The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-02-06
THE SHIP SUBSIDY BILL.
The Cost az Shipbuflding in the
United States and Abroad.

bdtlOu, lHSlSAS that ldDOT ana lllh-
chinery is more effective. from the fact
that it is conducted on a Wholesale, as
distinguished from the retail scale, upon
which American shipyards are conducted:
and at page % of his last annual report
he gives a table showing that in 1899 Great
Britain produced 1,341.00 tons of steel
shipping and the United States 100, 600
tons.
The force of his argument is broken by
the fact, shown by his table at page 10.
that of the thirty largest shipyards in the
world the Cramps is second in the list,
and larger than any in Great Britain
that the Newport News Company's yard
is sixth and surpassed by but one in Ire
land and one in England; while the Union
Iron Works of San Francisco and the
American ShiPbuilding Company of Cleve-
land are included in the first twelve;
America has already one-third of the
largest shipyards in existence and is so
adding to them that in shipyards which
may be truly considered Wholesale
within two years she will lead the world.
Indeed. year ago Senator Frye himself
admitted Senate Hearings, p. p that c.
p Huntington's yards at Newport News
were probably the finest shipyards in the
world" And Mr.. Chamberlain himself
selects the fourth in size Of American
shipyards for the following explanation:
In point of cost. promptitude of deliy-
cry, and adaptability to the special trade,
steel steamship building on the Great
Lakes at the present time is not sur
passed by shipbuilding in any other part
Of the world. 1t does not, however, come
into competition with the shipping Of for
eign nations. and while source OF
strength to the United States 1t is not yet
a factor in any effort We may make for a
share of the ocean-carrying trade"
After Mr.. Chamberlain had written the
words thus quoted. but before they had
been printed for Congress. he had HIM
self passed favorably upon the status for
American registry of class of 1900 ton
vessels which the American Shipbutlding
Company. Mr.. Hanna's home concern. IA
miliarly known as the Great Lakes Snip
building Trust" had already arranged TO
build on the lakes for the ocean trade.
It's organ, the Marine Review" of Cleve-
land, is naturally booming the Subsidy
bill.
The force of Mr. Chamberlain's re-
peatcd suggestions as to successful lines
that they have built under suhsidy-is
most decidedly broken by his admission
at page 2S of his annual report, Two
steamships, each of 10000 gross tens
larger than any steamships now in eX-
sstence. have been contracted for by the
Great Northern Railroad to be launched
during the fiscal year 1902, designed f-r
direct trade between Puget Sound. China
and Japan. These vessels, OF thirteen
knots. will not be eligible for mail sub
sidy under the act Of 1891. They are m
first ocean steel steamships ordered in The
United States exclusively for direct com
petition without subsidy with foreign
vessels" especially when, from Mr.. Fill
the President of the Great Northern
Railroad, we learn why these ships-ihe
most important venture ever under taken
for our export trade-weTe ordered in
America instead Of abroad
I'VE can build ships in this country. y
says MIR. Hill. las well and as cheaply
as they can be built anywhere in the
world Now, had figures within the last
year furnished from the best builders
on the Clyde, and figures from as good
builders as there are in this coun ry, and
to my utter Amusement the American fig
ures on single ship were GS0,G90 to
e1O0. coo under the best Clyde builders
and when we get the ship subsidy that e
promised, see how happy We shall be
IL.aughter.1
90 They have set apart 80 pei
cent of the subsidy appropriation for the
Pacific Ocean. No doubt some of my
friends thought they were serving me. and
in a money sense perhaps they were. but
/ would much rather see them take the
duty off the plates that are to go into
the ships when they are built"
But it is Mr.. Chamberlain himself
who on this point. finally stops his OWL
mouth For at page IL and elsewhere in
his report he mentions the Hamburg
American Steamship Company as first in
the world in Importance and enterprise
with its Sis, 900 tonnage of shipping. ave
raging $500 tons to the vessel: which has
been built up without subsidies, and Is
recorded by Mr. Chamberlain as paying
better dividends than its great subsidized
rival.
Most amusing is Mr.. Chamberlain off
hand demonstration that ship construc-
tion is more expensive here than in Great
Britain. 1t is as follows tpage 80 of his
reporD:
THE price in July, at the beginning OF
the current fiscal year, OF a steel cargo
steamship of 300 gross tons. 8 "a knots
speed. carrying $500 tons of cargo. in
Guiding bunker Goals (Pleiades or Hy-
adesD, was $275.0 600 in the United States
and S214 600 in Great Britain" And re-
ferring to the instance just noted:
"As illustrating the relationship OF the
cost of steel plates to the total cost OF
an ocean steamship, it may be noted that
in July, when plates were selling here at
S2S per ton, and in Great Britain at $40. Sc
the owners of the two vessels just named
invited bids for the construction of a
new vessel identical with the Hyades
The American bid was s275.OO and the
British e4400O (s2l4 000) The cost OF
the material entering into the hull of the
American vessel would have been $50, COO
and of the British vessel $50, zoe. leaving
fer labor, machinery. profit etc, S2l2,-
600 in the case of the American and s134,
900 in the case of the British vessel, or
an excess cost of the American vessel
excluding hull material. OF SIS 00G."
But at the late meeting of the American
Society of Naval Architects and Marine
Engineers. all parties agreed that III,
labor on the steel work construction cos
about the same in Great Britain as in this
country; and Mr.. Babcock proved. from
the figures of Mr.. Dickie. the other ex
pert, that the labor cost of a pull
freighter could not be over 3 to per cen
more in Great Britain than in America
Mr. Chamberlain's figures evidently Lee
examination.
In the first place he compares the bid
of American with British shipyards. at
time when ine idtleT were Only uOlUl
their normal work, and the former wer,
so filled with orders here as practically t
be unable to contract for more
Again, the coincidence is most rnfo
tunate that Mr.. Chamberlain selected To-
his comparison just that sort of a ship
"a knot tramp steamer just below III,
tonnage a 900 tons) that he himself USE
as the dividing line between large anC
small ships-that ten years ago Grea
Britain built in job lots: that was thel
the standard for the carrying trade tia
VAR in tho futura will jo Iacc N