Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1908-07-16
FEW MERCHANT SHIPS
Lack of Marine a Peril In the
Event of War.
HOW TO REHABILITATE IT.
Not by Subsidies, but by Clearing
Away Obstructions-Barb Nav
isation Laws and High Tariff Duties
the Obstacles to Ee Overcome.

Away Obstructions-Barb Nav
isation Laws and High Tariff Duties
the Obstacles to Ee Overcome.
Particular atteAtion has been called
to the great peril in which our almost
complete lack Of shipping would bring
US in case of war. We We're very seri-
ously embarrassed in the petty war
with Spain by the lack of merchant
vessels which could be transformed
quickly into auxiliary cruisers, scout
and dispatch boats, Golfers, transports,
hospital ships, etc. This serious condi-
ton has been forcibly illustrated by
the recent necessity of employing for
eign ships, with their crews, to attend
Admiral Evans fleet as Golfers on its
cruise to the Pacific
1t is therefore pertinent to inquire,
Why have we no merchant marine
and how can we get one? In his re-
cent book on The Tariff and the
Trusts" Mr. Franklin Pierce answers
these questions most clearly. In sub
stance his argument is as follows:
First-By our barbarous and ancient
navigation laws no American is per-
mitted to buy ship made abroad and
register and sail it under his country's
flag, nor can a ship be registered in
which a foreigner has any interest as
owner. These laws are retained for the
benefit of few American shipbuild-
ing firms and are unlike anything else
in our system. An alien may own any
industry in the United States and run
1t just as native citizen would run it,
but if he owns a dollars interest in d
ship it cannot obtain American regis
try. We may buy abroad any article
we desire, import and use it if we pay
the duty, just like an American prod
uct, but we cannot buy ship and sail
1t under the American flag.
Secondly our high tariff duties on
iron, steel and nearly all other materi-
ais required for construction we make
shipbuildfng so expensive that it can
not be carried on in competition with
foreign builders. The result is that
American commerce is carried on either
in foreign owned ships or in those
owned by Americans and sailed under
foreign flags. American shipbuilders
have based their demand for govern
ment subsidies on the fact that on ac-
count of the tariff their materials cost
them about 40 per cent more than Eng
fish ShipbuilderS have to pay. Much
better than subsidies would be the re-
moval of the tariff, which now allows
the steel trust and other trusts TO levy
tribute on shipbuilding and for pri-
Vate gain deprive the country Of an in
dustry important at all times and nee
essary for its safety in times of war.
Third.-American shipping has been
discouraged by the decline in our COM
merce caused by the protective tariff.
Compared with other nations of our
class we have small exports of manu-
featured articles, though we are fitted
by resources and skill to be the great
est exporters of manufactured products
N the world. In 1908 on the average
each Englishman manufactured for eX-
port more than five times as much in
value as the average American. We
cannot sell more abroad unless we buy
more abroad, for exporting is merely
exchanging the products Of our labor
for the products of foreign labor The
same tariff wall that shuts out foreign
products also shuts in American manu-
features and discourages the building
and sailing of American ships.
In 1861, at the end of a long period
Of low tariffs, during which shipbuild-
ing materials Chiefly wood were cheap
in America, we had a total tonnage of
about 100000, nearly equal to that
of the whole British empire and about
one-third of all the tonnage in the
world. Nearly all of our foreign COM
merce was carried on in American
ships. In 1862 after eight years of
excessively high tariffs and when iron
had largely superseded wood as mate
rial, our flag had almost disappeared
from the ocean.
The navigation laws prevented the
buying of ships abroad for American
use, and the high price of iron and
steel prevented their construction here.
In 1907 scarcely one-tenth of our i'm
ports and exports were carried in
American ships, the actual tonnage en-
gagged in foreign trade being reduced
from 2,496,S94 in 1861 to only SCI ,466
In 1907
The logical conclusion from the
above facts is plain. We can get back
our magnificent merchant marine by
repeating the navigation laws so that
we can buy ships abroad or by remov-
ing the tariff duties on iron and other
materials so that we can build them
here.