The National tribune., 1910-01-27

he caught sight OF him. The incident
has an element of the ludicrous as Illus
trating how well-laid legislative plans
go awry.
In the old days the Maine Senator
was the first to be consulted, when
ship subsidy legislation was under
consideration. He bears the scars OF
many battles waged for the success of
that cause Almost 10 years ago he
was first bearing down upon the Sem
ate with ship subsidy bills. There were
debates of months duration. The oppo-
nents employed all the tactics they
could think of, but in every Congress
Mr.. Frye got his ship subsidy bill thru
the Senate and put it up to- the
House. 1t was said that some of the
bills were bad bills" but whether
they were or not, Senator Frye estab-
lished out of his years of fighting some
recognized principles as to what a snip
subsidy law should be.
Finally he grew weary and left IT TO
Senator Gallinger, of New Hampshire,
TO fight the subsidy battles at that end
of the Capitol! And even Senator Gal
Iinger grew aweary and Joined with
Senator Frye in saving: Let the House
do something first. When they enact
a bill we will look after our end of it.
So the lieutenants of the House have
done the scouting and deployinS dur
ing the last two or three years. They
secuted and deployed this year The
indispensable preliminarles of PreSlden-
tial Endorsement and the like were at
tended TO There We're conferences
and parleys too numerous to count. At
last, during the holidays. it was all
fixed up" With a great whoop-la,
the announcement came that the bill
had been drawn. 1t would extend the
provisions of the postal subsidies to
ships of lower speed on outward
VOYAGE of 1000 miles. It would in
crease tonnage taxes. 1t would admit
ships free to American registry when
those ships were to engage in the for
eign trade
The Senate Not Consulted.
No one had gone to the trouble of
consulting Senator Frye about it, or,
for that matter, any other Senator.
The House lieutenants were simply
looking out for their side of the case.
They reasoned that anything the House
would agree to would be accepted by
the Senate.
The very first day the bill was out.
Senator Frye had put on his great coat
of an afternoon, stuck his hands deep
down into the pockets thereof, and
started for his hotel. Grim as a sphinx
he was proceeding, when one interrupt
ed him in the corridor to tell him about
that bill.
He hit it powerful tunll on the head
Immediately. Free ships!" exclaimed
the Senator "I was always against
that. No bill providing for free ships
can have my vote"
Ever since that hour the ship sub
sidy bill has been expiring. The Sena-
tor did not get exercised about the
matter He contented himself with
that incisive statement and allowed the
situation to develop. But men have
been fiocking to Washington to pounce
upon that subsidy bill, and they have
battered and bruised it till friends are
ashamed to acknowledge their willing
ness to support it. The Maine and
New England shipping interests, which
were the foremost in urging subsidies
in the old days-subsidies, however,
that would reward cargo-carrying
ships rather than mail ships-have
fallen in behind the veteran Maine Sem
atOr. The 1ukewarm Western Repre-
sentatives. who have always hung back
about subsidies, Immediately took the
position that they did not care to eX-
plain to their constituents why they
voted for a subsidy bill which Senator
Frye could not support. And so mat
ters went from bad to worse for the big
brother in the legislative crush, and he
has been slowly. but steadily, sinking.
The Middle West is again af'ame with
opposition, and when the Middle West
and New England join hands against
given form of ship subsidy, it is all
! over.
There seems to be something fortui-
| tous about the efforts to obtain a ship
subsidy law. More battles have been
fought for it in the last Is years than
for any other legislative proposition.
once the Senate passed bill, the House
passed one in somewhat different form,
and it seemed at last that some sub
sidy legislation would be placed upon
the statute book. But when ii came
. to the conference proceedings the ses-
| sion was almost at an end; not only
: the session. but the Congress. That
! was in February, 1907. 1t happened
| that Senator Carmack, of Tennessee, ar
| implacable foe of ship subsidy, was
about to retire to private life. He as
sumed the responsibility of talking the
conference report on the ship subsidy
bill to death. Accordingly the legisla-
ton failed right at the threshold o.
success. Two years later the Senate
passed another subsidy bill. The House
took 1t up, after weeks of canvassinG
and of efforts to get majority into
| line. Everything promised well, bu
| two or three Republicans baked and
the bill failed of a majority in the
House by about that number Of votes