Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-01-28

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dustries. has been largely lifted from the
materials for shipbuilding The brains
and mechanical ability which defy compe-
tition in making railroad locomotives and
cars. agricultural machines and imple-
ments, electrical appliances and dyna-
mos, musical instruments, and the long
list of manufactured goods which she ex-
ported last year to the value of five hun
dred million dollars in round numbers,
should be able to compete successfully In
shipbuilding when aided by the over
whelming advantages of the cheapest
materials, as they do. The greatest anc
worst obstacle threatening American ship
yards is the exaction of the steel trusts,
corporations and combinations in demand
ing more from American than from Brit
ish yards for the indispensable material,
and this unpatriotic discrimination a re-
cent amendment of the bill will rivet
upon the back of the American ship
builder, to-wit, "All fittings and machin-
cry forming a part of the construction of
vessels built in the United States under
the provisions of this act shall be of
American manufacture, provided they can
be obtained in this country
Mr.. George w. Dickie, a we'll known
marine architect, after inspecting the
principal British shipyards, states in a
paper published in the Scientific Ameri-
can, December 18th last, THE tariff on
steel plates and shapes makes 1t possible
for us to find the British shipbuilder
working into his ships American steel
from Pittsburg at a less cost to him than
the English material and at lest cost
ol,o Il,
for the same material in Pittsburg If
the American steel manufacturer can
meet the British steel manufacturer on
equal terms in the British shipyard, some
how it seems as if it might be possible
for the American shipbuilder to get his
steel material as cheap as the British
shpbuilder gets his. This is all that
possibly can advance on this part of my
subject AS the duty on steel of this
character is not a protective measure,
and cannot possibly produce revenue. it
should not be maintained to render wild
fluctuations in prices possible How
significant is the concluding sentence of
his article: Perhaps the subject touches
too closely the business interests of those
of our members best qualified to discuss
it, and on that account we may not get
as free a discussion of it as would other
wise be the case
2 AS to running ships.
Only $40 per cent. of our foreign COM
merce is now carried in American ships,
cry the Commissioner of Navigation and
other advocates of the ship subsidy But
another portion is carried in vessels owned
and run by Americans, American ships
in everything but the name and flag, be-
cause being foreign built they are debar-
red from American registry. The govern
ment reports give no statistics of this
shipping, but a safe estimate would put
1t at enough to carry six per cent. of our
ocean commerce, making fifteen per cent
borne by American-owned ships This
fact would seem to seriously weaken the
second prop of the subsidy. If Ameri-
can ships cost so much more to run, as
is claimed, how is it that so many are
actually running enough to carry one
sixth of our foreign commerce, and more
building? We may find if we look a
little closer, that the difference in cost
of operating is more apparent than real
and that the reason that American ship
ping has not more successfully competed
with foreign is because Americans have
found business that paid better.
PROFESSIONALLY our laws require our
ships to be better found, our sailors to
be better fed, and their welfare better
guarded than foreign laws require for
their marine, and a somewhat heavier
expense is thereby thrown upon the
American shipmaster than falls on his
foreign rival, but it is only a small per-
centage of the whole cost of maintenance
and operation, and so far as it leads to a
superior class of sailors, it is actually an
advantage instead of a burden. 1t is
claimed, too, that wages on American
vessels are much higher than on foreign
But all sailors have to compete together
in common, worldwide labor market
which regulates their wages. The Amer
lean sailor has no advantage in it, and
1t is owing to the competition of low paid
foreign sailors that he has so nearly
abandoned the element upon which he
once led all the others. In those glorious
days when American built ships sailed
by American born crews thronged every
sea, and American shipping was exceed
ed in amount only by the British. while
it excelled them and all others in speed.
safety and beauty, there was a much
greater difference in wages in favor of
the foreigner than now exists but the
superior skill and daring of American sea-