Arizona republican., 1905-01-14
Report of the Merchant
 Marine Commission
PLAN OF ENCOURAGEMENT
A Recommendation for the Preven- tiOn of a Paralysis Of American Shipping Interests and Save This Country $IO, ,OOO, 1000 Annually.

NC@4N'As7 subsidies for the carrying of mails from Atlantic coast and Gulf of Mexico ports
 to South and Central America and Gu
 ba. and from Pacific coast ports to Ja-
 pan, China, the Philippines, Mexico,
 Central America and the Isthmus of Panama; a tonnage tax on foreign
 vessels entering United States ports;
 the creation of a naval volnteer service and the encouragement of apprentices
 on ships in foreign trade are provided
 for in a bill agreed upon by the joint
 merchant and marine commissi on,
 which submitted it's report to congress. The commission, composed of five senators and five representatives, was created during the last session of con- gress in response to a recommendation i by President Roosevelt in his annual Ilnessage Dec. ', 1903. An exhaustive ! investigation was made by the commIs-
 sion of the conditions of the Ameeri- can merchant marine and American commerce with 9 view to ascertaining 1 the most feasible means for their de- velUpment. Hearings were conducted during the year at nearly all the iTn- portant shipping and commercial cen
 ters in the United States The report
 of the commission contains more than
 ;5, 600 words and is made up of refer
 ences to the important testimony ta- ken, estimates Of the annual cost of the methods proposed to restore the mer-
 chant marine and an urgent appeal for the passage, by the present congress, of the bill presented with the report. The bill agreed upon is divided into eleven sections. The first makes pro- vi Gif inc of ral
 volunteers capable of rendering service
 in time of war. It provides that the sec retary of the navy and the secretary z of commerce and labor should cause to ! be made an enrolment of officers and
 men now and hereafter employed in the merchant marine and deep--sea fisl- cries of the United States, who shall | receive an annual retainer, at the . nd
 of each year as follows:
 Tor each master or chief engineer ! of Q vessel of the United States of five
 thousand gross tonnage or over, one
 hundred dollars; for each master or 1 chief engineer of a vessel of the United l States on one thousand gross tons or , over but of less than five thousand
 gross tons, eighty-five dollars; for ! each master or chief engineer of a ves- sel of the United States under one
 thousand gross tons, seventy dollars;
 for each mate or assistant engineer of
 a vessel of the United States of five i thousand gross tons or over, seventy
 dollars; for each mate or assistant en- I gineer of a vessel of the United States of one thousand gross tons or over but 1 of less thu five thousand gross tons, 1 fifty-Gve dollars; for each mate or as-
 sistant engineer of a vessel of the 1 United States under one thouand gross ] Arr, J.1l fy,,- twenty-five dollars; for each boy. flf- ! teen dollars"
 i The second section, prescribing the
 conditions under which vessels engag-
 ed Tn the foreign trade shall be eligible | to receive the sUbventions, is as fol- { lows:
 That ia the interest of the national defense and for the performance of the pubic service hereinafter specified, af-- ! ter July first, nineteen hundred and six,
 the secretary of the treasury is hereby authorized and directed to pay, subjec.
 to the provisions of this act, out of any Tloney in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to the owner or owners
 of any vessel hereafter built and regis tered in the United tSates or now duly registered by citizen or citizen of he United States Gncluding as such citizens any corporation created un- der the laws of the United States or any of the states thereof) subVentions as hereinafter provided; that is to say, (a) the sum of five dollars per gross re- gisered ton for each vessel which has
 been engaged in the foreign trade by sea or the deep sea fisheries for a period of twelve months, including time nee essarily consumed in making annual or extraordinary repairs; (b) the sum of four dollars per gross registered ton for each vessel which has been engag- cd in the foreign trade by sea or the deep sea fisheries for a period of nine months or over, but less than twelve
 months, including time necessarily con- sumed in making extraordinary re- pairs; (c) the sum of two dollars and fifty cents per gross registered ton for each vessel whicn has been engaged in ths foreign trade by sea or the deep sea fisheries for a period of six months or ovey but less than nine months, in cluding time necessarily consumed in making extraordinary repairs; Provid- ed, that If, for reasons satisfactory to the secretary of commerce and labor, a vessel is idle for more than one month when not undergoing repairs or receiving or discharging cargo the sub- vention shall be reduced pro rata
 Provision IS made in the third section that vessels receiving the supvention may be taken by the United States, at a fair compensation, for national de- fense or any public purpose. It p-o- vides also:
 That when the postmaster general requires the vessels shall carry malls free of charge.
 That one sixth of the crews shall be citizens of the United States.
 That a vessel employed in the for eign trade shall maintain during the period so employed at least class Al if a steam vessel and at least class Al 1-2 if a sail vessel, as such classes