Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1904-03-17
SHIP-SUBSIDY "CRAFTERS.-
The Old Gang Planning a LOCALIZED
Raid OF Uncle Sans
Strengthen.

Raid on Uncle Sans
Strong-Box.
The fact that the old s~hip-subsidy
gang of grafters have again made their
appearance in Washington and are
making a more determined effort than
ever before to break into Uncle Sans
treasury, and that a commission will
be appointed to draft a plan for this
congress to pass at its short session,
which will legalize the raid upon the
treasury, calls attention to the results
of ship-subsidy- experiments in other
countries. No countries, in proportion
to their population, have paid greater
subsidies to the shipping interests than
have France and Italy. And no coun-
tries afford better examples than do
these of the failure of this means Of
reviving shipping.
The French ship subsidy system dates
from the year 1881, and was r~earranged
in 1893. The payments in the year 1896
(the latest date contained in the United
States specisl consular reports) we're:
Francs.
For bounties to navigation.......... 9,547,7 20
For bounties to construction. ...,... Alec, 348
For postal subsidies. .26, lSS,0OO
Total SO, S64, O68
Thus the yearly payment from the
French treasury for the encouragement
of shipping reached in 1896, an average
year, the great sun of nearly 40, 1000, 900
francs ($S,O OO, O00). Now let us see the
result. According to the report of the
United States consul at Havre of Sep
TENDER 6, 1899, the total increase Of
French mercantile tonnage in the five
years from 1893, the year of the enact
ment of the new law, until 1898, was
&C, 1861 tons, the increase being limited
to vessels which receive no benefit from
the bounty law of 1893, while the steam
tonnage engaged in meeting foreign
competition has actually showed a de-
crease"
After IS years of bounty payments a
committee of the French parliament in
1898 reported as follows:
I'VE do not hesitate to say without
fear of contradiction that our merchant
marine is in such a state of ~decadence
that there is eason to be uneasy about
u naval fleet"
This is taken from the report of the
United States consul at Havre to the
state department of September 6, 1899,
who continues as follows:
MANY other extracts may be quoted
from the reports of various chambers
of commerce, from the speeches made
in the two houses of parliament and
from lectures delivered by experts in
economics, all lamenting the depressed
state of the' merchant navy of France"
AS appears from the figures given
above, the French government pays
postal subsidies, premiums on the con-
struction of French ships and premiums
on voyages made by French ships. The
effect of this policy is thus described by
the United States consul at Marseilles
in his report to the state department Of
July 20, 1899:
"The ship owners found the ship
builders constantly increasing their
prices. until the point was reached
where the builders were accused of cal
culating the amount which proposed
constructions would command and add
ing that amount to their own cost
price, thus absorbing the premium for
navigation and the one for construc-
ton"
This consul concludes that "the mer-
chant marine of France is in an unsat-
isfactory condition" and gives it as his
opinion that 'the in~feriority of the
French merchant marine is attributable
to the timidity or Indifference of French
capital"
The Italian government pays naviga-
ton subsidies and construction bounties,
but the United States consul general at
Rome in his report to the state depart
ment of July %, 1899, makes the fol-
lowing comment:
"In view Of the efforts of the Italian
government to encourage Italian ship
ping, the long seaboard, and the neces-
sity of shipping to the economical life
of the country the results are certainly
far from satisfactory"
1t remains for the American people
to decide whether to adopt the artificial
expedient of the subsidy system, which
must be continued Indefinitely at ever
increasing cost, or whether to approve
the more logical principle announced by
Mr.. ]. ]. Hill, in the New York Journal
of Commerce, November 10: "Who
pins his faith to the natural advantages
of the country and the wide-awake en-
terprise of its people, and not the pa
ternal care and coddling of the govern
ment which al help one interest only
at the expense of others. All that real
~ live business men ask of the govern
ment is that it shall not put difficulties
and distractions in their way, and shall
afford such protection Of the laws as
will give them a fair field for their en-
ergies. What they cannot then succeed
in, they are willing t. leave to Others"