Washington sentinel., 1901-02-23
AN INTERESTING COMPARISON.
British versus American subsidies

British Versus American Subsidies.
In the report Of the commissioner of
navigation for the year 1900 we dnd
that the steamships OF the Cunard and
White Star lines received from the
British government for the y months
ending March 81, 1900, as mail SUBJ
sidy SJJ2. .29O and as admiralty subven-
tions the sum Of S223, ,SGG-iu all, $776,-
1856. There were Is of these ships.
-Four of them are 20 knot vessels, and
three others maintain a speed Of above
2l knots. Their total tonnage is $780,
556, and they made 100 trips from New
York to Liverpool
on page 1913 Of this report we find an
estimate of the subsidy that would
have been received by the four Ameri-
can vessels Of the International Navi-
cation company for trips actually made
during the u months ending Dec. 81,
1899. had the proposed Hanna-Payne
bill been in operation. The total SUBJ
sidy Of these four ships under the SEN
ate bill is there estimated to be S1,117,-
667. The total tonnage is 44,6OO None
Of them is over a p knot vessel, and
they made but 10 trips from New York
to Southampton.
Comparing subsidy with subsidy, we
find that the proposition Of the Hanna
Payne bill is for us to pay to four ships
of the International Navigation COM
pany over so per cent more subsidy
than Is paid by the British government
for both mail pay and admiralty sub
ventions to 13 ships with three times
the gross tonnage and making more
than twice as many trips.
British American line.
Toaasss F1%ss5 or ...... 'aip',.,,.,. lao5s5 aooo
Number Of trips maie.,.- 100 45
Aggregate Tonnage .....,. l,03S,5i1 5Os,958
Subsidy Cmnil and other) s776,156 sl.n7,66T
Subsidy, per ton,-......,. rs 81 20
That is to say, the senate subsidy bill
provides for the payment Of subsidy at
the rate of three times the amount per
gross ton paid by England for both
mail pay and admiralty subsidies.
Nor is that the worst Of it. For these
four ships Of the American line are so
much slower than the four fastest ships
Of the Cunard and White Star lines
that in order to get our mails carried
in anything like proper time we were
obliged, in spite Of our already too lib
eral mail subsidy 10 the American line,
TO have a large part Of our mail car
ried by the ships Of these two British
lines - which was done at a cost Of
S233. .541.75
To get an idea of the way the pro-
posed subsidy to the American line
compares with the cost Of sending the
mails by other lines one has only to
glance at the following statement COM
piled from the report Of the superin-
tendent Of foreign mails for the fiscal
year 1900:
White Star and
American line. Cunari lines
Letters carried, grams..., 72,6l1.OOO 1jl,265,529
Printed matter carried,
grams ..............-.. 752,72s,773 oO7A6 ,537
Total, grams ..,.......,. b25aa9,1I3 l,O5s 'S2Od8
Compensation ,,.......,,- %54lrZls s233,54l
proposed SUBSIDY .s...-t, rl,Llirbol
Yet the average time made by the
four ships Of the American line be-
tween New York and London was
1S3 1-3 hours, while that made by the
four best ships of the two British lines
was 174l4 hours.
In other words, we are already pay
ing the American line nearly three
times as much for carrying a part OF
our mails as we are paying the British
ships for carrying a much larger por-
ton and in quicker time. And In the
face Of this it is proposed to double
the subsidy OF the American line.
The Pull That Moves the Monkey