The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-07
TO TRY AGAIN FOR BOUNTY.
Mr.. Frye Not willing to Give Up the
ship Subsidy scheme.

snip subsidy scheme.
Senator Frye was asked yesterday II he
had given up the fight for the Ship Sub
sidy bill.
II certainly have not he replied. and
never Will surrender until legislation
has been enacted to restore our flag
the oceans of the world. We are magnifi-
cent in everything else, but occupy m -.
wretched and Illuminating position in this
regard
"A vote on the Shipping bill at this SEES
sion was prevented by deliberate fill
clustering on the part of six or eight Of
the opposition 1t commenced immediate
iy after the bill was made unfinished busi-
ness. Two or three weeks were spent Ia
discussing the Hay-Pauncefcte Treaty.
Two or three more on the Army Reorgan-
iZation bill. Indeed. time was purposeIy
consumed on every bill. including all the
Appropriation bill. until within the last
few days of the session. This made it alb
soluteiy impossible to secure a vote
1T did one othe-' thing somewhat I'M
fortunate. While l had an opportunity to
open the discussion on the measure, and
Senator Hanna to make his speech, when
| it became evident to its friends that there
was a determination to prevent any vote
| they could not discuss it lest their use
of the time might assist the opposition.
This resulted in misstatements of all kinds
in relation to the measure going to the
country without any reply. Vituperation
on the part of the opposition took the
place of argument, and bitter denuncia-
| ton the place of statesman-like debate.
| fully intended to close the debate with
an answer to all this. but the opportunity
was lost. AS presiding officer of the Sen
e,afI Ar1 lola ifG rtez
and make speech on shipping when
other measures were under consideration
Il would like to call attention to rev
of the propositions made against the bill
and the mistaken statements. Senator
Turner, in a speech. found by hgureS
which he gave that the cost or the first
year, if this bill should become law,
would be over sl1.0OO,UJJ, a mistake of at
| least five millions. In one statement he
| named vessels aggregating over 15S, 90
tons which he said would earn SlttI,HS
subsidy: He admitted that ne did nov
know their speed or trade, yet he might
have found the speed in the report of the
Commissioner of Navigation for 1870.
LAS a matter of fact, these vessels
would earn, as shown by what they uid
in 1899 sl543S Senator Turner's error
was 81, 6i6.S9S. He included in this state
ment three wooden steamboats, drawing
about three fet Of water which run from
ST. Michaels up the Yukon River. and yet
he had them making voyages from New
York to Southampton He also included
all of the vessels that run daily between
EaStport and St Johns, between Key
West and Havana, between Puget Sound
and Victoria. practically mere ferries.
II hose ale fair samples of many of the
statements made, and not contradfcted
at the time for the reasons given. An
other thing i am reminded OF. There
seemed to be a desire to make a 3ome-
what furious attack on our American
Line between New York and Southampton
1t was asserted over and over again by
several of the Senators that its ships were
perfectly useless as carriers Of freight,
that the subsidy to be paid them was a
mere present, when. as matter OF fact,
! these four ships last year carried over
SO. 900 .0O1 worth of exports from The
United States to foreign ports exclusive
of specie and mails. Each one, as shown
in the custom house, carried on each trip
about S444 00J and over in value OF exports.
A slow cargo steamer of practically the
same size as either one of these ships.
could carry 1865 tons of wheat which
would be worth about $500 So the
fast steamers of the American Line ac-
tually carried 1854 600 more in value OF
exports per voyage than the slow steam
ers of the same size could possibly have
carried had they been fully loaded.
Another thing. 10 per cent of the
ers was farm products, largely in con-
centrated form. like butter, cheese. and
OTHER Dairy products, also fresh meats.
canned fruits and meats and periashable
fruits. The export trade in California
fruits is largely dependent upon these fast
steamers. which alone enable them to
reach Europe in marke table condition
while fast ships will carry this class
of freights-the iowtr powered vessels
must carry wheat. corn, Coal-at much
lower rates. The bill encourages the lat
ter by larger boIntieS IN proportion 10 the
cost of operating.
Il regret exceedingly that l could not
secure an. opportunity to reply to the
statements made by the opponents of
;,,.x IaKr0 No nf
my vacation to a careful consideration of
this subject. and to be prepared, very
early in the next session of Congress. to
bring to the attention of the Committee
on Commerce a measure which. in my
Judgment will restore our flag to the
oceans of the world.