The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1901-01-11
WASHING'F0N LETTER.
THE SHIPPING BILL WILL NOT
eco OVER"


reconvened after the holiday recess, and
the work Of getting legislation through
before March is under full swing.
The senate is up to it's ears in the con-
sideration of the army reorganization
bill, and, despite the statements to the
contrary, it is assured of an early vote.
In the house the subject of reappor-
tionment is occupying attention as l
write, and hullabaloo is being raised
by the representatives from certain
sections of the south lest the disfran-
chised voters be eliminated from con-
sideration in the fixing of the number
of male inhabitants over p years OF
age actually entitled to vote as the
basis of representation in future con-
crosses. Enough has already transpired
in this connection to show that the
fears of the disfranchisers are thor
oughly aroused.
The impression has gone abroad that
the action of the senate in supplantln2
the shipping bill as unfinished business
with the army reorganization bill
places the former in the category of
bills that are likely Ito go over" and
which means to fail for the lack OF
consideration. The impression is quite
erroneous. The flibustering that goes
on now is and can only be directed
against the army bill, and it will be
impossible for any one to assert that
it is in order to defeat the shipping bill
that the flibustering tactics are being
reSorted to in the senate. BY the time
the friends of the army reorganization
bill have had good full dose Oh I'LL
clustering they will be in no mood to
encourage further display OF II in op-
position to other important legislation.
Since Senator Hanna has DlOssomed
out as an orator and a contributor to
magazines he has been overwhelmed
with letters of congratulation, OF adj
vice, and many contain stray bits OF
valuable information. 1t was my priv
ilege to be permitted to go over one
days batch of letters he received bear
ing on the shipping subject, and some
of them We're very interesting. one
man, for instance, from Oregon writes
him as follows in part: The press
seems to have gone DAFT on the subject
of tramp steamships, as though no
other class of vessels carried cargoeS.
You probably know, but seemingly
many newspaper editors do not, that
it is the regular line ships which build
up trade, not tramps, the latter merely
times. You are on the right track in
legiSlating SO as 10 establish direct
lines of steamships to the ports OF the
world. They are the vessels that build
up nations trade.
Another, a Democratic eX-member of
congress from Georgia, writes him as
follows, in part: And it is upon this
point THAT providing for the admission
of certain foreign built vessels owned
by Americana that l think the bill is
SO liberal. We in the south Lave be-
ieved that if foreign built vessels were
placed under American registry we
could as nation do much to solve the
shipping problem We have thought,
too, that their admission would force
our home builders to reduce their
prices. But l saw very clearly in the
Fifty-third congress that no such bill
had even a ghost of show of passing.
l happen to know that nearly as many
Democrats opposed it as Republicans,
and l don't think this sentiment has
changed. But your bill lets in, as l
understand, 100000 or 100000 tons Of
foreign built ships on condition that
their owners build new tonnage in
our home yards as great as that admit
ted. This is a stroke of genius, and if
Democrats reject this chance TO get
partial free ship bill it seems 10 me
they will never get another You may
make such use of this letter as you care
to-"
Strangely, in the same mail and
from the north-right in New England,
too-comes strong expression of hos
tility ''to letting any foreign built
ships under our flag, much less to any
subsidy, so long as we have shipbuild-
ing material and builders to put it
together in ships the equal of the best
the world over" But this writer fur
ther says: what | hope most to see
result from subsidy bill is the con-
struction Of ships of the very highest
speed, capable of outstanding any,
thing else afioat. These are the kind
Of ships we need and just as many of
them as we can get. Don't be inf1u-
enced by the clamor for 'tramps. This
is not country where tramps' are
welcome. We want something more re-
spectacle and more useful. One has
but to go back to the Spanish-Ameri-
can war and remember the Invaluable
services Of the swift steamships of our
only line in the Atlantic trade to be
able to realize the superior value Of
the very swiftest ships"
Senator Hannas characteristic re-
mark after reading over these sug-
gestions was that they indicated that
the object lessons Of the Spanish
American war were by no means lost
upon our intelligent citizens, and that
patriotism is still far above partisan
ship with vast majority of our peo-
pie. j. B. ACRES.