Evening star., 1902-03-18
Shipping Bill Went Through
by AZ to 81.
OBJECTS OF MEASURE
TO PROMOTE COMMERCE AND
CARRY OCEAN MAIL.
Many Amendments Rejected, Includ-
ing One Providing for Free Ships
Subsidies Provided.


and Dolliver Of Iowa. spooner and Quarles
of Wisconsin and Proctor and Dillingham;
| or Vermont, all republicans, voted against
| final passage of the bill, and Senator Nc
! Laurfn OF South Carolina voted for 1t. Some
| amendments to the bill were adopted, but
| they were all agreeable to those in charge
| OF the measure. the friends of the bill vot-
| ing down all other amendments. With the
| exception Of amendments offered by Mr.
Allison and accepted by Mr.. Frye limiting
| the time Of the operation of contracts made
under the provisions Of the bill to July 1,
| 1920 and providing that the amount Of the
| expenditure under the mail subsidy para
| graph should not at any time exceed s., 900, :
GOO annually. none of the amendments
agreed to materially affected the bill as it
was reported from the commerce commit
| tee.
| Vote on the Bill.
The vote on the final passage of the bill
was as follows:
| Yeas-Aldrich, Bard, Beveridge, Burnham,
Burrows, Burton. Clark of Wyoming. Cul-
lom, Deboe, Depew. Dietrich, Dryden, Ell
'kins Fairbanks, Foraker Foster Of WASH
ington. Frye. Gallinger, Gamble, Hale
| Hanna, Hansbrough. Hawley, Hoar, zones
Of Nevada, Kean. Kearns. Kittredge. Nc
| Comas. McCumber McLaurin of South
Carolina, Mcmillan. Mason, Mitchell, Mel
| son. Penrose, Perkins Platt Of Connecticut,
Scott. Warren. wellington, WetmoreA2.
| Nays-Allison Bacon, Bailey. Bate. Berry
| Blackburn, %rrmack. Clark of Montana,
Clay, Cockre. Culberson, Dillingham; Dol
| liver, Dubois. oster of Louisiana, Gibson
Harris. Heitfeld. McLaurin of Mississippi
| Mallory, Martin, Money, Patterson, Pettus
Proctor. Quarles. Rawlins, Spooner, Talia-
| ferro, Teller, Vest-31.
Voting on Amendments.
| ffnO ofo
o'clock, and such flood of them was Of
fered that final vote upon the bill, as
| amended, was not reached until just before
6 o'clock. Amendments offered by Mr.. Vest
of Missouri providing for free ships and
| for the application Of the provisions Of the
| antitrust law to the shipping industry
were rejected, as were the amendments pro-
| posed by Mr.. Patterson of Colorado, pro-
viding that no Chinese person should be a
| member of the crew of subsidized vessel
| Mr.. Pettus Of Alabama offered an amend
| ment providing that the total expenditure
| under the bill should not exceed 100000
| in any one year. 1t was adopted in COM
| mittee of the whole, but later, in the SEN
| ate. was rejected by decisive vote.
| The Senate agreed to an amendment Of
! fered by Mr.. Spooner providing that Con-
| gress should have power to amend re-
peal the act. without impairing any con-
| tract made under it's authority Mr. Hanna
of Ohio offered, and the Senate adopted
three amendments applying directly to the
| acquisition by Mr.. j. PierpOnt Morgan and
| his associates of the Leyland line OF Brit
| ish ships. They provide that no foreign
| built ship shall participate in the proposed
| subsidy; that nothing in the act shall be
| construed to prevent American citizens or
| corporations from holding or operating for
| eign ships in the ocean carrying trade, and
that no foreign-built ship of any line thus
| acquired by American citizens shall be adj
mitted hereafter to American registry.
Provisions Of the Bill.
The title of the bill passed by the Senate
| Is: "To provide for ocean mail service be-
| tween the United States and foreign ports,
| and the common defense; to promote COM
| merce. and to encourage the deep-sea fish
cries" Title 1 of the measure passed
| deals with ocean mail steamships and their
| subsidies. The postal subsidy act of 1891 is
SO amended as to direct the Postmaster
| General to enter into contracts, for not less
! than five, nor more than fifteen, years, with
American citizens for the carrying Of mails
| on American steamships to such foreign
points as will best promote the postal COM
mercial and maritime interests of the
| United States; the mail service on such
| lines to be equitably distributed among the
| Atlantic. Mexican, gulf and Pacific ports,
| and the contracts to be made with the low
est responsible bidder.
| The vessels employed in the mail service
| shall be American built. and owned and
oificered by American citizens. During the
| first two years onefourth of the crew must
| be American citizens; during the next three
years one-third must be American citizens.
and during the remaining life of the con-
/ tract at least one-half must be American
| citizens The ships must be screw steam
| ships of iron or steel, and divided into the
| following classes according to speed: First
| class, 20 knots or over; second class, 10
| knots: third class. IS knots; fourth class,
II knots; fifth class 16 knots; sixth class,
| Is knots; seventh class, IA knots.
| All steamships of the first five classes
| shall be constructed with particular refer
| ence to prompt conversion into auxiliary
| naval cruisers, and shall be Of the highest
rating known to maritime commerce.
| The rate Of compensation for ocean mail
| service, ITO be paid per gross registered ton
| for each 100 nautical miles sailed from the
| port of clearance In the United States to the
| port of entry in the United States," accord
| ing to the route required by the Post Office
| Department, shall not exceed the follow
| ing:
| Rates Of Compensation.
Steamships Of the first class, two and
| seven-tenths cents; second class, two and
| fve-tenths cents; third class. two and three
| tenths cents; fourth class, two and one
tenth cents; fifth class, one and nine-tenths
cents; sixth class, one and seven-tenths
| cents; seventh class, one and f1ve-tenths
| cents The rates OF compensation to any
vessel carrying malls to a foreign port in
North America shall not exceed 20 per cent
| of the maximum rates established
| Mail steamships are required to carry as
| apprentices one American born boy for ca ch
| 1000 tons gross register. He shall be edu-
| Gated In seamanship and engineering and
rank as a petty officer.
The General Subsidy.
! Title Of the bill provides for the general
subsidy to be paid. 1t directs the Secre-
tary Of the Treasury to pay to the owners
| Of any vessel in the United States duly
registered and engaged in the foreign trade
Of the United States a compensation
| amounting to one cent per gross registered
| ton for each 100 nautical miles sailed, not
| exceeding sixteen entries in any one year.
| and on each entry. not exceeding sixteen
| from the date 81 reeistration of a vesSeI -
| one thousand gross tons, which shall be
completed after the passage Of this bill,
| one-fourth of one cent per gross ton for
/ to the aforementioned compensation. The
bill specifies certain vessels which shall not