The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1904-11-08
OUR MERCHANT MARINE.
How Important industry Should be
Assisted by Govt.

Assisted by Govt.
The Merchant Marine commission
win prepare bill to submit 10 the
next congress the intent OF which will
be to revive our dropping shipping in
terest. There are many different men
of different minds, and the task of tae
commission. not an easy one II the
members had free hand, is made
more difficult because nothing even
bearing with II the slightest suspicion
that protection Is not infallaole at
home and abroad viii be tolerated,
Protection. like gunpowder, was IN
vented In China. China used gun
powder for fireworks and built q Chi
nese wall that excluded for centuries
the Tartar and progress. Protection
in this country is tempered with COM
mon sense. and so long as there Is no
endeayor to extend II more than three
leagues from the land. 1t works fairly
well. Extend it on to the ocean, and IL
becomes French bounty--a dead fall
ure. What Is wanted. is the real pro-
lection of emitting local taxes on ship
property. which receives neither pro-
lection nor benefit from the state
from which the ships hail. Remission
Of duties on the material entering in
To the construction Of modern vessels,
by which means American steel can
be imported from foreign countries at
about $40 per ton less than it can be
bought direct from the same mill.
Repeal the ancient navigation laws,
and supplant them with laws based on
present conditions, Permit Americans
to buy foreign ships II they choose to,
and put them under the American flag.
but debar them the coastwise privi-
lege. AS has before been stated OBJ
scene books and ships alone are pro-
hibited In this country under any con-
dition. Germany, as has also recently
been quoted extended the paternal
hand at the earnest petition OF German
merchants. That was in Bismark's g
time, and he was a statesman in the
best sense Of the word. At that time
Germany had no commercial marine to
speak Of. Under this broad-spirited
policy, the German empire possessed
In April last, 10l1 ships Of an average
capacity Of over 1000 tons each,
against s7s ships of 1000 tons In 1908.
OF these ships, 1855 were steamers and
225 sailing vessels. The increase In
number occurred in steamers. Today
Germany has only 10 fast steamers;
four the Furst Bismark. Augusta Vic
toria, Columbia, and Kaiserin Maria
Teresa, have been sold to Russia. OF
the foregoing, 3S steamers carry the
mails; the other are passenger and
freight steamers. In regard to size
the Kaiser Wilhelm II Of the North
German Lloyd, with its 10000 tons,
leads. There are two steamers now
incourse of construction for the Ham
burg American line which will be even
larger than the Kaiser Wilhelm IL
One Of these, the America, is being
built in Ireland, and the other. the
Europa, in the shipyarGs of Stettin.
OF the number Of ships in theHam-
burg-American line there are 12s
steamers. The North German Lloyd
has 81 steamers; the Hansa, In Bremen
AZ; the German Levant line. 80; the
Wormann line, 20; the Hamburg
South American Steamship company,
2S; the Kosmos, 2s, andthe German
Australian Steamship company, rs.
There were AZ new steamers in course
Of construction in April. 1904. OF
these, 13 were for the Hamburg
American line, for the North German
Lloyd, 6 for the Hansa, and for the
firm of n. c. Hahn & Schleswig. In
the matter Of sailing vessels, it is no.
ticeable that the number is not in
creasing, but that there is a tendency
to increase their tonnage capacity.
The largest sailing vessels are 2 five
masted ships belonging to a Hamburg
firm. They have 5OS1 and 4O26 tons
capacity, respectively Commercial
News