The age-herald., 1901-02-17

afford almost inexhaustible supplies of all the raw materials consumed in the con- struction of ships Southern steel is of such superior quality and of such a high standard of excellence as to absolutely insure It's Increased use for shipbuilding purposes.
 The manufacturing sections of the South will be benefited through the in- creased foreign markets that will be se- cured and retained through the operation of our own ships under our own flag New lines created. running directly, reg ularly, and frequently to ports not now having these facilities. will be sure 10 soon establish and thereafter maintain new and enlarging markets for the man. ufactured products of the South.
 l look forward confidently to the con struction of an isthmian canal dividing this continent. but I cannot conceive of such an aid to maritime commerce being constructed at vast government expense without the assurance that, simultaneous ly with Its construction, our own people. with our own ships, carrying our own products, will be able to use it to even a greater extent than any other and all other nations. The stimulus to the eX- portation of our products that will follow the construction of this great canal will hinge largely upon the extent to which we are equipped to avail ourselves of It. Lacking the ships of commerce, we shall lack vital element of success, an essen- tial and all-important link in the chain l do not believe we can secure that link by any ether policy than that of direct government aid for a period of years aid sufficient to enable our shipowners to successfully compete with the cheaper built, cheaper operated. subsidized and bountied ships of other nations.
 I shall not consume space In going into the details of the measure. Suffice 1t to say that the most compensation will go to the company or to the individual who puts the greatest number or the finest type of ships into operation. Certain types of ships are adapted to certain trades and routes. These will be built and put into operation wherever the op. portunity to establish a profitable trade soems to exist, and the support received from the government, in the form of the compensation provided will be in all cases the determining factor in the es- tabliShment of lines and in the construc- ton of ships adapted to trades and routes. If you are told that this or that line or corporation, now in existence. or in prospective, will secure the largest amount of this compensation, your own investigation will prove to you that the line or corporation will render the great est service. If the amount given to any ship or line Of ships seems to be too much, remember that it Is always open to any man commanding the necessary capital to duplicate the lines and ships on what seems to be the favored route, and to receive, proportionately to the ser vice rendered. precisely the same amount of compensation that Is paid to the other line. There Is no monopoly possible on the part of any existing or prospective lines. There is a limit to the annual eX- penditure, but no limit to the number or types of American ships that may share in 1t, and by this very provision undue favor is made impossible, because where the advantages seem to be greatest there the concentration of American ships will also be greatest, and the competition will through reduced freight rates inure to the advantage of all of the people.
 Much is being made of the fact that the bill provides for the admission to Ameri- can registry and to half subsidy of d couple of hundred thousand tons of for eign ships, built and building, for Ameri- can citizens But this tonnage to be so admitted receives nothing from the na- tional treasury until 1t has been dupli- cated in American shipyards, ton for ton, and the new ships actually put into oper- at.on. It docs not provide for an unllm- ited accession of foreign tonnage 10 American registry, but only of that actually built or building at about the