New-York tribune., 1907-01-24
MESSAGE ON SUBSIDIES.
PRESIDENT URGES THEM.
Tells Congress They Are Part of
Modern Commercial Sustem.

washington. Jan. 23-The President sent N
Congress to-day message calling attention
70 the great desirabilty of enactment OF legis-
lation 10 help American shipping and American
trade by encouraging the building and running
Of lines OF large and swift steamers TO South
America and the Orient
The text Of the message is as follovvs:
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
I call your attention to the great desirability
Of enacting legislation 10 help American shin
pins and American trade by encouraging the
building and running of lines Of large and swift
steamers 10 South America and the Orient
The urgent need of our country's making an
effort 10 do something like its share of its own
carrying trade on The ocean has been called 10
our attention in striking fashion by the ex
perences OF Secretary Root on his recent South
American tour. The result OF these exneriences
he has set forth in his address before the Trans
Mississippi Commercial Congress at Kansas
city, No. November 90 last-an address 60
important that it deserves the careful study OF
ali public men,
The facts set forth by Mr. Root are striking
and they cannot but arrest the attention OF our
people The great continent TO the south OF us
which should be knit to us by the closest com
mercial ties, is hardly in direct commercial com
muncatiOn with US all. its commercial rela-
Tions being almost exclusively with F7uror,a
Between al the principal South American ports
ana EUROPE nnes or swift and commodious
steamers, subsidized by their home governments
ply regularly. There is such line OF steam
eTs between these ports and the United States
In consequence. our shipping 10 South ATnerj
can ports is almost a negligible quantity. for
instance, in the year ended June so I905 there
entered me port OF Rio Janeiro over three
thousand steamers and sailing vessels from FI
rope, but from the United States no steamers
anu ohIy seven sailing vessels two of which
were IN dsslfess- One prime reason for this
state OF things is the fact that those who now
90 business on the sea DO business in a world
not o. natural competition hut Of suhsidIzaJ
competition State aid TO steamship lines is as
nuch part of the commercial system of to-
Sgs as sla,e employment of consuls to promote
business Our commercial competitors in Eu-
rope pay in the aggregate some twentv-five
mllnons year to their steamship lines Great
hrilalh paying nearly seven millions Japan
pays petWeen three and four millions. BY the
proposed legislation the United States will still
pay relatively less than any one Of our com
peutors pays. Three years ago the Trans
Mississippi Congress formally set Tortb as
automatic the statement that every shin Is q
missionary OF trade; that steamship lines work
IoT her own countries, just railroad lines
work for their terminal points and that IN is
as absurd for the United States TO denend ,,non
IoIeign ign shlps to distribute its products as it
Noulo DC Tor department store 10 depend upon
wagons OF a competing house 10 deliver its
goods This statement is the literal truth
moreover, II must be remembered that Anne-i-
can ships do not have TO contend merely sgains,
The subsidization OF their foreign competitors
me higher wages and the greater cost of main
tenance OF American officers and crews make II
almost impossible for our people who do bust
ness on the ocean to compete on equal terms
@ Win foreign ships unless they are protected
soneWhat as their fellow countrynen who do
business on land are protected. We cannot as a
country afford 10 have the wages and the man
heI OF lire or our seamen cut down; and the
only alternative if we are TO have seameD at
al. Is 70 cffset the expense by giving some a6-
vantage TO the ship itself
The proposed law which has been introduca5 -,
ooheIess IS IN no sense experimental. II is based
on the Dest and most successful precedents as
~ V5.t on me recent Cunard contract with
ne DElush government As far as South Amer
lca is concerned. its aim is 10 provide from the
.. ano Pacific coasts better American lines
20 20 tne great ports OF South America than the
present European lines The South American
IepuDnes now see only warships Under
Ilis OIL our trade friendship viii be made evt-
Gent TO them. The bill proposes to build large
sized steamers Of sixteen knots speed. There
are nearly two hundred such steamships already
IN the worlds foreign trade. and over three
lourths or them now draw subsides-postaI or
admiralty, or both.
are almost as necessary 10 the national defence
SIS battleships. and the efficiency Of which de-
penoS IN large measure upon their steady en-
poyment IN large construction. The proposed
DIE is OF Importance 10 our navy because II
gives considerable feet Of auxiliary steamships
such as is now almost wholly lacking and also
provides for an effective naval reserve.
The bill provides for fourteen steamships sub
sidlzeG 70 the extent Of over 81 ,5000e0 from the
Atlantic coast, all 10 run 10 South American
ports 1t provides on the Pacific Coast for
twenty-five steamers, subsidized TO the extent
OF S2,25OOO0 some of these to run to South
America, most Of them to Manila. Australia and
Asia. Be il remembered that while the ships
will be owned on the coasts the cargoes will
largely be supplied by the interior. and that the
hin viii benefit the Mississippi Valley as much
have laid stress upon the benefit 10 be ex-
pected from our trade with South America The
lines TO the Orient are also of vital Importance
The commercial possibilities of the Pacific are
unlimited, and for national reasons il is impera-
tive that should have direct and adequate
communication by American lines with Hawaii
and the Philippines The existence OF our pres
ent steamship lines the Pacific is seriously
threatened by the foreign subsidized lines. Our
communications with the markets OF Asia and
with our own possessions in the Philippines.
less than our communications with Australia
should depend not upon foreign but upon
own steamships. The Southwest and the North
west should alike be served by these lines and il
this is done they win also give to the Missis-
sippi Valley throughout its entire length the ad-
vantage of all transcontinental. railways run
ming TO the Pacific Coast. To fail TO esta blish
adequate lines on the Pacific is equivalent TO pro-
claiming 10 the world that we have neither the
ability the disposition to contend for
TiShtful share OF the commerce of the Orient.
yet to protect our interests IN the Philippines
It would surely be discreditable for to sur
render 10 our commercial rivals the great
TscrCe Of the Orient, the great commerce we
should have with South America, and even our
own communications with Hawaii and the
Philippines.
7 earnestly hope for the enactment of some law
like the bill in question
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The White House, Jan. p, 1907.