New-York tribune., 1900-12-29
HANNA WRITES ON SHIPPING.
HIS FIRST MAGAZINE ARTICLE ADyO-
GATES PASSAGE OF SUBSIDY BILL.

Boston. Dec. 2s (speciaD-Senator Marcus A.
Hanna contributes article The Revival OF
American Shipping 70 "The National Magazine.
of Boston. for January 1t is the first article he
has ever published in any periodical. and a sum
mary indicates that his enthusiasm and confidence
in the Ship Subsidy bill have not abated He says
in part:
Forty years ago this Nation contested with Great
Britain for supremacy upon the sea In those days
and before railroads had gridironed the country.
1t was to the transportation upon the that our
6n 6Sxe cSange S % W fa pfs al
our ships came the advent of railroads. trans
busiy and proftably employed in those colossal
undertakings, so that we were indifferent to the
lack of opportunity for profitable investment i'm
ships in the foreign trade Just the reverse was the
ain. There was neither opportunity nor necessity
for railroad building there that here. The cost
of running ships under the American flag has been
computed at between 80 and 10 per cent higher than
the cost of running foreign built ships 1t is due
to the higher wages paid to American officers and
seamen and fremen. and to the better quality and
larger quantity of food furnished them The value
of the ships that built in the United States
and the value of the men who man them, to our
Navy in time of trouble in itself will than
compensate the United States Government-the
American people-for all the money they expend in
inducing our citizens to build and to ships un
yides compensation the rates fixed in the bill
for period of not to exceed twenty years and at
no time shall the sum go expended exceed in any
one year 100000. AS soon as enough vessels come
into existence ABSORB all this sum- IN any one
year. each additional ship thereafter built draws
from the others in existence pro rata share in the
compensation sufficient to give the latter size and
speed being equal. the compensa ton that the
others receive. 1t Is not intended to encourage
Americans to buy foreign built ships; it is in
tended to encourage them to buy only American
built ships If the American people can be brought
to understand the need and value of American
mercantile marine to the Nation then the bill now
1t se pPoSdes for it's aeeompsheP BY
what is considered by those who have studied the
question for years be the only plan that will
practically and quickly establish American ships
upon the high seas. This result, 1t cannot be said
too emphatically, will entirely fail Of accomplish
ment unless there is a very substantial reduction
in the freight charged for the carrying of
imports and exports. only by reducing rates
can American ships expect to wrest any of the
carrying from their foreign competitors There can
be monopoly of any route by any line class
of ships. Every route is open to any American ship
that chooses to enter Ii. Any American may build
that type of ship that he believes will be most ad-
vantageous to him, under the terms Of the bill.
The pending shipping bill is equitable. honest,
scientifically drawn automatically adjustable meas
ure, destined to place the American flag once more
upon the to the material benefit of all the
American people. The effect of such accomplish
ment in perfecting the defences Of the Nation will
be worth each year the entire cost of the opera
ton of the measure during its entire life.