New-York tribune., 1910-03-23
Rise and Fall of ". s. Shipping
su5v1NToN POLICY OF FOR



IN the mail bags; they deduct the postage re-
ceiyed and enter the balance as "ioss on the
sSatssr sa o of @ndds h9 S tss accounts S our
government, like others, wisely subsidies 1--WE
must not say protects) our shipping trade TO
very large amount We thus encourage our
foreign ana colonial trade stimulate shipbuiId-
ing. and keep up cheaply fleet OF swift cruis-
eFs. ready for employment in case of war.
10 is true these swift ships alsos carry the
mails. But At the highest possible computation
freighiage on these mails could only amount 20
small portion Of the subsidies. The freight
age only should. therefore, be charged against
postage receipts and the loss" would at once
disappear The balance. paid as subsidies.
should be canddly entered as subsidies In the
budget as is done i'm every other country and
as was. indeed. done in England down 20 1864.
To illustrate what is meant. 10 may be OBJ
served that we now pay shiIlings pound for
conveying letters To America In British ships.
such as the Majestic while we pay only shill-
ing pence pound for letters to America sent
IN the equally good North German Lloyd or the
Tnman thmerican) steamers such as the City
of Paris.
The cunasd and Collins Contest.
The British subsidy 90 the Cunard Line was
deliberately increased in the years before the
Civil War to destroy the Collins Line and Amer
lean steam competition on the North Atlantic.
AS Senator James Ashton Bayard. OF Delaware
father Of Thomas Francis Bayard. said I'm a
debate In Congress on the Collins subsidy, in
1852:
am willing to trust American skin and IN
dustry I'm competition with any people ON the
globe, when they stand nation 90 nation with
out government interference But IL the treas
ury of a foreign nation is poured into the lap of
individuals for the purpose of destroying the
interests OF my country or for building up a
commercial marine at the expense OF the COM
merce and prosperity Of the United States.
for one will count no cost in cOunteracting such
government action on the part OF Great Britain
or any foreign power.
10 Is matter of history how. In the fierce con-
test in Congress over slavery In the years be-
tween 1852 and 1858. the mail subsidies to
American steamships running chiefly from
Northern ports. were withdrawn at the dicta-
tiOn of Southern Democratic leaders then su-
preme in Washington. aided by few men from
the agricultural West. Many liberal Democratic
statesmen. however. resisted TO the lase this
deliberate destruction of American sea power
so clearly portrayed by Senator Bayard. OF Del
aware.
When the postal subsidies were withdrawn by
Congress the American steamship managers
tried bravely 10 run on without them. But they
could not Withstand the Cunard subsidy of
almost 100000 year, and one by one Amer
lean steamships in the European trade were
driven of the passage Commodore Vanderbilt
the ablest steamship manager OF his time. built
some splendid new steamships and tried 20 run
TO Europe without a subsidy. but failed because
ne could not meet the power OF the treasures of
foreign governments. Mr.. Richard Golden. tes-
ufyiDg before the Parliamentary Committee on
Packet and Telegraph Contracts. declared that
the American steamships ceased because the
American government withdrew the subsidy"
Another British free trader, Mr.. Wilson before
the same committee said:
In the face OF these increasing CBritish) sub
sides the American government has altogether
reiinquished the practice of subsidzing their
vessels. and their vessels, OF course, have been
driven of the passage.
This was In the year 1859. Another and.
modern British view Of the cost to the United
States OF the destruction Of the American postal
subsidy system before the Civil War Is given
by Mr.. Henniker Heaton. NJ. p. in The North
American Review" FOR October. 1884,
As American ships were not subsidized their
owners could not compete with the Cunard and
other companies, the art OF shipbuiIdng Ian
guished, and the American CARRYING trade was
trsDspOsed TO foreign bottoms. In 1891 only rs
per cent OF the exports from the United States
were carried I'm American ships which az one
time had cnarOssed 90 per cent. AS a cOnse-
quence OF refusing s5.0OOOOO a year in subsidies
during thirty years TO native shipOwners. or
$lJO.OOO.0O0 the United States had to paw in the
same period not less than $4,000 600 600 for
freiShts. while their mercantile marine ,dwindled
into insigniheaHee
MIR. Blaine to NJ. GIadstone
The Hon. James G. Blaine in his celebrated
reply TO Mr.. Gladstone in 1890. said: