The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1901-02-07
SWIFT AMERICAN SHIPS.
Their Importance in the Transpor-
tation Of Perishable
Products.
uNF0UADED OPPOSITION TO SUBSIDIES.
Value of Ocean Flyers to the Cow
ernment In Time OF Peace or War
build Up the Nations Ocean
Trade and Augment Its Naval
Power.
Especial Correspondence.l

Washington, D. c.. Jan. 16.
Considerable opposition to the payment
of subsidies to swift American steamships
has developed in the press of the country.
The statement has been widely circulated
that these ships merely carry passengers
abroad to spend American money, and to
bring back wines and silks for luxurious cit
izens. and that such ships, so employed, are
of no help to American commerce. What
is wanted, these opponents declare, is car
60 carriers, the low-powered steamships
that take cargoes wherever they offer, and
carry them wherever they are consigned,
regardless of established lines. And these
are the ships, they 60 on and assert, that
have given Great Britain her preeminence
as maritime power.
All this sounds plausible, and somewhat
logical, and, if not analyzed by those hav.
ing knowledge of the facts, helps to create
an unfavorable and hurtful sentiment to-
ward the shipping bill now pending in
congress which properly considers swift
steamships as well as slow ones. As mat
ter of fact, the swift steamships carry those
products from the United States that are
the most valuable, and, in many cases, the
most perishable. Were it not for the fast
steamship California fruits growing
business--coud not be exported to Europe;
with them, the expectation of Pacific coast
fruits steadily grows and prospers. All
kinds of dressed meats, ham, bacon, lard
and an infinite variety of agricultural or
farm products, that have gone through va.
rious stages of manufacture are sent abroad
in swift ships.
Swift ships carry the mails; and it is es-
sental that the mails be carried with the
utmost rapidity. Invaria bly, swift ships are
parts Of regularly established lines, and
they make regular and frequent voyages to
and from their terminal points. The swift
er, the greater, the more powerful the ships,
the more profitable their use is to their re-
spective terminal countries, but the truth
is the less remunerative they all are to their
owners. They carry the most expensive
cargoes that go both ways, the manufac
lures upon which labor and skill have been
expended, and which return the largest
sums to their producers.
But these are the ships, the large, pow.
erful, swift ocean flyers, that are most USE
full to the nation in time of war. They are
at once available as carriers Of important
dispatches, in cases where celerity is of the
utmost Importance; they are useful as aux
llldlJ u lHeJ CdH Uc QulShiy SLouS.
formed into cruisers and then prey upon
and destroy the enemy's commerce; they
can act as scouts for fleets, and keep them
informed regarding the movements of the
enemy, keeping in touch with the enemy
and eluding capture through their swift
ness. This was we'll illustrated by the four
great ships of the only American line in the
transatlantic trade, during our war with
Spain. They were steaming at full speed
between 500 and 600 miles day, far out
upon the Atlantic, keeping watch for
SPANS cruisers, ready to report them to the
flying squadron at Hampton Roads. It was
this scouting work, SO effectively done,
that compelled Spain to send Cervera far
to the south, when but for them Cervera
might have threatened if not seriously and
irreparably injured our great Atlantic and
Gulf seaports.
The swift steamships are the nearest at
tainment to the ideal, the consu1nmation of
the highest hopes of the artists engaged in
their construction, at once an effective dem
onstration of mans best handiwork, and at
the same time an invaluable aid to the ma
tion when most in need Of aid. Such ships
are the final outgrowth Of regularly estab.
lished lines where trade has been built
dL 5ledL C$pCuoe, dlLtE ythlS III
faithful effort, and through service that is
thorough, complete and attractive. They
are the best of their kind and a nation whose
people fail to appreciate them does not
grasp the full significance nor the full value
of sea power
The so-called tramp steamships, the yes.
sells that carry cargoes wherever destined,
are merely the carriers of the surplus car
goes that accumulate after harvesting, or at
exceptional times, when the regular lines
are overcrowied- But it is the regular lines
that build up q nations trade-never the
tramps-and they often do it for years at a
loss, until they are thoroughly established
and have accumulated a paying business.
And Britaip's sea power lies in her great
steamship liaes, not in her cramps"
DIf the agents of foreign steamships are
deliberately working to defeat the pending
shipping b.ll-as is being said all over the
CONTINGENCIES should be warned. The
American people are not in the mood to see
legislation helpful to great American in.
dustry defeated in the interest of foreign.
ers.
UConGress is not, of course, deliberately
conspiring to injure any foreign interests.
But if the latter happens to monopolize any
great American industry, as they do the
carrying of our imports and exports, and
congress in legislatng to promote this in
dustry in the United States does hurt for
eign interests, that is mere incident, not
the objective.
DIf the foreign steamship lines are
spending money lavishly to defeat the ship.
ping bill now pending in congress, as s as
serted in Washington press dispatches, it
must be that the bill in question would hurt
the foreign ships. 1t that be SO, it must fol.
low that it would help American ships. Con-
gress should not be slow to follow this ar.
gument to its logical conclusion
DCongress, as body, cannot escape its
obligations to the American people in the
matter of providing legislation for the re-.
yival of our shipping in the foreign trade,
by saying that this or that bill is not Just
perfect. The people elect congress to leg
islate in the interest of the American peo-
pie and they have no time to study all the
details. Results count.
UMembers of congress cannot be any
more concerned to keep at home and cir
culating among American workingmen and
business men the $2OO,0O0,0O now annually
paid to foreign ship owners for doing our
foreign carrying than the people are them
selves. What the people expect 10 that this
sentiment will find expression in an ef.
6ectiYe statute before adjournment.