The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-03-14

admiralty lawyer: the President Of the
Coastwise Steamship Association, the Sec
rotary Of the American Shipping League,
and the Secretary OF the New York Com
mission OF Commerce; the President OF the
great National Manufacturers Association,
whose object IL to promote our export
trade; and the United States Commits.
sioner of Navigation. Mr.. FRyE's idea was
that IL n committee representing such
varied and conflicting interests could agree
az to the bcs, way Of accomplishing the
general purpose desired by all, its decision
would have weight.
For his special knowledge Of statutory
and treaty law ex-senator EDMUSDs Of YER
mont was retained AZ the committees coun-
sci, and he has acted a. such.
Now, IL IL a fact that at the beginning OF
their Investigations and discussions a large
majority OF the committee believed either
In "A policy Of discriminating duties or in
bounties IN exported American products,
rather than in subsidies, but after the
question had been examined in every con-
ceivablc aspect this same committee was
unanimous or nearly unanimous in the
opinion that either the discriminating duty
or the bounty on exports was impracticable
and would prove ineffective. Tho reasons
for this definite conclusion may be summed
up briefly.
/. After an exhaustive examination OF our
commercial treaties with other nations Mr..
EpMUNDs reported the existence OF about
thirty separate conventions preventing this
Government from imposing discriminating
duties against the ships Of their respective
flags. We have made such treaties with
Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bolivia, Costa
Rica, Colombia, Denmark, the Dominican
Republic, Ecuador, France lin slightly diff
ferent form, Great Britain, Greece, Han.
over, the Hanseatic Republic, Hayti, Hol-
land, Honduras, Italy, Mecklenburg-
Schwerln, Mexico, Nicaragua, Norway,
Peru, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, Salvador
and Sweden. The first necessary step would
be to terminate all these treaties by the re.
quired notice Of one or two years, a proc
ess involving indefinite delay and the
absolute certainty OF retaliatory measures,
the unsettlement Of our commercial rela.
tons with almost tho whole world, and
consequently the REIMBURSEMENT OF our
entire tariff. No Congress in It's senses
would %inaugurate so revolutionary a pro.
ceedlng, with the knowledge that when the
treaties had been ~abrogatod and the dis.
eliminating duties imposed We should
only duplicate the experience of France,
which tr' ed this method about a quarter
Of a century ago and was forced in twelve
months to surrender by the retaliation
Immediately inflicted by every nation in
Europe. and by the United States,
.. There isthe same obstacle in the treaties
to the plan Of paying bounties on exports
in American vessels.
Such are the reasons why the committee
Of experts assembled by Senator FRYE, the
Senate Committee on Commerce, and the
House Committee on Merchant Marine and
Fisheries, have alike decided, after a thor
ough and impartial examination OF the
whole subject, that the feasible way Of
redeeming the implied promise Of the Re-
publican National platform to lcgislate for
the benefit Of American shipping is not by
the discriminating duty, or by the bounty
on exports, but by the subsidy.