The citizen., 1911-04-07


ards quarters) Here the men must live, eat,
sleep and keep their clothing. 1t has been de-
scribed as too large for coffin and too small for
a grave" 1t is unsanitary dark and dirty
The American sailor is compelled to sign away
in the foreign trade his right to part of the wages
due him at ports Of call Consular agents have de-
clared this to be the most prolific cause of deser-
tions from American ships The act of December
81, 1898, gives the sailor right to half the wsges
that may be due him at any port of call, but add
unless the contrary be expressly stipulated in the
contract" The ship-owners to it that this
stipulation is always made.
The sailor must compete with the unskilled
and destitute of all nations and races, because the
law to citizenship repealed in 1864. and the
operation Of maritime insurance has reduced the
standard of skill In seamen. No standard of eff
cheney has been supplied by law. The ship-owners
may hire whom they please and as few men as the
inspectors will let them. There is no standard to
guide the inspectors. And so the sailor must do
the unskilled mans work at sea because the work
has to be done and there is one else to do it.
Often he must risk his life because the vessel is
undermanned and unskilfully manned Because
of this competition with the foreigner, his wages
are as small the wages of the cheapest port OF
call Of his vessel, and he cannot get enough to
marry and live a normal life AS vessels grow
larger his chances to decent livelihood grow
smaller.
Big BUSINESS cOncelVeS Sn1pS TO De lot In0
purpose of making money, not for the purpose OF
carrying goods from place to place; for the pur-
pose of piling up dividends matter at whose
expense the dividends piled up no matter at
what cost to the sailor or to you and me. 1t
would take away cargo space to provide decent
living quarters for sailors shipboard and less
cargo means less dividends. To load vessel so
as to minimize the danger from shifting cargo
less cargo also Better food, more men
and ckiIIad me al thara-
fore Big Business, which is not compelled to take
risks because its property is insured refuses these
things. In fine, 1t is much cheaper to run vessels
with slaves; therefore Big Business employs
slaves.
Not only is American commerce being con-
Quoted by vessels flying foreign flags, but Ameri-
can oversee commerce in American ships Is being
handled by foreign seamen. The astounding fact is
true that not only has America fewer sailors than
any other nation on the face of the globe, but the
great majority of the men In the American
merchant marine are men of other nations. AND
the majority of American seamen sailing, by
choice, under the flags of other nations than
their own. So when trust lives and our
goods on the high seas, entrust them to foreign
seamen slaves on under-manned vessels living
under conditions that have driven Americans from
the sea. That is what concerns U.S. And 1t con-
vitally.
Statistics published by the United States com
missioner of navigation show that out of every
hundred American seagoing steamers of over one
hundred tons for the past seven years. an average
of 224 have been lost each year, and that out Of
every hundred foreign seagoing steamers of over
one hundred tons for the same period. an average
of only 1.9S have been lost Out of every hundred
American seagoing vessels of over fifty tons for
the past seven years an average of Alb have been
lost each year. and out Of the same number OF
foreign seagoing sail vessels of over fifty TONS the
loss has been only 297 a year.
On the Pacific ocean the situation is almost in
tolerable. The United States commissioner of
navigation in his report for 1S9s-99, page 20, de-
cared: THE crews of our steamships plying
to China and Japan are almost wholly Chinese and
japanese shipped before American consuls at
foreign ports where the vessels enter and clear r
And this condition has grown worse instead Of
better since that time