
slfuctioh OF cur own ships in our own
country, out of our own native materials
IN our own shiryards, and by the hands
Oh cur oW people.
ADDITIONAL MARKETS
Every man that is employed in tbe
mines, or on the railroads. or In Tho al
ing mills, OF the shipyards Of the United
States provides market for the nrod-
ucts or American farms, and helms on.
hHhce the general prosperity of the farm
efs. Every time a new industry - oc
tablished in the United stafes 30 es-
home market is provided for the nrod,,at
VI american fa1ms-and In this very al
d rect way the retention in the TInitad
states OF the $500, 0G0, 900 now annuaI1v 49,
70 Iorelsn sh1powners by the Amarioon
people VIII mean that considerahIe 40,
tloh Oh tkat colossal sum will And -,
way lnto the pockets of the Amerioo,,
farmers. <hinetlcsti
FARMERS INTERESTED
III Will be evident, from this, that the
farmers Of the United States ba1o '"e
most substantial interest in on -,
Ian-ouiit merchant marine Three-ouar
VI our entire exports are the nro-
,1uoas, ~ our farms. In quantities the
ooA Ae1I Ills IndC
ed comprise fully one-half of orr 80
foreign commerce. L have shown Ta,,
now the farmers are directly ,ntoos.
IN the construction of Amerioo, 81
shlps, In the number of peonle wbose
employment makes them consumers -
American farm products. IT will he 49,,
iectly OBVIOUS that our farmers arc eIso
deeply interested and directly intares+ed
III the cost OF sending their surplus pro-
ducts abroad P0' VI -
If the transportation service is NOV
80 ioi me- iiore cheapiy by the foreign ship
1t might seem equally obvious that n
was to the interest of our farmers ~
nave them do so. But let us examjne
that: If substantial quantity of Amari-
can-bu1lt ships are put upon the 500 m
enter into competition with the foreien
ships now doing the business of carrvine,
our imports and exports there is sure to
De considerable reduction in the cost
of transportation, as result of that
competition.
SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
I'm a speech delivered by Senator FRYE
last spring, hs stated that on the so. OO0.-
600 net tons of our imports and exports
the average rate of freight was 81 per
ton, al the world over, making a total
Of $500, 900 a year paid for freights
alone, to say nothing of the passenger
and mail business. 1t was Senator Frye's
conviction that If this nation would sub
sidize It's shipping for a few years. to the
amount Of say $10,0O0.000 dollars a year a.
reduction of % per cent In the cost Of
ocean transportation would follow, and
that this would effect a saving to our
people ten times as great as the ex-
penditure our government would be
obliged to make to secure the construc-
ton of the needed Amerfcan-built ships
Even If only 20 cents a ton should be
saved through the competition, such a
subsidy, If paid by our government from
taxes collected from the people, would
go back into the peoples pockets in the
savings effected But that would not be
ALL The construction of a large Ameri-
can-buit merchant marine would soon
have the effect Of reducing the construc-
ton cost of the ships, and it would not
be necessary then for the ships to earn
as much in freights as when the cost
Of chips was higher.
ECONOMIES ASSURED.
s'To build up a large American ship
ping would unquestionably lead to econ
onies In construction that would be ben