Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1904-05-12
THE SUBSIDY GRAFTERS
They Are Planning LOCALIZED
Raid on Our Treasury.
COMMISSION NAMED TO DRAFT LAT

COMMISSION NAMED TO DRAFT LAW
Failure OF Subsidies In other E"un-
tries to Revive Shipping interests, |
Experience of France and itniy.
ShipbuiItcrs In France Rai.ed
Price OF ships.
The fact that the old ship subsidy |
gang Of graftcrS has again made i'll /
appraraIlce in Washington and is max !,
ing Il more determined effort th:1n ever |
before TO break into Uncle SaulS treas |
Try ard that Il commission Will be al,- |
pointed 10 Craft a plan for this con
prcsS to pass ut its short session which |
Will legalize the raid upon the treasury
calls attention to the results OF ship
subsidy experiments in other coun-
tries. No countries in proportion 70
their population have paid greater
subsidies to the shipping interests than
have France and Italy. And 10 coun-
tries afford better examples Than do
these of the failure Of this means ct
providing shipping.
The French ship subsidy system
dates from the year 1881 and was re
arranged in 1893. The payments in the
year 1896 Ol:e latest date contained IN
the United States consular reports,
We're:
Francs.
Bounties to navigation. l7,7D
Bounties to construction. ........... 4,lo6 34s
Postal subsidies. O0c
Total subsidies .............39S 64 O6S
Thus the yearly payment from the
French treasury for the encourage
ment Of shipping reached in 1896, an
average year, the great sum Of nearly
4oooo,ooo francs ($s, ooo,0oo(: Now let
us see the result According to the re-
port Of the United States consul at
Havre Of Sept 6, 1899, the total in
crease Of French mercantile tonnage
in the five years from 1893, the year Of
the enactment of the new law, until
1898 was 66,961 tons, the increase be-
ing limited to vessels which receive no
benefit from the bounty law Of 1893.
while the steam tonnage engaged in
meeting competition actually showed a
decrease"
After eighteen years Of bounty pay
ments a committee of the French par
lament in 1898 reported as follows:
''We do not hesitate to say without
fear of contradiction that our mer
chant marine is in such a state of de-
cadence that there Is reason to be I'M
easy about cur naval fleet"
This is taken from the report Of the
United States consul at Havre to the
state department of Sept 6. 1899, which
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
economies, all lamentng 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, 1890:
THE shipowners found the shipbuild
ers constantly increasing their prices
until the point was cached where the
builders We're accused Of calculating
ton would command and adding that
amount to their own cost price, thus
absorbing the premium for navigation
and the one for construction
This consul concludes that 1.-The mer-
chant marine of France Is in an unsat-
isfactory condition"
The Italian government pays naviga-
tion subsidies and construction boun-
ties. but the United States consul gen
eral at Rome in his report to the state
department Of July %, 1890, makes the
following comment:
"1n 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
10 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.. j. Hid in the New York journal
Of Commerce of Nov. 10. who pins his
faith to the natural advantages Of tne
country and the wideawake enterprise
Of Its people and not the paternal care
and coddling of the government, which
can help one interest only at the ex-
pense of others. All that really live
business men ask OF the government Is
that ii shall not put difficulties and OBJ
structions in their way and shall afford
such protection of the laws as will give