The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-17
THE MERCHANT MARINE
REPRESENTATIVES, GARDENERS
 BILL CONSIDERED.
Provides for a Commission to Invss- tigate Conditions and Recom-
 mend Any Needed Measure For Relief.
Advertiser Bureau,
 Colorado Building,

\ The most reprebentative gathering of ship owners and shipbuilders which has ever appeared before Committees of Con- gross was present at hearing before | the House Committee on Merchant Ma rine and Fisheries Thursday morning on the bill introduced by Representative Gardner of Massachusetts, establishing a commission to investigate the condition of the American merchant marine and to | recommend a measure for the relief there | of.
 l It was significant that the hearing was confined to representatives of the great shipyards of the country and of the carry ing trade. Neither the steamship trust, | of which the American line has hitherto played such a prominent part in agitating all measures looking toward ship subsi- dies, nor the decrepit ship building trust was represented. But the presidents of
 the four largest shipyards on the Atlantic coast, the builders and owners of sail- ing Vessels and experts on subjects per taining to American merchant marine. at- tended. and gave 1t as their unanimous
 opinion that unless something was done, and that quickly, the merchant marine
 of this country would not only continue to decay but would totally disappear. They all supported the bill for the ap-
 pointment of a commission as suggesting l
 | Representative Gardner, who comes from line of ancestry distinguished as shipbuilders, ship owners and merchants | in the palmy days of old Salem, presented | the subject to the committee in a brief but
 well rounded argument. He sketched the
 history of the decadence of American
 shipping which one hundred years ago
 had six hundred thousand tons and today
 but nine hundred thousand tons, an in
 crease of 50 per cent.
 The exports had increased in the same
 period from one hundred and fifty million dollars to two billion dollars, an increase
 of 1900 per cent. But per cent of Amer ican exports are carried in American bot I toms. We have abandoned one of the most lucrative fields of human endeavor."
 he said, entirely to foreigners" The question as to which country was to de- rive the profits from carrying our ex- ports was of vast importance but the po- litical side was likely to become vital at any time. In the Spanish war. lasting but one hundred days, the United States had purchased fifty vessels, but MT. Gardner anticipated a war between England and Germany, sooner or later, and, when that time comes, if we find ourselves without d merchant marine. woe betide us. do not see how We could avoid talk ing a part in the struggle"
 
 almost all of American commerce and Mir. Gardner predicted that in the event of war between these two countries there would be a congestion of business along the sea coast of America such as was never be- fore known. The alternative. of being drawn into the maelstrom of such strife was to build up the American merchant marine. Six propositions had been sug- gested for the benefit of the merchant ma vi h@ 70 N discriminative duties; discriminative ton mage rates; export bounties, government aid to ship building. and mail subsidies. He thought a commission should investi- gate the different remedies proposed and make suitable recommendations concern ing the same. He pointed out that all na- tions engaged in shipping trade subsidized their merchant marine.
 The greatest element in British commer- cial prosperity he declared. was when steam replaced sail power and Great Brit ain offered extraordinarily liberal sub sidies by means of which it built up its merchant marine. MT. Gardner briefly, compared the cost of building and operating American ships with that of foreign ships, the figures showing that there was difference of more than per cent annually, or enough to absorb all profit.
 He was followed by winthrop L. Marvin of Boston, formerly one of the editors of The Boston Journal and well known as an authority on the merchant marine having prepared an elaborate history of the same. MT. Marvin and Representa- tive McDermott of New Jersey, came into conflict early in the formers testimony. MT. Marvin sought the creation of the commission that Congress might keep the one unkept pledge of the United States" A boom in ship building had fol- lowed closely in 1898 on the strength of promised legislation" What do, you mean by promised legislation" quickly interrupted Representative McDermott. Promised by the political platforms of both parties" responded the witness firmly; "by the introduction of legislation to this end; promised not to individuals but to the country at large"
 MT. Marvin set forth the iamentabie condition of the ship building trade of the country, and, it might be remarked. that had any of the stockholders in ship building companies who are unfamiliar with the conditions of the industry, been present at the hearing today, the tesu mony of the experts could scarcely have failed to have been a shock to them. For instance, MT. Marvin pointed out that no keel for steel steamship to be en- gagged in the foreign trade had been laid since 1901 and there were absolutely no prospects for future contracts. Never be- fore in war or peace, he said, was ship building so arrested. American ships car- ried but I2 per cent of our trade in 1893; it had sunk to per cent in 19o3- and unless some measures of relief was adopted 1t would totally disappear. Tn vestigate today, gentlemen" he said. 'or you will have an impartial inquiry"
 Interest attached to the testimony of Rear Admiral Francis T Bowles, form erly Chief Constructor of the Navy and now President of the Fore River Ship building Company of Quincy, Mass. as it was the first time he had appeared be- fore a committee except as representing the Navy Department. Admiral Bowles stated that at the present time there was no chance for American ship yards to build steamers for the foreign trade and their work was confined to ships for the United States Navy or the coastwlse trade. And" he remarked, parenthetic- ally, there Is very little doing in that.' He suggested that representative mer- chants and public men who would be ac- tuated by no interest except that of pa triotism, be included on the commission.
 Speaking for the ship owners, Alfred Wlndwor, President of the Boston Steam ship and the Boston Towboat Companies prefaced his statement by the announce ment that I'm in the business" He and his associates had engaged in it some years because they thought Congress would do something for the merchant mN- rine. Subsidies granted to foreign vessels had driven them off the Atlantic Ocean and they had transferred their ships to the Pacific, only to find that there they