The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-12-11
THE SHIP SUBSIDY STEAL.

TILT MOST PERNICIOUS and typical example of
class legislation, the ship subsidy bin, has again
5een Introduced in congress It's author, Senator
Frye Of Maize has amended it in certain particulars
but although 1t Is somewha5 smaller steal this car
st is Just as much larceny it If the Frye
bill passes and there IS reason to believe 1t wll IN view
of PresidcD- Roosevelts recommendation that some
thing be done to encourage American shipbuildng, IT
VIII mean aggregate outlay OF something hike b-
lion dollars daring the life Of the measure
VIII the people of the United States get value re-
ceived for this appalling outlay. The answer cannot
fail to be negative one VIII jhe money return to the
pockets from which it comes There Is no possibility
of such en- occurrence, directly indirectly The
money which Senator Frye proposes to pay out IN sub
sides viii 90 into the Golfers OF steamship com
panies big and little and the general public Will IN no
way be benefited By the colossal fraud
1t has been argued that the development OF the
American merchant marine viii increase the foreign
markets of this country that thereby home manufac-
lures VIII be stimulated and the wage-earner given
more profitable and steadier employment The PROPOSE
ton is absurd its face. Without single cent OF ship
subsidy the export trade of the United States has gone
forward by millions upon millions OF dollars every year
Wherever the market has been found, and many of
them have been discovered and opened up there and
has been no difficulty in Transporting the goods.
Unaided and unstmulated by government funds
the ship wards of the United States are today crowded
TO their utmost capacity. The infant industry has
reached the stage where it is amply able TO pay full
fare Long since it passed of the adding clothes
period and good reason can be advanced IN support
of returning to the bottle As matter of fact, our
foreign markets az growing almost fast as our
ability to supply them. If every ship yard in the coun-
try is kept busy for the next twenty years. the demand
viii still be unsuppied
As the point that small shpbuilders viii be bene-
flied by the subsidy law. 1t Is fact known to all that
the ships that would draw the bulk of the subsidy are
owned by giant corporations. These corporations are
already possessed of immense yards fitted with every
possible appliance fer perfect and speedy work Many
millions of dollars invested and the little fellows
are In no shape to compete with them,
The effect of the law therefore, viii be the taxation
of the whole people in order to enrich further few
corporations They say they cannot compete with
foreign merchant vessels for the that the latter
satisfied with smaller returns. With the subsidy
added they viii be able to make the rates. 1t Is
practically tariff tax of the most barefaced order.
A Conservative writer in the Review of Reviews
C5e6fs ~ ground vigorously when he says: "Ameri-
can Industrial and commercial life has changed so
much in the few years since Senator Frye began to
advocate his steamship subsidy measure that arguments
which might have lad much weight at that time are
relatively obsolete Within another five years an
American steamship trust may have decided to buy up
the principal steamship lines of the world and operate
them under the American flag This being the case
and American industry and commerce being at pres
nt the largest thcaries of the new economic meth
DDS and forces-why not be patient for year two
and see what further growth the American merchant
marine may have without gifts from the national
e ury