The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1901-01-09
RESORT TO A TRICK.
ENEMIES OF THE SHIPPING BILL
BECOMING ALARMED.
Take Steps to Prevent Passage of the
Measure byInflaming the Public Mind
Against It-Great Foreign Steamship
Lobby Present in Washington.

circulated concerning the merchant
marine revival bill, and most of which
are alleged to originate in Washington,
indicate anything at all, it is that the
enemies of that measure are alarmed,
and are taking steps to prevent its
passage by the old trick of inf1aming
the public mind against it. Not day
passes but an alleged special from
Washington is published in this or that
newspaper-and it may be said with
truth that The great dailies in New
York seem to be worked more often
and at greater length than any others
which dispatches predict the failure Of
the shipping bill.
The fact that the administration
well known here, is never alluded to
in the dispatches referred to. The fact
that the great leaders on the Republi-
can side in each branch of Congress
have all expressed themselves as deter
mined to do their utmost to pass that
bill scarcely ever appears in type. The
/ presence in Washington of a great
lobby, representing the foreign steam
| ship lines, finds no space in the Oppo-
sition newspapers, nor is the peculiar
work that these lobbyists do pointed
out, as it should be, for the information
| of the people at large. These kinds of
tactics may succeed for while, and
| the people may be fooled by them, but
| it can't last forever.
Here is a measure that has been
| favorably reported for passage to the
Senate and to the House by the proper
committees in two successive Con-
crosses. 1t has. been under consider
| alton for over three years in public
way, and has been discussed from one
| end of the country to the other It's
| provisions are well known; it has been
Endorsed by State legislatures, by
| chambers of commerce, boards of
trade, agricultural organizations and
| other representative associations. 1t
has been Endorsed by political cOnyen-
| tions and by industrial conventions.
Nearly three hundred, different Organi-
cations, many of which are representa-
tive of the greatest industrial and COM
mercial interests of the country, have
petitiOned Congress to pass it, and
| Congress is right on the eve of doing
| so, when opposition, instigated by the
foreign interests nIenaced by the bill,
appears i'll Washington determined to
| defeat it. d
But the people will not stand for this
thing. 1t is very clear that the public
| are determined to see American ships
| succeed to portion-a majority por-
ton, too-Of our foreign carrying The
idea of paying to foreign shipowners
each year as much as we collect at
| all of our custom houses, the idea of
| having paid during the past generation
to foreign ship owners twice as. much
as the sum of our natienal debt at the
close of our civil wars is. becoming in
tolerable to the. people. This sort of
thing, they see, e indefinitely defer
ring the time sWARaethe United States
shall become creditor, and cease to
be debtor, nation. Nothing but
American interests, they see, will be
advanced if the bill passes-only GER
| tain foreign interests will be injured
if it passes. This is sort Of situation
| that will become so clear to the people
| that they will be very apt to manifest
| their diSpleaSure in a drastic manner,
| if Congress again adjOurns without
enacting Legislation that will start the
country ON the way of building up it's
| oh In +1n do
The producers of the country have
seen where they will be benefited
| through the enactment of shipping
bill. They have been shown that Amer
| lean ships will only be able to secure
the carrying of exports from the Unit
ed States, now enjoyed by foreign
ships, by a reduction in the rates of
ocean freight No one will be willing
to give an American ship a larger
amount of freight money for carrying
away our exports than a foreign ship
will be willing to carry it for, and the
passage of measure of this kind, it is
seen, will raise up rivals to the foreign
lines that now mOnOpolize our export
carrying, and which charge us practi-
cally what they like for it. 1t was
clearly pointed out by Senator Frye, in
his great speech in the Senate that
there would be an average cut of %
per cent in the cost of carrying our ex-
ports and imports, as soon as the meas
ure then and now pending got into
good working form. Such a reduction,
in the saving in freight rates alone, he
pointed out, would amount to $50,00O-
900 year, so enormous is the annual
sum now paid for our foreign carrying
TO save such a sum, by sending our
exports abroad in our own ships, and
to give to our own people the employ
ment that comes from the expenditure
in the United States Ofthe whole $780,
100000 a year now paid for ocean
freight transportation, is a pretty big
undertaking, and naturally the opposi-
ton will be fierce on the part of those
WHO now enjoy that carrying and the
enormous enrichment that follows
therefrom. But that is precisely what