Evening star., 1909-03-07

6Ar.tSE S-&.<>.N@ e~>~'es-
S162J, 600; then the Deutschland. Wh1ch
he'd the speed record for years, was bulit
at cost of $1,000 600 The halsern
Auguste Victoria cost S3.Jp,ooO, ana tneu
the I,usitania and Mauretania were Dullt
at a cost of nearly $6,OO0,0OO each ana
are still the wonders of navigation, both
fer speed and luxury The new Wnlte
Star steamers are not built for racing,
but for comfort. The Baltic and the
Adriatic cost about S4,jGO 600 each, but
the new ones will cost S6,JO0,Ooo each,
and, as l have said, the men VINO KNOW
the most about the business insist that
no steamer can earn per cent interest,"
on that cost, particularly when the eX.
pense of maintenance and the coal Dill
grow very rapidly after d certain point is
reached.
The charge for the most luxurious
staterooms on a big ship Is already very
nigh. but millionaires will pay any price
for the luXuries they demand. Many pas
sengers pay $500 for four days trip
across the Atlantic, and there are suites
of staterooms on the six and seven DAY
steamers which cost as much, but the
public generally will not pay more than
$3.50 or $500 for their passage, ana IL Is
the patronage of people of small means
upon which the steamship companies
have to depend. Second-class passengers
are in the habit of paying from SiJ to
SO. and during the year they numuer
about twice many as the frSt-class
passengers. 1t is possible to enlarge the
second-claSS accommodations, but the ex-
perts believe that patronage will remain
practically stationary. The only way t.
increase the earnings Of ship is TO en-
large the accommodations for 1mmi-
grants for they are really the source OF
the greatest revenue.
May Dispose of Old Boats.
Many people choose old steamers be-
cause the rates are lower and that it is
becoming a serious feature of the trans
atlantic problem. For several months
the managers of the several prominent
lines have been comforting as to the
ways and means of improving their divi-
dends, and one of the propositions is for
all Of the companies to sell or break up
their o!d-fashioned boats, and thus COM
pei the public to pay the higher rates on
the new ones. Herr Ballin, managing
director of the Hamburg American com
pany, who is said to be the author of that
scheme, calculates that this would add
at least S1O,O00.0OO annually to the rev.
enues Of the company. He has submit
ted a proposition which will be consid-
cred at conference Of representatives
of the North Atlantic steamships very
soon for carrying cooperation to
greater extent than before, The princi-
pal points in his an are as follows:
/. Each company to contribute - for
every first cabin passenger. $50 for
every second cabin passenger, and
81 for every third cabin passenger, to
create a fund to purchase and break up
or sell to non-competing lines the older
and slower boats of all the transatlantic
companies.
. \ uniform scale of rates for ali
companies according to accommodations
and Encouragement of schedu ,es so that
one fast steamer shall sail from eaoh side
of the Atlantic every day.
.. An agreement tnat none of the COM
panieS shall increase the size, luxury or
speed of their steamers beyond the pres
ent standard.
West Indies Traffic Profitable.
The traffic between the United States
and Central and South America and the
West Indies has not suffered so much
from the panic and has been paying
profits The White Star line, the Ham
burg american line, the Royal Mail and
the French lines are putting on new and
large steamers for the West Indies traffic
and the Spanish main. The English lines
to Brazil and the Argentine Republic are
increasing their fleets and now furnish
a splendid service, but nothing Is being
done to increase the American fleet. The
Panama Railway Company, which be-
longs to the United States government
has bought the fremont and the Shamut
two fine S.OOO-ton steamers, which have
Deen running between Tacoma and the
Asiatic ports, and they will furnish more
comfortable accommodations than we
have ever had between New York and
the isthmus. They were driven out of
the Pacific trade by japanese competi-
ton, and the Pacific Mail Company is
suffering severely from the same cause.
The American line to Australia has
been withdrawn because the Post Office
Department was not permitted by Con-
gress to continue it's mail contract 1t is
n ha4 To nJIr
ports to Australia on foreign steamers
and Congress seems to approve. There is
| no direct steamship connection with the
/, Philippines except by the military trans
| ports which the public are not permitted
| to use. We send mail from the United
States to the Philippines once in thirty
| days and yet we boast of our progress
and enterprise a nation.
Lack of Merchant Ships.
| The fleet of battleships which has Just
returned from its triumphant cruise
| around the world could not have made
| that voyage without the aid of foreign
| steamers. 1t is humiliating fact that
| more than forty foreign ships were char
tered by the Navy Department to carry
the coal that was required by that fleet
because there are no American ships, and
If war had broken out during that voy-
age those battleships would have been alb
soutely useless because they could not
have obtained fuel TO feed their furnaces.
We have no merchant ships. and never
will have any until our Congress is will
ing to assist in supporting them by au-
taorizing the Postmaster General to pay
fair compensation for carrying the
mails, as every other nation has done.
Our splendid fleet of battleships was
built to defend our commerce. but we
have no commerce TO defend: practically
none at all. The few merchant ships
sailing under the American flag are get
ting so old and decrepit that they will
soon be sent to the scrap heaps. and no
new ships can be built unless Congress
will agree to a rational policy and be
willing TO pay what other nations pay for
t he transportation OF the mails. The cost
of one battleship, If appropriated to en-
courage the establishment of direct
steamship lines to Central and South
| America. to Australia and to the ports OF
Asia and the Philippines. would encour-
| age American syndicates to build an ade-
| quate fleet, but as long as Congress ad-
here's to its penurious policy We shall have
to depend upon foreign ships to carry our
| mails. well as our freight.
! We do not need American ships for the