Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1906-03-08
CONCERNING THE SUBSIDY
A Measure Put Forward in the In
terests of Protected
Monopoly,

The senate passed the ship subsidy
bill by a vote of 3S to 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, and
Warner, of Missouri. These men, says
the indianapolis News (Ind.), not only
followed public opinion on this ques-
ton, but they were on the right SIDE
Of it. We regret exceedingly that the
Indiana senator's, one of whom voted
for the bill, and the other of whom
was paired in its favor, could not bring
themselves to antagonize this subsidy
grab. A rather remarkable thing
about the vote is that it was so small.
Only IS senators voted, and only 3S
are recorded for the bill-or 80, in
Guiding Beveridge, who announced
that He would have voted for it had
he 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
senate.
The proposition is to grant a Sub
vention of five dollars per gross ton
per year to 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
"r%etainers." Vessels are to be re-
quired to carry a certain proportion Of
this naval reserve among their crews.
The total compensation of mail lines
is about $4,000 900 annually. The bill
establishes Is new mail lines, and in.
creases the "s%ubvention" to the Gee.
anic line, which runs from the Pacific
coast to Australasia. The new lines
are to run from Atlantic ports to Bra.
I'll, Uruguay, Argentina and South Az
RIGA; from Gulf of Mexico ports to
Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, Central America,
and the Isthmus of Panama; and from
Pacific ports to Japan, China, the Phil.
ippines, Hawaii, Mexico, Central
America and Panama. No steam ves-
sci Of less than 1000 tons is to re-
ceive a subsidy. But sailing vessels
rating as low as 20 tons are brought
within the provisions of the bill.
These, of course, are fishing vessels.
Other sailing vessels must be at least
200 tons.
Such are the main provisions of this
measure. In spite of all the fine
things said about it, in spite of the
patriotic motives urged in it's behalf,
it is simply a bill taxing all the people
of the United States for the benefit Of
a few men who seek to be hired to go
into business. That is all there is to
it. In the course Of the debate, Sena-
tor Frye, of Maine, who has been one
Of the most persistent pushers for a
subsidy. said that the 5000, 900, 900 paid
annually to foreigners for carrying our
freight would 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 to the
nation-indeed, it seems to be the
idea that it is the nation that pays it..
The truth, of course, Is that this money
is paid for a service rendered, and 1t
is paid by the men who get the serv-
ice as an equivalent. Further than
that it would not be paid to the men
who get it unless they provided the
cheapest and most efficient service
available. 1t is now proposed to tax
the people to build up a service which
shall be more costly, and thus again
to burden the people.
Frye himself gave his whole case
away when he said that the cost of op-
Grating American vessels was double
the cost of operating foreign vessels,
and that the difference ought to be
equalized by a bounty. For this is to
admit that the only reason our people
do not go into the shipping business
is that they are more proftably en-
ployed. This being the case, it is pro-
posed to attract them from work
which now pays them well. into work
that would not pay them except for a
subsidy. We hope that the house will
make short work of this measure. The
members of that body must know that
the people are opposed to it. They
can see no reason why they should be
thus taxed to create an instrument to
serve needs which are already served.
We think that the question is not one
of creating a merchant marine, but Of
creating a marine that shall be built
in this country. If we would but throw
down the bars, remove the present
burdensome taxes, allow Il people
to buy ships where they can buy them
cheapest and then have them admitted
to American registry, and lower II
prohibitive tariff duties, we should
soon have a marine.
LATE POLITICAL OPINION