Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1901-04-18
CITY OFFICIAL PAPER.
THURSDAY. APRIL Is, 1901
SUBSIDY AND FACTS.

The best exposure OF the snip subsidy
bill. which Senator Hanna SO strenously
endeavored to bulldoze through the last
congress, that we have yet seen appeared
in the editorial columns of the Oregonian
last week. 1t so pithily disposes OF the
arguments advanced by, what the Ore
gonian APPLY terms, the "producers of
misleading literature" that we repro
duce it below:
"The Seattle acknowledgements is
either profoundly ignorant of the funda-
mental principles OF ocean commerce or
its blind desire to jump at the crack of
the party whip is leading it into maze
of misrepresentation regarding the mat
ter. 1t mentions the Oregonian as
opposed to "the proposal to rehabilitate
the rapidly declining American merchant
marine by system of bounties.' The
term ''rapidly declining has strange
meaning when Government statistics for
the past year show that the United
States led all other countries but Great
Britain in the output of commercial
vessels. The marvellous growth OF the
German merchant marine, which was
the immediate cause of the Post Intelli-
gencer's display OF ignorance, fell far be-
hind that of the United States last year,
and even poor, old France, which is pay
ing the most liberal subsidies that were
ever granted to shipping, did not turn
out one-half the amount Of tonnage that
went into the water from American
yards. The figures for the three countries
were as follows: United States, 35S ,557
tons Germany, 26O, 271 tons, and France,
65,34S tons. Never in the history of the
American Government has there been
such activity in shipbuilding as there is
at the present time. The reason for this
is thus set forth by the Post Intelligencer
in the following editorial comment
which appeared in that paper March %:
This country has now reached the
stage in industrial development when it
can produce the material which enters
into the building Of ships more cheaply
than it can be produced in Great Britain.
American ship plates were exported to
the Clyde during the shipbuilding boom
OF last year in large quantities. When
American skill in organization and in
substitution of machinery for hand labor
reaches the development in shipbuilding
that it has in other industrial arts, ships
can be laid down cheaper here than in
any country on earth.
In that paragraph the Post-Intelli-
gencer makes the most powerful argu-
ment that could be presented against the
payment OF subsidies to the trusts that
seek to control the shipping of the
country. 1t is the fact that "ships can
be laid down cheaper here than in any
country on earth" that induced James
j. Hill, OF the Great Northern, to let the
contract for his big Pacific liners to an
American yard, alth ough he invited bids
from all Of the big builders OF the world.
1t is this fact that induced John d.
Spreckcls to let the contract for three
million-dollar steamships to an American
yard. This matter OF cheap material
and better work shows results in the
recent launching at an American yard Of
the Korea, the largest steamship ever
built in the United States. No power
under heaven can stop the building up
of the American merchant marine so
long as shipping property is paying such
enormous dividends as it is paying at the
present time.
The Pacific Coast organ Of the subsidy
graftcrs accuses The Orcgonian Of
attempting to disguise the fact that
most Of the growth OF American shipping
is in the protected coastwisc trade. 1t
will probably be news to the ost-lntclli-
gcncer to learn that at no time in the
past four years have the ''protccted"
coasting vessels paid anywhere near as