The Saint Paul globe., 1900-02-07
to tramp ships who do the great bulk OF
ocean carrying. and who are the regula-
tors OF carrying charges on sea-
NOT II NM ID vrAIIr I,rr

70 ramp SHIPS who do the great bulk OF
| tors of carrying charges on sea-
NOT HANNA-PAYNE BILL
We are opposed to the Hanna-Payne
pill, because it will give at once to those
| pig ocean liners the bulk of the s9,OOO,OOO
| speed and capacity clause without any
| guarantee that one ton Of extra export
trade would be added to that we have
already. 1t looks to us as If this s90OO,0OO
| was to be bait that would be absorbed
! by that per cent Of our commerce for
the trade already ours on the Atlantic.
| we desire to encourage small ships as
| well as large ones to be built, and do not
want to give. a monopoly ofssuch building
to large building plants, but to increase
| the competition thus established to regu-
! late the iron and steel trust in their sui
cidal policy of increasing the cost to
build those vessels to point that drives
them out of the country to be built Gas
/ IT has done In a case that l know and
thus kill the goose that lays the golden
We are intensely in earnest that some
legislation shall be enacted at once in
| the interest of agriculture which has not
had one line of legislation that seeks to
advance its interests except where it was
| done by advancing some other interest
We have determined In this case that
| we will make the interest of agriculture
| given to US. to achieve this object we
are content to permit other interests that
| have received long and generous and
| thorough tariffs and bounties to share
with us any advance they can secure by
| advancing the interests of agriculture.
have advanced these ideas before the
National Alliance and Industrial union
and the national council, two years since,
| In Washington, D. G..
The National Farmers Alliance and
Industrial union has had this matter be-
! fore their national and state conventions
for the past two years, and have been
| unanimous In advocating the extension
of our markets in the Orient. and also
| subsidizing our American ships to aid in
extending our foreign markets In the Pa
| ciflc ocean.
TURN TO THE ORIENT.
To sell wb hour to Europe, at
| selves. TG >opean markets with
| iron and cotton goods Is to
! fly in the tune, to carry Goals
| to Newca Iron and steel men
and the cot n mill man should turn
America, where they should measure sue
! cess not by the amount of goods they
sell. but the share they get away from
or In proportion to European sales. AS
| long as we sell to Europe, Europe will
carry the goods, unless we subsidize at
an enormous expense, as proposed by
the Hanna-Payne bill. But once shift
/ our vision from admiration to hustlfng
and very moderate subsidy. based upon
! actual freight carried, will serve to put
| the bulk Of our ocean freights under the
| flag Of the republic, and the traffic itself
will yield larger returns. Subsidize our
! ships according to the tons of goods car
ried out and we shall soon have a mer-
| chant marine that will carry the broom
| American railways now do in the way of
1 internal commerce. Freights carried
that Is the true test of the value Of the
| vessel to It's flag.
Ask the owner of the vessel II he has
an agent abroad. If he has. Is he alive.
is he doing business? Those are the
questions that the subsidy bill should ask
of every vessel master. II he comes in
with cargo of tropical fruits or flbers,
or rubber. will he hustle for a cargo of
steel and iron or cotton goods out? A
can get it without asking. But bridge
work. water pipe, steel rails. farm ma
! chinery-perhaps he may have to lie in
port ten days or week waiting to get
enough together to make a cargo. viii
| he wait, and will he hustle among the
I factors and agencies to secure such
load. or will he sneak off and try for
| competition with the English and Nor
wegian vessels that swarm in every har-
Dor? These are practical questions, tests
| of any ship subsidy bill that seeks to
make the ship responsible to the flag
Wheat and flour cargoes to Europe are
| but species of prodigality and should
| not be subsidized any more than small
Shipments of machinery to Africa by way
| Of English subsidized lines from Liverpool
/ or London. Subsidize the freight carrier,
| the barge If necessary, at the same time
that the needs of the navy are cared for,
! and let the
| RICH TRAVELLER PAY
| for his own trappings and luxury, and
the expensive trade of Europe pay its
| own losses. Who can tell to what height
| the American iron and steel man may
carry his production, now that he has
the most courageous Of ali Americans,
| and knows how to finance. how to or
| ganize. how to handle men, how to pro-
| duce statesmanship; but he is yet to
| learn that his best market Is not in Eu-
| rope, and that he must Join hands with
| the cotton goods maker and search the
| interiors of Asia, South America and Af-
| RIGA for his most profitable markets.
For our national government to take
| some substantial steps in the direction of
restoration of our merchant marine, will
be regarded by all intelligent farmers as
of vital force and Importance. The enact
ment of some measure which will help
us out Of our present hazardous situation
represents one Of the grayest. as well as
one of the most urgent needs of the
country at this time.
The relative proportion of our foreign
| carrying commerce done today. and that
done in the early days of our national
existence and during the periods follow
ing, while our merchant marine was be-
ing protected and maintained by nation
less than 10 per cent of our foreign carry
ing commerce. and foreigners do 80 per
cent or over 1t for us. From 1889 to 1926
we did oyer 80 pc. cent of that carrying
for ourselves. and foreigners did less than
10 per cent of 1t for us. Down to 1860
we maintained an approach to the same
proportion; but for nigh forty years our
shipping interests have been neglected,
and the inevitable result presents itself
to view.
We have not been without warnings of
that result. Thomas Jefferson, while Sec
retary of state under President WASH
ington. referring to this subject, spoke
some pregnant words. 1t would not be
permissible in the time at command
thing approaching completeness.
Those who, many of them unconscious
ly, are doing the work of foreign ship
owners, are fond of telling us that our
cruisers of the Confederacy. Have the
cruisers of the Confederacy, too, exclud-
cd us from the sea in the intervening
thirty-four or five years? The War Of
1872 was fought against the greatest nav
al power In the world then and now. Did
1t result in driving our shipping COM
merce from the seas? Did 1t affect that
commerce fnJurfously in the slightest
ton? Not at all. AS before, so after
that war we protected our shipping COM
merce by judicious national legislation.
of our Civil war Since that time we
have left our shipbuilders and merchants
in foreign trade to shift for themselves,
and the result we see in the fact that the
American flag. except when now seen
on one Of our war vessels. Is a stranger
in every port Of the commercial world
FOR CONGRESS TO ACT.
The responsibility must rest on con-
gress, II relief Is not afforded during It's
present session. Those who offer oppo-
sition to any reasonable provision address,
ed to the restoration of our merchant
marine will take grave responsibility