The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-01-09
SUBSIDIES INEFFECTIVE.
AN ExA MINATION OF THE Work
INGs

l N@Up
OF the Policy of Subsidies im European
C0untries-Growtho of Merchant Ma.
rine Due to Other Causes In England
and Germany.
Any candid man must admit that
many causes tended to the commercial
supremacy Of England in the middle OF
the last century, and that this CONNER
cial supremacy involved the supremacy
of her merchant marine. When steam
first came in to draw the ends of the
earth nearer together, England at once
| took advantage of the quickened mode
of transit. She made mail contracts
with the Cunard Line to Halifax and
i Boston; with the ePninsular and ORR
entail company, first, to Gibraltar and
later to Egypt, India, China, and Au=
stralia; and with the Royal Mail Pack
ct company to Spain, the Madeiras, the
West Indies, and Colon, connecting at
the latter place (yia Panama) with the
| Pacific Steam Navigation company to
| Valparaiso. But England did not ac-
quire ships for the mere purposes or
having them, nor, indeed for the pri-
mary purpose of fostering shipbuilding.
With England it was, in those early
| days, a case of paying for steam COM
munication and mail service or going
without it. Ocean steam navigation
! was then an experiment, and Great
| mi oi,,,e, oil q III n ~
liticaI necessity for her to try the ex-
pertinent first. Her statesmen were fore
| ed to take the burden of risks which no
private individual could prudently bear.
| Her supplies Of coal and iron, her grow
| ing manufacturing interests, her inn
ports of food and raw materials, and
export of finished products, all contrib
uted to the development of her mer-
chant marine. The interests of the mer-
chants of India, the manufacturers OF
Manchester, the colonists of Canada, as
well as the bankers of London, required
that the British merchant marine
should continue with the new motive
power steam, to be as powerful as 1t
has been with rail.
What England's policy was earlier in
the century, that has been the policy of
Germany during the last twenty years.
Germany has been every bit as envtous
as America of England's supremacy,
and, like America, Germany has sue
eeeded in obtaining large share OF the
worlds commerce. She has steadily
followed in England's footsteps, has ac-
CURED colonies, built UP her commerce
and developed her industries, But, in
the matter of shipping, Germany has
been wiser than America. Her motto
has been that half a loaf is better than
no bread; and If, at first, she could not
build her own ships, she was willing to
let England build them and hoist her
own flag over them. Thus, the Nor
mania, which, not so long ago, held the
record for speed acrosshthe Atlantic,
and made the Germanyfag known all
over the United States, WAS built on the
Clyde. Many other German ships have
been and still are built in British yards.
BY pursuing this liberal policy. Ger
many has, after all, attained the very
object for which America Is striving
that is, the building up of her own
yards: for the last two ocean grey
hounds, the Kaiser Wilhelm der Gross
anu the DeulSCllldtlui were DOtl Dull
on the Baltic, in the yards Of the Vul-
can Shipbuilding. company, at Stettn,
The resultsof ali this is flia Germany's
steam merchant marine-ao-Nay is sec
ond only to that of England
The fourishing condition Of the mer-
chant marines of England and Germany
is attributed by many people to the
payments made by those countries for
the transportation of mails, or as direct |
subsidies These payments, In the case
of England, amount to about SIS 100000 |
yearly, and are, with the exception Of |
about 1925, 900 Admiralty subventions, |
for actual service rendered by the |
steamship companies as mail carriers. |
The amounts paid, for instance, to the |
Cunard and White Star Lines for the !
British fiscal year 1901, according to of |
fetal figures. were: For Admiralty sub
ventions, $142, 403- / &C., for a semi
weekly service, a total of s6aS 956, and |
an average for 1o4 voyages of $e,72N73
per voyage. The actual operating ex-
penses of one of the large first-class
steamers Of these companies for the
round trip, are about $4,000 This
leaves balance of more than s6S,000 to
ne earned IN passage money tfOf the
large transatlantic liners it must be
carry very little freight
Moreover, the travelling season. when |
The companies can count on every berth
being sold out, is very short, and even
hen a steamer has a full passenger list
only in one direction, for the tide of
ravel In the spring and summer Is
Mostly eastward, and in the autumn
westward. But her liner under mail
contract must nevertheless maintain
lates throughout the year, even in the
fullest winter season, when passengers
re few and rates are low. Thus these
winter trips consume good
eal of the profits of the summer, which
would otherwise go to the credit of the
teamer's account. On the other hand |
line not under a mail contract is free
o cancel date which does not promise
0 be lucrative, and take advantage of |
he dullness of trade to give steamers
he necessary annual overhauling, or
ut them on a more lucrative route.
1ail contract, then, is not an unmiti- /
ated blessing. II
UCCESS OF UNSUBSIDIZFD|
LINES.
If subsidies We're as beneficial as
lany assert they are, it would seem | I