Arizona republican., 1906-04-15
THE OPPOSITION
 10 SHIP SUBSIDY
Includes Those Interested in Foreign
 Shipping.


 York City was roughly handled before the House committee on Merchant Ma rine this morning, where he appeared to attack the ship subsidy bin Mr. DuVall has led an aggressive fight against the bill on behalf of tLe asso- citation. and, being largely interested in foreign shipping. his activity against the bill gave a basis for the charge that the association was more inter ested in foreign than in American ship ping. Members of the House commit tee. irritated at the continued hostility of this association. which has spent considerable money to defeat the bill were inclined to question MT. Duvalls good faith in the matter. The princi
 pal contention of the association is that if this government is to subsidize ships the foreign ships should be given chance at the subsidies. and the first chance. at that. This is to be accom- 1 plished by the ingenious device of an ! amendment which practically shuts out | all American ships now existing from the proposed South American mali subsidies. but permits foreign vessels to operate under contracts with the ] postmaster general for from three to five years at half the subsidy which ] American vessels would receive. Few 1 of the republicans on the committee saw the point of subsidiZing foreign 1 vessels. and several. among them Rep l resentatives Humphreys of Washing i ton. and Minor of Wisconsin, were in ! clined to speak harshlv of MT. Du- vali's attempt to load the bin with sub sidies for foreign vessels. Representa- ! tive Humphreys asked if Duvall did nor appear in behalf of the foreign steam ship owners Mir. Duvall. replied that | he appeared in behalf of the Merchants J association. Pressing his question. MT. ] Humphreys asked if the leading spirits 1 in the association who opposed the bill | were not foreign steamship owners. | His method of questioning the witness | brought indignant protests from Rep resentative Sherlev of Kentucky. and | other democratic. and some of the re- publicans who seek bacterial against the measure.
 We know this man; We have had dealings with him before" interrupted acting Chairman Minor. Fair play was demanded by the protesting members of the committee. and AIr. Minor as- sured them the witness should have it The encounter led to several sharp eX- changes between the members of the committee. after which MT Duvau read a paper urging that all commercial subsidies should be confined to Ameri- can-buit ships and hat until Amcri- can-built ships were ready to carry the mails to South America. foreign ships should have the contracts The effect of MT. Duvalrs proposition would be to eliminate all foreign-buiIt ships of American registry from all subsi- dies but would admit foreign built ships of foreign registry to the mail subsidies. The provision is highly sat isfactory 10 the owners of foreign ves- sels. if there is 10 be g subsidy bill at all
 Mir. Duvau was followed by J. Ham den Dougherty. counsel for the Mcr- chants association. who defended the association from the charge of being biased in favor of the foreign lines. Mir. Dougherty was inclined to wander from the point of his argument which caused Representative Watson of In- diana to interrupt him sharply with the comment: "Will you kindly get down to the meat of the proposition and give your objections to the bill" At the afternoon session Representa- tives Littlefield. Minor and Humphreys closely questioned MT. Dougherty. who called on MT. Duvall for support. Com bined. they drove MT. Duvall into a corner where he said the Merchants association had not contemplated the
  tainiHg long term contract.
 Representative Littlefield character ized DUvans proposition that the mail steamers should make fourteen knots "in ordinary weather" and "in water of sufficient depth" as "an awfully vague and indefinite proposition from a mar itime standpoint to which Represen- tative Humphreys sarcastically chip ped in: Do you know any place in the ocean where there Is not sufficient depth to make fourteen knots?" l
 Representative Minor stated that the object sought by the maritime commis- sion was not so much to develop speedy vessels for mail-carrying purposes as to provide means for carrying Ameri- can products to American ports. It is unnecessary to carry mails at hign speed" he continued. earnestly. ''I have hitherto opposed such bills but I feel this one is in the interest of the far mers and manufacturers of the interior believe we should have American cap ital invested in American ships. sailed by American masters and men, and carrying American products. Would 1t be advisable to load these ships to the gunwales and require top speed?"
 MT. DuyaIl said he was talking about the mail subsidies which drew from MT. Minor the reply: "Ah, but under lying it all is the commercial proposi- ton. We seek to develop our com merce and not particularly our mails And what advantage to develop tho mail service if not the commercial service" chimed in Representative Watson.
 Continuing. Representative Little field asked Mir. DuvaE if he knew of any ships ready to take advantage of his proposition. "Yes. sir" was the he ply. American or foreign 9" quizzed Mir. LittlefeId. Foreign" responded MT. Duvall.
 Representative Minor contributed the information that if the Duvall amend ment were adopted only two American ships would be available and the bulk of the subsidy would therefore go to foreign ships. The sarcastic question