The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-02-05
Ghe Messen9er.


New England has been from b first
term OF George Washington to this
present year a pensioner upon the
bounty Of the whole people who have
been burdened by the government for
the benefit OF that section. Il was
early eager for navigation laws TO help
their carrying trade. It was character
istic and it has been fed and fostered
by the legislation OF the congress for
more than a century. Senator Vest In
his highly iauded speech in the senate
the other day said that there is not
a here before the senate or
the other branch Of congress in which
New England does not receive the
largest share of the government boun-
bill is pre-eminently "a New England
bill" The Chicago Tribune thinks the
senator mistaken. 1t says that should
that bill pass In its present form
New York and Pennsylvania individ-
uals and corporations viii be it's chief
be~neicia-ies. New England will gain
by tt The International Navigation
the RACINE 1ldli otcdIIkSIlIp
Company. the Pennsylvania Railroad,
the Standard Oil Company are not
New England corporations, but they
are the ones that viii get the largest
share of h government bounty"
New England viii be helped, but it
may not share with the states named
in the greatest benefits. Whoever
shares il is a most Infamous robber
thing that should be stamped to death.
If the congress dares to pass that bill
OF denominations then it will brand it
self Is unworthy, as corrupt. The bill
Is to be pressed. it is stated. to a con-
clusion. All other legislation, however
important. must stand aside until this
thievfng bill has a full hearing.
The advocates of the subsidy blood-
sucking scheme are awake to the i'm
portance of the speech of Senator Vest.
Hence their papers and speakers essay
to break the force and by misrep-
r~esentation in som particulars. For
instance, they say the Senator
tells his old story without varia-
ton. He has consistently for years
favored free ships. But in his last ar
gument against the wrong he discusses
the matter with amplitude of know
ledge and precision of statement. The
Messenger has already given the Opin-
Jon of informed men-one a great rail
road preSident-that ships can be built
as cheap or even cheaper in u coun-
try than in foreign countries. We
have given what President Hill of the
Great Northern Railroad said, and it
was given several weeks ago. The
Philadelphia Record, an able daily
well up in such questions. says:
Formerly when it was pleaded that
ships could not be built as cheaply in
this country as abroad, Or operated as
economically with American as with
foreign seamen, the facts seemed to
sustain such a contention. But this
did rot affect the argument against
the %iniquity, favoritism and eXtravar
gance of the subsidy scheme before
congress-. Now, however. an industrial
and commercial revolution has taken
place in the United States, and SEN
ator Vest has demonstrated from the
latest official data that ships a be
constructed and operated under the
American flag as cheaply as under any
other beneath the skies"
What Mr.. Hill said is worth citing
again-that he was now building two
great steamers ecaus he could do it
at home cheaper than he could have
it done abroad. Senator Vest did not
stop with the cheapness OF American
ships in construction, but considered the
S,NaoHN,,e r1oa Of tho SrrhSi6v CT GAL p1OnO-
ers that they were heIping to provide
AUXILIARY cruisers in time of war. 1t
Is all war you appropriations for
wars of our own seeking. Mr. Vest
says these ships would not avail. The
Record considering his argument says
that in case of war their chief concern
would be to escape capture by the
swift and heavily armed cruisers of
the enemy. On the other hand, should
a naval war arise in Europe, and
should the navigation laws of this
country be repealed, the senator said
tina rine-tenths of the merchant ships
of the b~elligerent would be for sale
10 the merchants OF this country at any
price they would bring"
The senator denied squarely that
Gread Britain paid subsidies within the
intent of the bill proposed, n he es-
tablished his contention with most
ample proof drawn from the report of
the commissioner of navigation in 1894.
1t is a fact that the merchant ships
that carry the great bulk Of British
and German commerce receive a
dollar of subsidy. In fact, the pio-
neers Of are the unsubsidiz-
ed merchant ships that ply between
ports into which the great subsidized
lines never enter.