Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-08-16
A LAw.eREAKlNo GOVERNMENT

| A LAW BREAKING oOvERNME EMIT.
Early IN July last. when the govern
ment of the United States chartered
foreign vessels for the carrying OF
coal for the use of the navy depart
mcnt from American ports on the At
lantic 10 American ports on tho Pa
cflc coast, the Now York Commercial
took prompt occasion to point out
that such cargo-carriagc Is in direct
violation of Il Federal statute enacted
for the protection of Amreican bot
toms and to criticisc the government
for engaging In such transactions; it
was commended that. while in press
ing emergency thcrc Is II bare posi-
bility that the officials of the navy
department might be only tcchnica,
law-brcakers In such matter. the
| precedcn; was II most vicious one for
| tho government to set, in that II
would lead to violations OF law by
private shippers and would foster Il
public sentiment favorable to repeal
of one Of the very few laws that hold
out protection to American shipping.
Apologsts for the Government argued
at that time that there was no Amer
lean tonnage available for these coal
shipments around Cape Iorn-but
such was not the fact.
The seeds of mischief sown by
these government transactions i'll
open cOntravcntion of Federal stat
ute are already bearing fruit We find
men arguing seriously that this law
ought TO he repealed rs no longer
protective of our shipping, and some
newspapers suggesting that IL should
ut least be amended SO as to permit
coastwise coal shipments in foreign
bottoms The New York Maritime
Register. Tor instancc-a rcputcdly
high authority on shipping matters
| declares that there are no American
vessels engaged ut the present time
in that trade lcoaD by way of the
Cape Horn route" and 1t intimatcs
that the law should lie amended, when
IL adds: 1T does not appear under
these circumstances that any injury
To tho American ship-owncr would re-
suit, IL in this particular branch of
the coastwisc trade eastern shippers
of coal were given the privilege Of
employing foreign vessels to take for
ward cargocs'' The fact Is that
American bottoms arc quite cvten-
sivcly engaged In this "round-thc
Horn coalcarrying trade; II Is one
of the very few trades still remaining
to the remnant of our oncc-cXtcnsivc
llccp sea merchant marine. MIR. Sam
ucl S. Scwall. of Maine, in II letter to
The Register quotes its own weekly
compendium to show that "a good
number of American ships are right
now en- route from our Atlantic Goa!
ports to San Francisco, Honolulu
and Puget Sound "lncludcd III this
list" he says, are five ships owncu
by my firm, carrying 22,700 tons Of
coal: and We have three more due to
arrive mt Atlantic ports from the PA
cific, via Cane Horn, and chartered
to load $4,000 tons of coal outward
again to the Pacific. via this route.
My firm alone. therefore, Will trans
port this year in American ships VII,
the Cape Horn route To the Pacific
ports of tho United States $4,000 tons
OF eastern American coal And yet
profcsscdly good Americans and good
friends of our merchant marine are
| openly advocating the turninGovcr OF
this trade to our foreign competitors
ana are patting the United States
| government on the back when IL is
caught violating it's own laws, 1t
seems sometimes as II 1.-The very dew
H. possessed our lawmakers, newspa-
pers ana public men when me ques'
ton of fostering the American mer-
chant marine arises. Far too many
oi them either won t-or can t-looE
ut the thing tairiy and consistently
what would come oil repeating or
amending the law as suggested Is
pictured by MIR. Scwall very s'riKihs-
| ly and forcibly ms follows:
The result of such action by Con
gress would simply mean the conls'
cation of all American dccp-watcr
sailing ships in the interest of foreign