New-York tribune., 1910-03-23

gooi W yth lhe great march torWart or oOf
eom1'ersidt rlvdi OF Old has been witnessed and
everywhere recognized and the representatives
OF The people Of the United States have SAT In
their two houses of legislation as dumb a.
though they could not speak and have not Of
tered single remedy or a single aid.
DURING these years In which Congress has not
stepped forward 90 DO one thing for the foreign
commerce OF this country. for All that vast
external transportation whose importance the
- nator ron kent1ezy has not exaggerated. but
haS sefUnBy ueptcted. the same Congress has
passed ninety-twO acts In aid OF internal trans
poraton Dy rail; has given 200.000.000 acres Of
she Pu1hc iands. worth to-day thousand mill
toh dollars ~ money. and has added 900
I'm cash, and yet, I repeut N has extended the
aid OF scarcely single dollar 90 build Up our
foreign commerce..
Rear Admiral Bedford PIN. one OF the greatest
Of British authorities on maritime affairs. has
declared:
IL has been the policy OF the British govern
ment 10 establish or, rather. TO encourage the
establishment OF British steamship lines BY the
annual payment Of a postal subsidy. and this
with the most gratifying result as regards the
expansion OF British commerce. I know Of no
instance OF a British postal line OF steamers
originally established without a subsidy for car
rying the mails.
British Subsidies Not Paid 70 Foreigners.
10 Is often asserted by American free traders
that the British government awards its steam
ship subsidies to the lowest bidders. That is
exactly the policy also OF the United States But
subsidies to foreigners IL they are the lowest
bidders. In this matter Great Britain is the
most rigid and uneompromising OF protection
lists. Thirty years ago a fine French postal line
OF steamers TO the Far East, the "Messageries
Imperiales." offered 20 convey the British mails
To Asia for mere fraction Of the enormous sum
of tf,s0os000 year which the British PeninsUlar
and Oriental Company was receiving for this
service. The very idea of sending British mails
and paying British postal money to foreign ships
was secuted in the House OF Commons. Mr.
Crawford. for example. said:
Now, what desire to do on this occasion is
the interests OF the country and the interest OF
commerce. and in justice TO our own companies,
against the ships Of the "Messageries ImpeFi-
ales or OF any other foreign company. being
employed in the conveyance OF our Eastern
mails loud cheers from an parts Of the
house) You may carry the principle OF econ
proceedings would be free trade gone mad.
think IL Is rather too much to expect that the
interests or TINS country. commercial. social and
political should be made to depend upon the
good VIII Of any foreign nation whatever. CRe-
newed cheers.)
This policy so aptly described as free trade
gone mad" was thereupon left by the British
Parliament to prOtectionist America.
In 1887 the question again came up In Par
lament for the renewal Of the mail subsidy 20
the PeninSuiar and Oriental Steamship Com
pany Of s1,325,0O0 year for ten years for car
ryins the mails to India and China az a speed
varying from 112 to 123 knots. Informa-
tion was laid before the House Of Commons
that French and German steamships Of suDe-
rior speed were willing 10 convey the mails
Tor from One-fOurth to One-half less postage
than the British steamers. This proposition was
vehementiy rejected. Mr.. Goshen. long Chan
eelior Of the Exehequer. declaring that the SER
vices for which the British PeninsuIar and
Oriental Company was subsidized were ser
vices which are postal IN one sense. but which
arc undertaken partly for political commercial
and other objects" And Postmaster General
Raikes declared:
i think that If the honorable member onl,y
took the pains TO study the course OF uubIic
opinion he would find that a contract vVffh fha
North German line or the Messageries Maritiroes
would have very slight chance OF being adOpt-
ed oy The House Of Commons
The subsidizing of foreign ships is a policv
which Is seriously advocated nowhere except in
the United States. There is one line of Arneri-
can steamships running across the North AT
lantic from New York to SOUTHAMPTON. Thess
four American steamers are the ST Louis. the
50. Paul. the New York and the PhiIadeInhia
%O-knOt ships, conducting a weekly service
throughout the year. When this line was estab-
iished twelve years ago il was the only 2O-knot
weekly service ON the North Atlantic. and II
remained the OrsIV v-aeEIvr earv-ioa % .,s-