Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-21
SHIP SUBSIDIES AND THE
TARIFF

/ AllGiilS piGEIl1All VIII a 6ACeil dIeAA VI
meaning to those American citizens
who are not such blind partisans of
| high tariff as to shut their eyes to
! facts and deductions that are obvious
to sensible men.
In this article, Mr.. Dollar. who is the
owner of a steamship line now operat-
ing a considerable number Of vessels,
calls attention to the burden which the
American, desiring to invest his capt.
tai in vessels to be used in the inter-
national carrying trade, must assume
as the result of the higher cost of ships
in America as compared with those
built in other countries.
He states that he obtained a bid
from an American shipbuilder for build
ing a duplicate of the Hazel Dollar,
one of his vessels which cost in Great
Britain 100000, and which on account
of the law forbidding American regis
try to foreign built vessels he is COM
PEELED to operate under the British flag.
The American shipbuilder wanted
$43O. 900 for duplicating the vessel which
had cost him in Great Britain 100000.
A Pacific coast shipbutlder from whom
he received bids for building a dupli-
cate of the Stanley Dollar, another of
his vessels, wanted $22O.OOO, while an
English shipbuilder offered to dupl-
cate the same ship for $1OO,Soo. A
Scotch shipbuilder offered TO turn out
a cargo steamer for him of 5000 tons
dead weight capacity for $22S,560, WI lie
a Pacific coast shipbuilder wanted for
building the same vessel $560,000.
1t is thus seen that in three instan S
where he called for bids from Ameri-
can and British shipbuilders the same
vessel would have cost in America
more than 100 per cent above what 1t
would have cost if built in Great Brit
ain.
This excessive cost is Cue almost en-
tirely to the American tariff. And in
asmuch as an American registry is
denied vessels constructed in foreign
shin yards, the American capital de-
| string to embark in international mari
time commerce finds itself so handi-
capped at the threshold that it does
not seek that class of investment.
The high protectionists, with whom
| it appears, since his approval of the
last tariff bill, we must class Presi-
dent Taft, now propose to equalize
this by taxing all the people of Ameri-
ca a certain sum which shall be given
| Americans embarking in international
marine commerce, in the form Of ship
subsidies.
This is a new and further step in the
policy of protection. First, you must
tax a business, by levying a tariff upon
the articles which it requires for use,
until it can no longer exist. Then you
must levy a general tax upon all the
people to secure money to pay to this
business as a gift to ease the burden
which the tariff imposes upon it.
If, in order to keep up the wages Of
seamen engaged in American inter-
national maritime commerce to the gen
eral wage standard of the country, it
| is necessary to help that commerce by
a subsidy, there would probably be
no serious objection to it among the
people of this country, for no one wish
/ es an American workingman to work
for less than living wages, whether he
| be a sailor in a merchant vessel or an
employe of a steel works.
! At the same time, before calling upon
all the people to tax themselves to en-
| able the business of American inter
! national maritime commerce to sur
vive the tariff taxes that have been
/ levied upon it, it would appear worth
while to relieve this tariff tax burden by
providing for entry under American
| registry free of duty vessels pur-
! chased in the markets of the world to
be used in international commerce. AS
/ our ship yards at the present time con-
struct no vessels of that character, be-
cause on account of their high cost
there is no demand for them, such a
law would not be depriving these ship
yards of any business which they al
ready enjoy. 1t would merely prevent
them from building up the business of
constructing vessels to engage in inter-
national commerce at a ruinous cost
in the form of taxes to the people of the
country at large.
OF course, however, high-tariff mad
protectionists will consent to nothing
of this kind. The idea of any Ameri-
can citizen being permitted to go into
the markets of the world and purchase
what he may desire to use free of a
tariff tax, although the article pur-
chased may not be manufactured in
his own country, is SO excessively dis
agreeable to the high protection ad-
vocate that he cannot for a moment
conceive of permitting such a thing.
If the president and our national
legislators of his party are really de-
sirous of building up an international
marine carrying business for this coun-
try. let them first provide that the YES
sells for conducting this business may
be purchased in the markets of the
world free of duty. Then, if, in oper-
ating these vessels, it should become
necessary to provide a small subsidy
in order that they may pay their sea-
men the scale of wages which Ameri-
can labor receives in other vocations,
we venture there will be little or no
objection to such a subsidy.
Until this is done, however, we do
not believe that the American people
90 IaV col,