Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-03
AMERICAN SHIPPING

w publican as we'll as Democratic,
in various parts of the United
States are adopting the point OF view
presented by Los Angeles Herald with
regard to high tariff and ship subsidy.
Since high tariff necessitates ship SUBJ
sidy (and there can be no doubt 1t
does), then high tariff is detrimental
to one of Americas greatest interests.
the shipping interest, to the impor-
tance of which this nation must be
aroused. We are aware there are vast
inland regions of the United States the
inhabitants Of which never saw ship,
and have only such an idea of the ma
ture of the ocean as may be obtained
from the meager and inadequate de-
scriptions published in physical geog-
raphies" or the rhapsodical inaccura-
cies of poets. To these people-and
there are MILLIONS of them-it is diff
flcult to convey a sympathetic under
standing of the maritime aspects of the
United States.
They are willing and able to talk in
land commerce and railroading and
the details which to them mean mar
kets or no markets, profits or no profits.
But IT is hard to arouse them to an
interest in the merchant marine. Well
equipped with waterways, with mer-
chant marine the equal Of that of any
other nation, and with the Panama
canal connecting the two great oceans.
the United States will experience a
tremendous commercial emancipation
in the benefits Of which every man,
woman and child in the country, but
particularly the presently apathetic in
land dwellers, will participate.
Now, this is the AMERICAN point Of
view. Enlightened Republicans share
it with practically all Democrats and
all political independents" In a re-
cent issue the Springfield (Mass.)
Republican, the name of which indi-
Gates Its political policy, said:
1--WE can never get to the bottom
of the disappearance of American ship
ping In the oversee trade until we ap-
proach it from the tariff side. Through
the tariff the costs of building ships
in the United States have been raised
25 per cent or more above the cost in
the United Kingdom. And our ex-
treme tariff policy was intended to
have, and inevitably must have, effect
In turning national attention from the
exterior to the interior trade and In
making this a less advantageous mar
ket to buy manufactured commodities
in than the South American countries
can find in Europe. So Brazil sells its
In Europe; and Argentina sends its
wool past our high-taxed market to
the free European markets and ex-
pends the proceeds there"
In this statement our eastern con-
temporary is entirely too conservative.
The cost of building ships in the Unit
ed States has increased nearer 100 per
cent.
The Florida Times Union says: let
the Republican party give American
shipbuilders free raw material so that
they will be able to build ships as eco
nomically as they can be built else
where Then let IL give the American
people the privilege of buying their
ships where they can buy them cheap
est and the flag will be seen every
where once more"
The Louisville Courier-Journal. in a
characteristic editorial, remarks;
THAT we ought to have a respectable
fleet of merchantmen and that we need
auxiliary ships to complete the eff
cacy of the navy nobody denies. But
a ship subsidy law of the kind pro-
posed would have one result that could
be depended on. 1t would make our
system of graft amphibious. 1t would
restore piracy, the successors Of Cap
tain Kidd, with gentlemanly bucca-
neers sitting comfortably at roller-top
desks taking tribute"
The United Kingdom and Germany
grant moderate subsidies and shipping
interests have been helped thereby
But these gifts to independent enter
prises should only be made after all
protection-h -hindrances have been taken
from the merchant marine. To cramp
an industry, and then to subsidize 1t
to relieve the cramp, is like admins
tering "the thumbscrews" to a victim
and giving him an anaesthetic when he
"hollers."