The age-herald., 1902-02-06

.-.. - -- - n s - = ticulars," continued the senator, q would have reference to the introductory lan- guage of the report on the ship subsidy bill. as made to the Senate by MT. Frye, which is to the effect that the purpose of this bill is and it's reasonable certain results will be within ten years to es- tablish the maritime supremacy of the United States in the trade of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea; to es- tablish a secure basis the trade be- tween the United States and the Repub- lies of South American, and to give the United States respectable representa- ton in the trade of the North Atlantic. Incidentally it will give to the United States an auxiliary navy second only to Great Britains; an ocean mail service superior to that of Great Britain, France or Germany in all respects--except for few years North Sea ports. It will so extend shipbuilding as to transfer in time certainty from Germany. and possibly from Great Britian, to the United States the center of that industry as the centers of other industries recently have been transferred. Finally, it will give to the United States a measure of maritime in- dependence corresponding to our indus trial and agricultural independence. This object and these results are perfectly well understood abroad and afford the reason why the measure is regarded with undis- guised apprehension and hostility by the shipping interest of Europe.
 Joe Cannon's Work.
 Joe Cannon, with his usual-his usual usualness. succeeded in the House in hay ing the former subsidy bill so amended in in the closing hours of the session as to defeat it. in that he had the allowance for the postal ships cut down to four dollars for each mile outward sailed, which with other amendments made it impossible of acceptance by the Senate, and there being no time for a conference of the two houses the bill failed.
 '"rhe present bill is an amendent of the act of Congress of 1891, "Fo provide for ocean mail service between the United States and foreign ports, and to promote commerce. The amendments of sections ?, 8, 1, and very slight, and then we come to our own section providing for general subsidy. as I have already relat- ed to you in part with reference to the hypothetical case of a steamship sailing from Savannah or Mobile. This section provides the rate of compensation and how it may be earned, and in the ma chinery of the proposed law.
 "The provision for deep-sea fisheries is that the owner of any vessel engaged in such fisheries for at least three months in edcn year Sndii DS Ddiu tWo uOildiS pSI gross ton each year. and each fisherman shall be paid one dollar a month during the time necessarily employed In the voy- ages of such vessel. This deep-sea fisher ies bounty is to encourage that industry which from the outbreak of the revolu- tion down to this day has furnished to the American navy more men than any other industry in our country, proport1onately considered.
 "As to the act of 1891 which we are seeking to amend and to add to, it is a fact of common knowledge that the nm ited provisions of that act failed utterly to establish American lines to Asia or to South America beyond the Caribbean sea It was of no avail in establishing line to Europe until Congress by special act admitted the Clyde-built steamers City of Paris and City of New York, the prop erty of the American Line from New York to Southampton, to registry in this country.
 "The failure of the act of 1891 had nothing to do with the principal involved, but was due entirely to errors in details These errors the present bill corrects in adjusting itself to the facts accumulated during ten years and to the changed and greatly enhanced conditions of our com merce
 Want Equal Showing.
 "The great point aimed at is to give the United States something like an equal showing with other countries There are men of capital, numerous such men, who are anxious to invest their money in ships, but they are too greatly handi- capped by the subsidized vessels of other countries and the greater cost of build ing vessels in this country. It costs in the United States $102 ton to build ocean, going ships, while in England the cost is only s76 The American seaman is paid $36 a month, while the British sea man receives $26 and the German $l7. Our bill proposes to equalize American and foreign costs upon these figures as a basis.
 And any really great expenditure un- der the bill is not only improbable, but is impossible. Compliance with the bill as law, going into effect July 1, 1902. would mean an expenditure at the out set of less than $9OOOOO. The completion of 100000 tons of ocean steamers for the foreign trade would place the United States ahead of Germany a shipbuild- ing nation. yet all that tonnage would call for but $1.3000O0 in subsidies.
 "The full contemplated American ocean mail system to Europe, Jamaica and
 fNopfinued m Sacond Panel