The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1902-01-17
sHIPs WITHOUT sUBsDY.
Cheaper Raw Materials Needed to Estab-
Ifsh American ShsPping-Re q
the Tariff the Loyal Remedy.

A strong lobby well supplied with money /
viii work for the passage Of the law, and /
If It passes the people viii be taxed to
make a virtual present TO the favored (
ship companies that are IN the ring
But such a bill should not pass. The /
fact that European ship companies are
placing orders with American ship build |
ers is evidence enough to prove that |
under present conditions we are able 10 /
build ships as cheaply as any country II I
the world And as TO the greater cost Of
manning American ships, the fact that, |
IN other lines OF Industry, though Amer
lean Workmen receive higher wages than
European wOrkmen, they are neverthe-
less cheaper because Of superior skill,
would indicate with sufficient elearness
that American shiPmasters might secure
the same results on shipbOard if they
were less concerned IN political schemes
for securing subsidies, and more inter
ested IL making the best OF present
economic and industrial conditions.
Every shipyard in the United States
is at the present time overcrowded with
orders. They have been similarly over
crowded for three or four years past.
They are building a merchant marine of
American ships just as fast as it is pos
sible for them to build it. They could
not turn out the ships any faster, no
matter how large a subsidy congress
might vote 10 the owners after they pass
out of the builders hands. What we
need is more shiPyards, and what him
Lders the building of more shipyards is
not the lack Of subsidies, but the inabil-
ity of shipbuilders to get the raw mater
ials that enter into ships at reasonable
| figures. Our American steel manufsct-
urers, In order to reap the greatest pos
sible profit, take advantage of the last
cent Of the margin allowed by the pro-
! tective tariff, and while selling struct-
uraI steel to German and English ship
builders at prices below the cost of man
ufacture in Germany and England, charge
our American shipbuilders the outside
price they can charge without encOun-
tering competition.
Sir Christopher Furness, one Of the
leading shipbuilders and ship owners Of
Great Britain, recently made the state
ment that he believed the American
people were soon to reestablish their
merchant marine, not through the me-
dunn of subsidies, but by their ability to
/ procure cheap raw materials, and to put
/ these into ships at a lower cost than
| their foreign yards. And so firmly con-
WINGED was he Of this that he had agreed
to become financially interested in a new
shipyard TO be located soon at some de-
sirable point in the United States. As
/ to the cost Of construction, Mr.. Furness
said:
Il am a part proprietor OF five ship
building yards in England. These yards
turned out more shipping last year than
all Of the United States yards put to
/ gether, and I will undertake to say that
we have not as many men IL our ship
yards, earning as high wages. as are in
the shipyards Of the United States, con-
sequently it is entirely question Of the
price Of steel, and as the United States
can produce steel cheaper than England,
it is reasonable to suppose that, in the
long run, they will be able to sell it to
American shipbuilders cheaper than
English shipbuilders can obtain their
supplies"
! This does not mean as might appear,
that workmen in English shipyards are
paid as much or more for a days work
/ than Americans are paid. But the
shrewd old Englishman saw in his in
| spectiOn Of American shipyards that the
] aggregate paid for labor was less than
IN England because the greater skill and
/ longer hours Of the American workman
lessons the cost. This throws the eetire
/ differential between American and Eng
/ lish yards on the cost Of raw materials,
and in this the advantage would be en-
| tirely with the Americans were it not for
the artifcially maintained pricesOn these
Icommodities
Cleerly then, the one thing needful for
American shipping is cheaper raw ma
/ terials, and the way to secure it is by
annulliDg the tariff on all articles en-
| tering into ship construction. Under
/ present conditions the American ship
I builders are able to compete with for
eign builders. and under unrestrained
conditions we could undersell the world.
This is the law congress ought to pass,
and while they are about it, it wouldn't
hurt IL they would knock of all the tar
I III on all articles that are sold by Ameri-
can manufacturers to Europeans at low
er prices than they are sold in America
Red IsupprsssS3ssa