The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1909-02-18
TO BUILD UP
MERCHANT MARINE
LEAGUE ORGANIZED TO ADVANCE
LEGISLATION TENDING TO
BUILD UP A STRONG AMERI-
CAN MARINE.

/
ed the senate of the United States
unanimously at the last session, but
was defeated in the house by four
votes. 1t will come up again at the
coming session.
The circular letter sent out by the
league states the object of the legis-
lation, as follows:
This country is spending millions
of American dollars in digging a ca
nal at Panama which will be, in times
of peace at all events, under the pres
ent conditions, solely for the benefit
of the merchant marine of our Ger
man, British, Norwegian, French and
Japanese friends; and cannot be con-
sidered in any way money well spent
for the benefit of American COM
merce, American business interests or
the American flag-for the reason
that we have practically no American
ships, and the American flag does
not wave from the masthead of any
thing in the way of an American
merchant marine.
| On the Isthmus there are only
American engineers, foremen and
skilled mechanics. These are en-
ployed exclusively, though at higher
wages than foreigners could be pro-
cured
The dredges, engines, boilers, loco
motives, rails, tools, equipment and
supplies of every character are pur-
chased in this country, although the
cost is usually more than that at
which these same things could be
purchased in Europe. Practically ev-
erything is being purchased under
the Joint Resolution of June 25,
1906, which provides that the pur-
chase of such things shall be restrict
ed to articles of domestic production
and manufacture from the lowest
possible bidder unless the president
shall in any case deem the bids Or
tenders therefor to be extortionate
or unreasonable, thus carrying out
the policy of protection to American
Ia bor and American enterprise, which
is probably the only right one in view
of the fact that American money is
paying the freight" Everything
that has been undertaken and every
thing that has been done down there
with one significant exception, is
thoroughly American in every way,
and that exception is-that all the
goods are being transported by for
eign vessels, under foreign flags, by
foreign seamen, and the profit there
from all goes to foreign shipping cor
porations
AS a result of this, in the harbor %
Colon and in adjacent waters, no
ship will be found flying the flag of
the United States, unless one of the
four vessels of the government trans
port service or a warship should hap
pen to be there.
The 100000 or 100000 tons of
coal now being used annually on the
Isthmus, the lumber, the machinery
and supplies of all description, not
conveyed by the few steamers of the
government line, are being carried en-
tirely by foreigners.
If an American manufacturer asks
fifty or one hundred thousand dollars
for a given piece of machinery, and
it can be purchased in Europe for
ten or twenty thousand dollars less.
the American is given the contract.
But if foreign ship bids a thousand
dollars for carrying that machinery
from New York or other American
port to the canal, and an American
ship bids eleven hundred or twelve
hundred dollars for carrying it, on
account of the higher wage scale in
this country, the foreigner gets the
business every time. That is to say,
protection rules one transaction and
free trade the other, with the result
that the construction of the Panama
Canal lns'ead of serving American
maritime interests, is actually killing
off and destroying what little is Lett
Of our American merchant marine in
these wa,o!a, for, in addition to tn,
reasons ai;es dy given, these foreign
ships hac'nS outward cargoes to Co.
Ion guaranteed, are thereby enabled
to take return cargoes from West In
dia ports away from such American
vessels as might already have had
that trade.
We wish to ask if. in your judy
ment, this is square deal? IS 1t
just that American laws should pro-
tect American labor and Industries
To- ~ q