Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1901-02-28
Our Congressman Favors the
Princ ciple; Extending Pro-
tee tion to Ocean Trade.
A CLEAR AND CON-
CISE STATEMENT,
Insists, However, the Present Bill is
too F avOrable to Fast Ships.==A
. Letter Worth Reading.
WASHINGTON, D. c., Feb. II, 1901

| WASHINGTON, D. c., Feb. II, 1901.
Editor Fergus Falls Journal:
Judging from the number of let
ters | b ave received from my consti-
tuents in the Seventh district and
particula larly from Otter Tail county
in regard d to the "Ship Subsidy Bill',
[ have come to the conclusion that it
is the paramount" question at the
present time in our part of the state.
Some of these letters urge me in the
strongest terms to support the meas
ure, an d others with equal vehem-
ence as sure me that if do support
such an ''iniquitous'' measure that
not only my own political future but
also tha at of the party will not be
worth a rush. As it is absolutely i'm
| possible for me to answer all the
commun nications 1 receive on this
subject and do any other business,
I have concluded to make a public
stateme mt through the columns of
your pa per in regard to my position
on this matter.
l am strongly in favor of "subsi-
dizing" Or offering a bounty or pre-
MUM to American ships that trans
port ou productions to foreign mar
kets. It is the only branch Of bust
ness that is not protected by the
nationa 1 government. It is simply
extendi ng the principal of protection
-whic b is one of the fundamental
principle les of the Republican party
to the s ca as we'll as the land.
| If 1 were to put $500,000 into a
manufa acturing plant, the general
govern rnent would throw around me
the protection of the tariff and cut off
foreign competition.
can not conceive of a business that
Nigh t engage in in which I would
not be protected except the shipping
business, but the moment I put my
money into ships and they are
launch ed into the sea I must enter
into competition with those of every
other q alton in the world. Americans
must build better ships, hire better
class IT sailors, pay them higher
wages, furnish them with better
quarters than any other nation and
hence it follows they cannot compete
with t hem in freight rates without
nationa II aid for not only does it cost
them l ess to run their ships but the
merchant marine of almost every mar
atime nation in the world, except ours,
are subsidized in some form or other.
Ever y day in the year we are pay
ing for reigners or foreign ship owners
$5OO,OOO for transporting American
productions and American manufac-
lures to foreign countries or more
than $l62, ,0O0,0 900 each year and when
we take into account the sums for
building the ships, the wages of
sailors and everything in connection
therew with the total sum staggers the
imagin nation. Non-partisan experts,
who have figured this matter out
careful lily inform us that since 1880,
we ha We paid out in this way more
than enough to run the government
during that time. I believe that if
by the expenditure of ten million dol
lars a year for series of years we
could succeed in having all our pro-
duction ns transported abroad in Amer
ican 8 hips, it would be the best in
vestment that this nation ever made
and I believe that this sum could be
cut of from the ''River and Harbor
Bill" annually without any detriment
to the national interests whatever,
and I will certainly vigorously sup
port q subsidy bill if one is offered
that meets my approval and it will be
a matter of indifference to me whether
such 2 measure would be popular q
not. ! believe when man IS sent 70