Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-02-12
The need OF SHIP SUBSIDIES

Jill OUDOlDILO
to carry crews composed for two years
|sone-fourth, for. the next three years
one-third, and after 1--WE years one-haIf
american citizens. This would COM
pei the displacing of Chinese sailors
and firemen on these ocean lines by
white sailors and ffremen, and would
cost the steamship companies hum
ldreds Of thousands year for increas-
ed wages and cost Of maintenance.
The Existing Line to Australia.
There is one trans-P Pacific line which
now operates with white crews one
half Americans 1t is the Oceanic line
from San Francisco via Samoa to New
Zealand and Australia This company
receives a subvention Of about $685.
900 a year under existing law, and
would be eligible to receive 100000
| more under the present bill, increas-
ling It's compensation approximate to
what European governments pay for
their Australian lines with slower
steamers. This is one Of the existing
lines referred to by enemies of the
lproposed legislation. It has three
ships Of Is knots, barely sufficient to
! perform service once in three weeks.
4 The company has formally stated that
IT the bill passes it will construct at
least one new and larger steamship in!
return for the increased compensation,
and that IL the bill does not pass the
line will have to be abandoned, thus
cutting off our direct communicati
with Australia. i:s5s
All New Ships for South America.
There is not so much as one Amer
lean steamship Of 16 knots speed or of
tsany other speed now running on the
proposed routes to South America ex-
3Ecept a few rather old and slow steam
ers Of the Pacific Mail company which
operate between San Francisco and
4 Panama. Every one Of the twenty
steamships required to perform the
!, various proposed services to South
a America would have to be built, if this
4 bill were enacted.
There are no existing lines what
d soever on the proposed routes to
Il South America as contemplated in this
4 bill. They would have. to be absolute
I Fly created from the very beginning. It
Il IS impossible, therefore, to pretend
that this bill would simply enrich tex
4 listing lines to South America. There
are no such existing line" not even
the shadow of them Below Panama
on the Pacific side and below the ORR
4 noco river on the Atlantic side, not
one American steamship Of any kind
4 now runs to any port Of South Amer
4 lea. "a European steamship trust OPP
Grating poor, slow vessels in an III
Il regular way, monopolizes the carrying
trade between New York and Brazil
and Argentina.
A Summary.
To sum up therefore, it may be said
!. that there are only two steamers out
ct the six that would be required for
4 line like that contemplated III this
4 bill from the North Pacific coast to
Japan, China and the Philippines.
i There are five steamers out of the
/ seven that would be needed for the
i line from the Pacific coast via Hawaii
TO Japan, China and the, Philippines
il There are three out of the four steam
ers that would be needed for a line
4 from the Pacific coast via Samoa to
New Zealand and Australia. There is
not one ship Of the requisite speed
out of the six that would be required
for the line from the Pacific coast to
Peru and Chile, and not one now rum
ming OF the eleven or fourteen that
would be required on the three lines
from the Atlantic and the Gulf to the
tsthmus Of Panama and further South
America Except on the three trans
Pacific routes, where there are only.
partial lines, this bill is in fact mea-,
sure to create new American steam
| ship lines on routes and to markets
where the stars and stripes are now
seldom or never seen. .s 81. ],
II sss sf$st II In WOrnan,s Vs. &55gS5