Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-06
EXPECTS ITS PASSAGE
Mr.. CorteIyou Discusses the
Ship Subsidy Bill.
HAS PASSED THE SENATE.
Proposed Increase of 5000, 600 in
Expenditure.
ELEVEN BIG MAIL CONTRACTS
Necessity for Taking Such Action
Pointed Out by the Post
master General.
ELEVEN BIG MAIL CONTRACTS

BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.
Postmaster General Cortelyou yesterday
expressed a deep interest in the subsidy
bill now pending in the House of Repre-
sentatives and said that he was quite sure
it would pass. because the Objectionable
features had been removed from 1t and
everybody, who was in favor of government
aid to the merchant marine seems to be
united in its support Mail contracts,
he said, 'are generally regarded as a legiti-
mate method of encouraging the merchant
marine, for the government is compelled
to pay somebody for maintaining commu-
nication upon the ocean, and it is natural
that it should prefer its own ships. The
merchant marine commission appointed by
Congress upon the recommendation of the
Department of Commerce and Labor made
a thorough investigation of the subject and
| submitted a report which contains convinc-
ing reasons why we should make liberal
contracts for extending our mail facilities
with foreign countries.
1T Is unfortunate that the Post Office
Department is dependent so largely upon
steamers sailing under foreign flags for
the transportation of its mails. The prac-
tice is to forward the mails by the con-
veyance which promises the quickest, de-
livery. Foreign governments are steadily
increasing the speed of their mail steamers
and require them to have fixed and regular
sailings. Each. government in the postal
union pays for the conveyance of its own
mails to. the exchange office of the country
of their destination and makes no pro-
vision for a return ship. The actual cost
of our ocean mail service to foreign coun-
tries other than Canada and Mexico last
year was S2,95. G24.21, while our receipts
for foreign postage were Sc. COS, S07. 80, leav-
ing profit of $3,0i3, 1882 to the govern
ment. The foreign mail service is one of
the few branches of our government that
pays a profit, and therefore no one ought
to object to the expenditure of this balance
in improving our lines of communication
with Central and South America. Africa,
Australia, the Philippines, China and Japan,
where We are encouraged to. believe that
our manufacturers and merchants could
find enlarged markets if there were better
facilities for reaching them.
Authority Granted by Congress.
"In 1891 Congress authorized the Post
master General to make contracts with
owners of American steamships for carry
ing the malls at certain rates, but We have
found by experience that the compensation
allowed is wholly inadequate to the ex-
pense of maintaining the size and class Of
steamer required. We have advertised in
vain on the terms of the act for certain
routes without receiving any bids. This is
especially true with regard to Brazil and
the Argentine Republic and other countries
of South America with which We have cor
dial relations and an important trade and
with which we ought to ha : regular and
frequent mail communication. but there are
no steamers sailing under the American
flag to those countries and steamship
company is willing to establish a service
for the limited compensation which the de-
a
facilities, which are few and unsatisfactory
and under foreign flags have been the SUBJ
ject of frequent and emphatic complaint
We have been compelled to consider the ad-
visibility of dspatching South Amer
lean mails by way of European ports on
European steamers. which would not only
involve the government in the payment of
double transit rates. but might seriously
embarrass us in the exchange of official
and diplomatic correspondence. 1t would
be singular spectacle if we We're ulti-
mately compelled to send our mails for
Rio and Buenos Ayres by way of Liverpool
or Southampton, yet it is possible that we
may come to that necessity.
I'VE have only one contract for carrying
mail across the Atlantic, and that is with
the American line from New York to
southampton at the rate of 81 mile |
which amounted to S662,6SS last year. On
the Pacific we have two contracts-one to
Australia for 81 mile, which cost $780, |
$50 last year, and the other to Tahiti 81
a mile for which we paid last year S42 100 |
" t nave Two lines 10 venezuela, one at 81
mile and the other at 66 cents; one to
Cuba at 81 mile; to Mexican ports
at 81 a mile, and one to Jamaica for GO |
cents. The remainder of the mails are car |
ried for what is called the sea postage
Carrying Mail at Loss.
''The Oceanic Steamship Company, now
under contract with this department for |
mail service from San Francisco to Aus
tralia, by way of Honolulu and Page Page |
claims that it is suffering heavy loss and |
that unless there can be a liberal increase |
in the compensation it will be compelled to |
lay up its steamers. In that event the de-
partment would be very much embarrassed. |
1t could not compel the sureties on the
contract to continue the service as thew
would be without suitable vessels, nor |
could we hope to induce any other COM
pany to undertake service which the |
Oceanic steamship people could not per-
form without loss. We have had great |
deal of trouble to get the mails to Aus
tralia. The department advertised in vain
for ten years without receiving a single |
vote, and 1t was not until 1901 that the |
Oceanic company agreed to undertake the |
service on the terms stipulated by the act |
of 1891, which requires 6,OO0-ton steamers
with sailings every three weeks, at the rate
of 81 per mile outward voyage. The pend |
ing contract is for a period Of ten years and |
has five years to run. covering seventeen |
trips per year. The route is $500 statute |
miles in length and yields an aggregate |
compensation of $2S3.0O per annum in |
round figures |
'.Since this route was established the |
volume of mail to Australia has very large |
ly increased and there has been a notable |
development in our commerce with the |
British colonies down there. The exports |
from the United States to British Australia |
were $27, 401, 446 in 1904, while in 1906 they
were $29,001, lat. The imports from British |
Australia into the United States in 1904 |
were 81, 134, 40S, and in 1906 they were $11,- |
515, Alb, which is an encouraging increase
1.-The interest of the government in the |
Philippine Islands. and the Hawaiian Is |
lands, and at the several naval stations in |
the Pacific ocean, continued the Post |
master General, renders 1t highly desira- |
BILE to maintain mail service in vessels fly |
ing the flag Of the United States and sail |
ing with a frequency and speed equal at |
least to those of other countries. Both |
Canada and Japan are contesting more and |
more vigorously for the carriage of mails |
across the Pacific, and are increasing their |
compensation to regular steamships with a |
view to securing shorter schedules and |
better service. Our mail communication |
with the Philippines is inadequate, and 1t is |
very far from what should be expected |
from a government of the wealth and Inn |
portance of the United States. We have
plenty Of good steamers on the Pacific, but |