The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1909-10-14
SHIP SUBSIDY

lol Tue dIltRtu Iul Ipa' VI tu''ul
aging and building up the Amerl-
eau shipping trade on the high
seas, and incidentally furnishing
an ample merchant marine that
may be turned to use IN the event
of war, has been knocking mt the
doors OF Congress for many years.
With the death of the late senator
Hanna, who was bold champion
for the scheme, its agitation sub
sided in "A measure, but the idea
has never been abandoned or lost
sight Of by those who expect to
benefit by this phase Of the pro-
tective system. They have been
keeping their powder dry and bid
ing their time until another stall
wart champion of subsidy should
come into political prominence and
power.
This new champion has arisen in
no less parsonage than President
Taft. On his $50 900 junket over
the country he made a speech at
San Francisco last Wednesday in
which he came out strong for a
ship subsidy. Now, just for a
moment let us inquire what is a
ship subsidy In plain English, it
is for Congress to appropriate n
given number of millions of dol.
lars per annum to be distributed
gratis among the owners of Ameri.
can ships plying between the
United States and foreign countries
on a tonnage ratio. That is, az
President Taft frankly expresses
it, TO put money in the pockets
of private individuals But, to
soften this naked and indisputahle
truth, Mr.. Taft continues, 1t is
not true that we put that subsidy
in his pocket to enlarge it; we put
that subsidy in his pocket to enable
him to render to us merchant
marine out of which. with the sub.
sidy added, he shall be able to
make only a reasonable profit
1t is, then, an extension of the pro.
tectiye system to the high seas, to
take money out of the people 5
pocket to give to private ship own
ers in order to enlarge their profits,
just as the protective tariff takes
money out of the consumers pock-
ct to enhance the profits of the
manufacturer and the powerful
monopoles that have been built up
under the system.
The excuse offered or reason
given for the introduction of such
a policy is that England, Germany
and other maritime nations give
subsidies TO their merchant ma
rines. aud this enables them to
carry freight and passengers cheap.
err than the American ships cau7
and further, the American ship
owner is handicapped by the great
er cost of building ships in the
United States shipyards, because
of the higher prices of material,
labor, etc.
Mr.. Taft would overcome all of
these obstacles by very liberal
subsidy, first to cover the differ.
ence in the cost of shipbuildiug,
then to meet the subsidies paid to
foreign ship owners by their gov
ernments, and lastly to insure the
American ship owner a reasonable
profit" whatever that may be.
Surely this ought to be an induce
ment to private capital to engage
in the ocean shipping business,
with the government back of it in
surfing it a reasonable profit. F"
That is what the government has
done for the manufacturing indus
tries of this country and is oontin-
uing to do for the powerful mo-
nopolies that have grown up under
a practically prohibitive tariff sys.
TEN. 1t is not far fly from the
one to the other, and is certainly
consistent with the Republican pro.
tective system.
First we place a protective or
tariff on all materials
for shipbuilding, and the man who
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