The National tribune., 1906-12-20
THE SHIP SUBSIDY FIGHT.
A Fine Old Row Going On in the COM
mit:ee Rooms he East Wants the
Subsidy, and Wants II hard-The
Inferior Indifferent or Hostile.

In progress in the House. 1t is quite as
spirited as in the earlier days. when
Senator Frye; of Maine. and the late
Senator Hanna, of 0hi2, were battling
for the principle of subsidies, and the
Senate debated almost day and night in
its efforts 10 reach n vote. The House
was even more SkeDtical than the Sen
ate in those days. 1t remains Skeptical
now; apparently does not want to be
convinced. perhaps Will not be con-
WINGED. There are StanGpatterS galore
in the House, grim old legislative vet
-erans who have personal knowledge OF
all the important Congressional legis-
lation of the last L. years, since the
time when Thomas B. Reed, then in
the prime cfs his, career, first took up
the House .glVel They are tremen
dously Interested in. keeping the tariff
schedules where they are, but those
who come from the Middle West do not
care picaNune about protecting ships
for that is what subsidies amount to.
The Senate fought the question out
In the course of loa; debates the sub
sidy bill past there. with Senator Frye
at the helm, and past again and AGAIN,
but the House has remained obdurate.
and now the battle Is to be fought out
there The preliminary and also the
very important part of the fight is being
waged in the House Committee on Mer-
chant Marine and Fisheries, which is
deep down in the bowels of the Cap
itol-'down under the terrace" in the
vernacular of the Capitol, where one
must have guide to find his way.
Maine has long been foremost State
in pressing for ship subsidy, and wheth-
er the numerous ship subsidy bills OF
the last quarter OF a century have been
before the Senate or the House SOME
prominent Maine man has been active
Iy championing them. In the Senate
it has GENERALLY been Mr.. Frye. be-
cause he has long been the Chairman
of the Senate :CSmmittee on Commerce,
where subsidy bills are framed, but Mr..
Hale, of Maine, now the floor leader of
the Senate, has been quite as active iii
pressing for such legislation Over in
the House tie late Nelson Dingley, of
Maine was ct one time Chairman Of
the Merchant Marine Committee anu
an active subsidy champion Now his
successor in Congress, Representative
Charles Z. Littlefeld, is member o.
the committee and one of the foremost
champions OF the pending bill. Mr.
Littlefeld dies down into that terrace
committee room every little while to
Wrestle anew with the opposition. and
when he cones up again to the COrTi-
dors surrounding the House ne has
woful look. H fears the worst for the
Ship Subsidy bill. hut still fights on.
The present trouble is of Speaker
Cannon's making. Pc it known that
he comes from the Middle West, where
there are no oceans no rock-bOunc
coasts, no sea-farjng population, no
ships Astute in generalSnip, Mr. Can
non last year packed" the committee.
He did not pack il in the interest OF
subvention to ships: he packed it ia
opposition. And there are now four
Republican members of that committee
from the Middle West, every man Of
them ready to fight ship subsidies to =
finish.
There is one notable exception-Rep-
resentative Charles H. Grosvenor. of.
Ohio, the Chairman He is the mos,
rantankerous of ship subsidy advocates.
He would vote an appropriation Cor
about anything that the big ocean lin
ers want. That hurts the cause. 1t
also hurts the cause that Gen. GrOsvc-
nor is down and out politically He
lost a denomination and therefore re
election, and Members of the House Of
Representatives are as averse as are
men in other callings to following a
dead one The committee meetings
are tempestuous. Gen. Grosvenor. car
.-ying his burden OF 10 years and with
rwo decades of House service behina
him, reproaches the Republican Mem
bers, half his years. for lulzewarmness.
They retort with spirit. Representa-
tive Littlefield, full Of enthusiasm for
the legisla ton, strives to act as q me-
diator. but thus far to little purpose.
Clever tactics are resorted to by both
sides.
Out of the constant scrapping, which
constitutes by long odds the liveIiest
fight of this session OF Congress, there
has already grown a process of elm
fnation. The House will vote no cargo
subsidies. Freight ships, as such, will
receive no subsidies, unless it can be
should the bill get into conference be
fore the end of this decting session.
That would cut Maine out of benefits
for her sailing ships, after having made
a game fight for many, many years
thru her public men in Congress. The
subsidies to transatlantic ships will
also be cut out of the bill in commit
tee. 1t has been proposed TO vote ap-
preparations for lines from San Fran
cisco, via honolulu, to Australia and
the Orient That has raised a great
howl, on the plea that il would inure
10 the benefit of the Spreckles, who
already have numerous ships on the
Pacific. Another line from Seattle to
the Orient is proposed, but that meets
with strong opposition There is gen
eral acquicscencc by the committee on
subsidized lines to South America, both
down the Atlantic and the Pacific
Coasts, but the conservative Rcpubli-
cans on lIe SUBSIDY question say mat
Gen. Grosvenor is trying to get too
many subsidized lines to South Amer
ica, and that il would be better to have
only two or three and pay them enough
10 make ii worth their while. Ali these
payments however, are TO be in the
form of subsidies for carrying mails
~ President Roosevelt seems TO have
added TO the troubles of the subsidy
ties, altho he disclaims any intention to
hHTe done So He recommended an
alternative plan in his Message, ate"
legions of influential Republicans had
called at the White House offices to
urge him to drive as hard as he pos
siDly could,in favor of the Senate bill.
II # should not be practicable ia enact
the Senate bin. the President said in
his Message in substance, Congress
should favor appropriations TO South
american lines. The opponents of the
Senate bill seized upon that as tho il
were their greatest hope. and they have
made the most of it. Again there was
rush of.influential Republicans to the
White House offices. They told the
President he had spilled the fat in the
fire by his alternative recommendation,
and now he is sending another Mes
sage to Congress 10 correct it.
So the jolly fight goes on while this
American merchant marine declines.
The wiseacres say that something win
be enacted before the session of Con-