Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1901-01-03
HANNA ON THE SHIPPING BILL

Senator Hanna surprised the senate
the other day by the ability he displayed
as a speaker when he led the debate in
favor of the shipping bill. Now he has
taken up the pen in favor of that meas
ure, and he yields a trenchant one. In
the last issue of the National Magazine
he has an article upon the revival of the
American merchant marine, and in clos
ing it says
The value of the ships that are built
in the United States ana the value of
the men who man them, to our navy, in
time of trouble. in itself will more than
compensate the United States govern
ment-the American people-for all the
money they eXpend in inducing our ctl-
zens to build and to run ships under the
provisions of this bill
Then, again, the bill provides extra
compensation based up on larger size
and greater speed. This extra COM
pcnsation is provided in order to offset
the subsidies and bountes paid by for
eign governments to foreign ships, that
will be in competition with American
ships in our foreign trade.
1t is true that the ships of the great
/ est speed are most useful to the nation
in time of trouble as was amply proven
during the Spanish war. when the four
fleet ships of the American line on the
picket line of the Atlantic searched for
the dreaded CerVera fleet, and after To-
eating it. swiftly bore the news to the
American sQuadrons waiting to engage
them. 1t was the knowledge that the
Spanish government had of the Impress
ment of these swift American steam
ships that prevented Spain from send
ing CerVera to any of our Atlantic sea-
ports, but that compelled our enemy at
that time to send his ships far to the
south.
The value of the four fast ships of the
American line during the short-lived
war With Spain cannot be computed in
4 dollars and cents. The value of the
ships themselves was as nothing to the
security their presence upon the picket
! line gave to the business interests of
! the nation during that period of dread
suspense. To have similar ships to
/ these built hereafter, the bill must make
/ such provision as will safeguard owners
against loss in their operation.
This is not question of benefiting
this or that ship owner, or this or that
corporation-it is a question merely of
benefiting the United States as ma
ton. The benefit to the individual or
the corporation that builds the ship and
runs it is mere incidental very ne
cessary incident-but an incident never
theless. to the accomplishment of that
which makes for the better safety of the
United States in the place where of all
places it is most weak. Let us strike
from the bill the provision that insures
to the. nation the construction of swift
. ships. always at the command of our
government. and we deprive the nation
Of one of the most essential and potent
weapons of auxiliary national defence.
Aside from the provision encOura ging
the vessels engaged in our fisheries. and
the American citizens who man them, to
continue in and expand in their hazard
Gus deep sea employment. the chief pro-
visions of the bill have been here pre-
scented. stripped of the bothersome feat
ur of statistical detail. 1t should be said
that the bill provides compensation at
the rates fixed in the bill for period of