The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1906-03-09
The SHIP SUBSIDY BILL.
4 MeaS.ro Put Forward in the In.
terests of Protected
Monopoly.

The senate passed the ship subsidy
bill by vote OF 80 20 q. Five Re-
publican senator's voted with the DEM
ocrats against the bill-Burkett OF
Nebraska; Dolliver. OF Iowa: la Fol.
lette and Spooner. OF Wisconsin ana
Warner. o! Missouri. These men. saw.
the indianapolis News (lnd.) not only
followed public opinion on this cues.
lion. but they were on the right SIDE
81 IL. We regret exceedingly that thu
Indiana senator's. one OF whom voted
Cor the bill. and the other OF whom
vas paired In It's favor. could not bring
themselves TO antagonize this subsidy
grab. A rather remarkable thing
about the vote is that IL was so small
Only So senator's voted. and only 50
are recorded for the bill-or 80. in
Guiding Beyeridge. who announced
that he would have voted for il hai
be not been paired with Clark. Of
Montana The bill goes to the house
discredited. as was the case with the
bill passed a year or so ago By the
Ienate.
vention OF five dollars per gross ton
per year 10 cargo vessels engaged in
the foreign trade OF the United States.
and OF $3.50 per ton TO vessels engaged
In the Philippine trade. A naval re-
serve OF 10000 officers and men Is pro-
vided for. all OF whom are TO receive
'retainers" Vessels are TO Be re-
rufrad ~ rarrx q rarsaf, v~o-.~~.s-. o
this naval reserve among their crews
The total compensation Of mail lines
Is about 100000 annually. The bill
establishes Is new mail lines. and In
-reases the "subvention" to the Gee
anic line. which runs from the Pacific
coast to Australasia The new lines
are TO run from Atlantic ports TO Bra
oil. Uruguay. Argentina and South AZ
RIGA; from Gulf OF Mexico ports 20
Brazil. Cuba. Mexico. Central America.
and the Isthmus Of Panama: and from
Pacific ports 10 Japan. China. the Phil
lppines. Hawaii. Mexico. Central
America and Panama No steam yes
sci Of less than 1000 tons Is 10 re-
ceive subsidy. But sailing vessels
within the provisions Of the bill
These. OF course. are fishing vessels
Other sailing vessels must be al least
200 tons
Such are the main provisions Of this
measure. In spite Of all the fine
things said about IT, in spite 81 tho
patriotic motives urged in Its behalf
IL IS simply a bill taxing all the people
n the United States for the benefit OF
a few men who seek to be hired 70 20
into business That il al there Is 70
IL. In the course OF the debate Sena-
tor Frye OF Maine. who has hsen one
of the most persistent pushers for
subsidy. said that the $500 100000 paid
annually q foreigners for carrying our
freight weuld be used in developing
the American merchant marine This
foolish argument shows how far
astray our great men are The the
Dry is that this money is lost 70 the
nation-indeed. 4, seems TO be The
Idea that II is the nation that pays r.
The truth. Of course, is that this money
is paid for a service rendered and Z
Is paid by the men who get the serv-
ice as an equivalent. Further than
that II would not be paid to the men
who get it unless they provided the
cheapest and most Efficient service
available. II is now proposed TO tar
the people TO build up service which
shall be more costly. and thus again
20 burden the people
Frye himself gave his whole case
away when he said that the cost or OF
Grating American vessels was double
the cost OF operating foreign vessels.
and that the difference ought 70 BE-
aqualized by a bounty For this is 10
admit that the only reason our people
do not 20 into the shipping business
Is that they are more proftably en-
ployed This being the case. i; Is pro-
posed 10 attract them from work
which now pays them well. into work
that would not pay them except Tor
subsidy. We hope that the house viii
make short work OF this measure The
members Of that body must know that
the people ere opposed 10 IT, They
.an see no reason why they should pc
thus taxed 20 create an instrument 10
serve needs which are already served.
We think that the question Is not one
~ creating a merchant marine, but ~
creating a marine that shall b. built
in this country. IL we would but throw
down the bars. remove the present
hurdensorne taxes. allow our people
TO buy ships where they can buy them
,heapest and then have them admitted
to American registry. and lower our
prohihitive tariff duties. We should
soon have a marine
Engineer Wallace has thrown con-