Morris tribune., 1901-01-19
Their Importance in the Transpor-
tation Of Perishab1e
Products
UNFOUNDED OPPOSITION 70 SUBSIDIES.
Value of Ocean Flyers to the Gov
eminent In Time of Peace or War
build Up the Nations Ocean
Trade and Augment Its Naval
Power
Especial Correspondence.l

Washington IL. C., Jan. 10. =
Considerable opposition to the payment
of subsidies to swift American steamship
has developed in the press of the country
The statement has been widely circulated
that these ships merely carry passenger
abroad to spend American money, and tt
bring back wines and silks for luxurious cit
liens, and that such ships, SO employed, are
| of no help to American commerce. What
is wanted, these opponents declare, is car
go carriers, the low-powered steamships
that take cargoes wherever they offer, and
carry them wherever they are consigned
regardless of established Lines. And these
are the ships, they go on and assert, that
have given Great Britain her preeminence
as a maritime power.
All this sounds plausible, and somewhat
logical, and, if not analysed by those hav-
ing knowledge of the facts, helps to create
an unfavorable and hurtful sentiment to-
ward the shipping bill now pending in
congress which properly considers swift
steamships, as we'll as slow ones As mat
| ter of fact, the swift steamships carry those
products from the United States that are
the most valuable, and, in many cases, the
most perishable. Were it not for the fast
steamship California fruits - growing
business could not be exported to Europe;
with them, the expectation of Pacific coast
fruits steadily grows and prospers. All
kinds of dressed meats, ham, bacon, lard
and an infinite variety of agricultural or
farm products, that have gone through va
rious stages of manufacture are sent abroad
in swift ships.
Swift ships carry the mails; and it is es-
sential that the mails be carried with the
utmost rapidity. Invariably swift ships are
parts of regularly established lines, and
they make regular and frequent voyages to
and from their terminal points. The swift
er, the greater, the more powerful the ships,
the more profitable their use is to their re-
spective terminal coun tries but the truth
is the less remun erative they all are to their
owners. They carry the most expensive
cargoes that go both ways, the manufac-
lures upon which labor and skill have been
expended, and which return the largest
sums to their producers.
But these are the ships, the large, pow
erful, swift ocean flyers, that are mQst use
full to the nation in TIME of war They are
at once available as carriers of important
dispatches, in cases where celebrity is of the
utmost importance; they are useful as allx-
liary cruisers, they can be quickly trans
formed into cruisers and then prey upon
and destroy the eneny's commerce; they
can act as scouts for fleets, and keep them
informed regarding the movements Of the
enemy, keeping in touch with the enemy
and eluding capture through their swift
ness. This was well illustrated by the four
great ships of the only American line in the
transatlantic trade, during our war with
Spain. They were steaming at full speed
between 500 and 900 miles day, far out
upon the Atlantic, keeping watch for
Spain's cruisers, ready to report them to the
flying squadron at Hampton Roads. 1t was
this scouting work, SO effectively done,
that compelled Spain to send Cervera far
to the south, when but for them Cervera
might have threatened if not seriously and
irreparably injured our great Atlantic and
Gulf seaports.
The swift steamships are the nearest ct
tainment to the ideal, the contamination Of
the highest hopes of the artists engaged in
their construction, at once an effective dem
onstration of mans best handiwork, and at
the same time an invaluable aid to the ma
ton when most in need of aid. Such ships
are the final outgrowth of regularly estab-
lshed lines where a trade has been built
up at great expense, after many years of
faithful effort, and through service that is
thorough, complete and attractive. They
are the best of their kind and nation whose
people fail to appreciate them does not
grasp the full significance nor the full value
of sea power.
The so-called tramp steamships, the YES
sells that carry cargoes wherever destined,
are merely the carriers of the surplus car
goes that accumulate after harvesting, or at
exceptional times, when the regular lines
are overcrowded. But it is the regular lines
that build up nations trade-never the |
they often do it for years at a |
loss, until they are thoroughly established |
and have accumulated a paying business.
And Britain's sea power lies in her great |
lines, not in her "tramps."
UIf the agents of foreign steamships are |
working to defeat the pending |
shipping bill-as is being said all over the
ntry-congress should be warned. The |
American people are not in the mood to see
legislation helpful to great American in
dustry defeated in the interest of foreign |
ers.
DCongress is not, of course, deliberately |
to injure any foreign interests.
But If the latter happens to monopollze any
great American industry, as they do the
carrying of our imports and exports, and
congress in legislating to promote this in.
dustry in the United States does hurt for
eign interests, that is mere incident, not
the objective.
EyIf the foreign steamship lines are
spending money lavishly to defeat the ship
ping bill now pending in congress, as is as
serted in Washington press dispatches, it
must be that the bill in question would hurt
The foreign ships 1t that be so, it must fol-
low that it would help American ships. Con-
gress should not be slow to follow this ar
yument to it's logical conclusion.
EyCongress, as body, canaet escape its
obligations to the American people in the
matter of providing legislation for the re
vival of our shipping in the foreign trade,
BY saying that this or that bill is not just
perfect. The people elect congress to leg
slate in the interest Of the American peo-
,le and they have no time to study all the
Ietails Results count
EyMembers Of congress cannot be any
more concerned to keep at home and cir
,ulating among American workingmen and
men the 5000, DOC, 900 now annually
deano;r~, II orwraT,e Fnr doirxr ny1vp /