New-York tribune., 1910-03-23

4
any part Of the loan became due an exactly
equal amount Of the subsidy became due, so
that az the end OF twenty years neither the
Mauretania nor the Lusitana will have cost
iho cunard Line one cent. All the cunard peo-
pie have 90 do Is 20 make a profit over the oper-
ating expenses Of these two magnificent boats.
NJ would cost 90 build these ships In an Ameri-
can yar sS.125.OO0 each. or s16,2J0OOO for the
two We would pay not less than per cent
for our money, as against 2A per cent In Eng
iand The handicap as between two American
boats. built in American yards on the same
plans and patterns with the Mauretania and the
Lusitania. would amount in the course OF the
lifetime OF the ship for each ship 10 nearly VII
100000, and in the mean time the British ships
are gwen 90 the British company and the Amer
,can company would have 70 pay for its sh'ps'
T. What Canada Has Done.
s"Ihis is an extreme Illustration, but all of our
trade rivals on competing routes subsidizs 20
a extent sufficient to enable their boats 20 get
The trade -Four years ago there was no trade
between Montreal and South Africa. Three
years ago a tramp steamer started from Mon
treal taking $4,000 cargo 10 Cape Town. The
next year the Canadian government established
a regular line by a subsidy. Last year that line
carried s2JO0OOO worth OF Canadian products
60 Cape Town. The price ton for freight from
Montreal 10 Cape Town by this lire Is "a 26. The
price a ton for freight from New York 10 CapO
Town under the flag Of our trade rivals is SO 20
Our trade rivals who were struggling with us
for the trade Of South America carry our goods
Co South America for us. and charge US from
10 90 20 per cent more a ton than they charge
their own people 90 the same ports. and they
cary their own goods longer distances. Hav-
ing strangled our competition with them for
South American carrying trade they put up the
price Of coffee from Brazil from 20 cents bag
10 10 cents bag, and we are compelled to
endure the increase. Latin America has
creased its commerce $lO0O00OO0 a year for
ten years, and 90 per cent of this increase has
gone 20 our trade rivals. We buy 80 per cent OF
what AL South America has 10 sell. but South
America buys OF us less than per cent Of all
she has TO buy We have been bIindly indiner-
snt 60 the energetic. TenOrseless and intelligent
rtrangulaton OF our overseas trade. as though
we dcspised a. What would say of the stu
pidity Of a powerful manufacturing concern in
any given city which might have seven or eight
rivals In the same line of business competing for
the custom Of the same markets which should
permit its trade rivals 10 mOnOpolize the means
Of transportation that they could control Its
freight rates 10 the same markets TO which they
were sending their own goods at rates fixed BY
themselves? And suppose this great manufaet-
nring concern was the richest and most power
fat Of an the group. perhaps richer than all of
them put together and suppose that It's very life
depended upon the access of its goods TO these
markets But this is precisely what the United
States IS doing, IT il permitting it's trade rivas
10 own and monoDOlize the access 20 both the
developed markets and the undeVelOped markets
of the world