Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-01-28
SHIP SUBSIDIES AND TRUSTS.
A Shipping Trust the Most Gigantic
and Dangerous of All the Trusts.

b L HAZARD STEW EMS.
The ship subsidy is urged by it's pro-
motors upon two grounds, l. that Amer
leans cannot build ships as cheaply as
foreigners, and, 2, cannot run them as
cheaply. Therefore, argue the subsidy
seekers, the government must pay the
difference in order Ito equalize the con-
ditions" and enable American shipping
to survive. A measure which at the
start proposes to take nine million dol
lars of public money a year for from
twenty to thirty years, aggregating $50
to 270 millions, and which, if it passes,
will inevitably prove but the entering
wedge for even more gigantic donations
from the treasury, should rest on solid
foundations, and it is worth while to ex-
anime the two grounds advanced in sup
port of this measure in the light of GER
tain we'll Known facts.
l. AS to shipbuilding.
American shipbuilders already defy for
eign competition.
Several years ago Mr.. Cramp, of the
great shipbuilding firm, in an article in
the North American Review, declared
1T is fact that '.irst cost of ships is not
only not prime factor, but it is not even
serious factor, in any competition that
may occur between this country and
Great Britain for share Of the tariff of
the ocean. If the current policy of naval
construction be pursued for another dec
AIDE Ito 1902, coupled with vigorous and
consistent execution of the measures al
ready enacted in behalf of the merchant
marine the question which forms the sub
ject of this paper will be asked no more;
unless indeed no
versed and Englishmen be asking one
another, Can we build ships as econom-
ically as they can in the United States?"
Said Mr.. Carnegie, in a speech at the
Lotus Club January q, 1900, Reference
has been made to the share l have in the
work of insuring for our country suprem-
acy in steel, a supremacy which obvious
ly carries with it supremacy in so many
different departments of industry, for
steel is the great foundation article on
which so many other articles rest The
cheapest steel means before long the
cheapest ships. So [ predict that
the future seat of shpbuiding is to be
found not on the shore of Britain, but
upon our Atlantic seaboard"
j. j. Hill, president of the Great North
ern Railway, asked bids from the prin-
cipal shipyards of the United States and
Great Britain, and found to his surprise
that the former offered the lowest bids
He therefore awarded the contract to
them, and they are now building several
large steamships for the Pacific trade.
two of 10000 tons each, without any SUBJ
sdy.
About 1850 men are now employed at
the Cramps shipyards, where are build
ing two Russian warships, two steamers
of 1900 tons each, two of 1000 each and
one of 5000, for American lines. Other
yards are crowded with business, and
new yards are being started
The Commissioner of Navigation in his
report of last October says that at the
present time upwards of fifty millions of
dollars and about thirty-eight thousand
men are engaged in the building of steel
steam vessels, aggregating 6S merchant
vessels of $50 tons, and AZ naval YES
sells of 1899 tons.
And why should not America build
ships the cheapest on earth? She has the
cheapest coal, iron and steel, and is send
ing millions of tons of them abroad. She
mas the cheapest and finest timber and
lumber fit for all purposes from heavy
structural work to the finest finish. The
The grievous burden of tariff "protec-