The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-01-27
SHIPS VERSUS JOBS.

SHIPS VERSUS JOBS.
We were the sailors of the world. Our
flag was in every port; our ships swept
every sea- The Yankee tar was the ruler
Of the waves, and the marvel of the mari
time world. The American merchant
passenger-carr:er of the Atlantic and Pa
cifc and the waters connecting The
standing of the nations on the high seas
was: The United States, first; the Uni ed
Kingdom, second.
When was that? 1t was during the first
half century-yes, the first seventy years
of the American republic. 1t was from
1870 down to 1860. 1t was until the United
States government took it upon Itself to
destroy American shipping by destructive
tariff and navigation laws. It was down
to the time when congress thought it
more important to put through a few
| jobs in the supposed interest of New
England shipping companies and ship
| builders, than to maintain free, indie
pendent and tourishing American mer-
chant marine.
Congress in Washington, through the
per. onal efforts of Senators Marcus A.
Hanna and Frye, of Maine, is now en-
| deavoring to pass an act to ''rehabiIi-
tate" our merchant marine. But what is
| it proposed to do? To wipe out legisla-
ton that destroyed our shipping and ere
|
| legislate still fatter jobs for yet more
select few. 1t is proposed to give heavy
subsidies to a handful of concerns that
need neither subsidies nor government
aid of any other kind The proposition is
simply to expand and intensity, the evils
| that already exist. In place of free ships
for the nation, the bill proposes free jobs
| for coterie Of gigantic combines.
Senator Vest, in his eloquent address
on Wednesday, charged that the chair
man of the committee OF shipping con-
Germs promoting the bill was president
| of a company which would reap nearly
| one-fourth Of the entire volume of sub
! sidy. The total estimated subsidy for
the proposed twenty-five years life Of
the bill is $1S6OO0,OOO, of which one con-
Germ will get s42, OO,OOO A second COM
pany will get $55OOOO year for two yes
sells it is now building. And a third poor
emaciated infant that needs government
aid to build vessels to haul its own prod
uct is the Standard Oil company, whose
stock is quoted at $50 and whose divi-
dends now aggregate $50, 900, coo per an
mum. 1t is significant, that when Sena-
| tor Vest finished his expose of the bill
he was warmly congratulated by numer-
Gus senators on both sides of the cham
ber
During forty years of class legislation,
of which the proposed subsidy bill is a
vicious type, American shipping has de-
! clined from a tonnage of 5,299, IFS in 1850
to 4,S64, 2SS in 1892 During the same Pc
Rod British tonnage has grown from
| 100000 in 1860 to Il 900. 900 in 1899.
But four-ffths of the tonnage we pos
sess is after ali simply engaged in a
coastwise. trade, and only one-fifth in the
worlds commerce. During the year 1900
| our coastwise tonnage was 100000; and
that engaged in foreign trade, in carry
ing our exports and imports to and from
the markets of the world, was only $780,
0O0 What a showing for a great nation
that now boasts itself ''world-powerI"
| And of the SO00O0 tonnage engaged In
| do +lav Ia 900 nn
was steam, and 10000, or nearly co per
cent, consisted of sailing vessels, barges
and what-not.
The odious comparison between Great
Britain and the United States, therefore,
stands thus: Great Britain, Is, 600, Goa
tonnage, fully one-half steam, and prac-
tically all engaged in the worlds gen
eral trade; and the United States, $780,
600 tonnage, of which one-fifth is engaged
in foreign trade, and over half of that
consisting of sailing vessels and barges
leaving a paltry tonnage of $50, O0O OF
steam tonnage to represent 75,O0O0 900 peo-
pie in the worlds carrying trade.
Consider for moment a great nation
|
per cent of its own imports and ex-
ports and having to pay the ships of for
eign lands for carrying 50 per cent of
its own products. What kind OF bust
ness, what kind of patriotism, is that?
Take the carrying of our exports for
the month of December, for example.
In December. 1898, our exports were
$135, 900, of which American bottoms
carried only s5,SOO,OcO, or tribe over 4
per cent, while foreign ships carried
s12S, 100000, or over twenty times as much.
! In December, 1899, our exports were $i21.-
100000, of which American ships carried
$4,000, or less than per cent, while