The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-09-19
AME R|CANS WILL
BENEFIT BY CANl
NEW STEAMSHIP COMPANY - Or
GAINED no BID FOR MAIL gs
CONTRACT,
BALTIMOREAN AT HEAD
CALLED by GOVERNMENT TO INS2
sE>TIGNTE. HE DECIDES TO
RE-ENTER SHIPPING
BUSINESS
BY VICTOR ELLIOTT.

the movement to make commercial Il
use OF the Panama Canal by Americana
has taken definite shape, and IL the
Atlantic and Pacific Transport Lino
gets the mail contract from the gov.
oF"mtat, which il has bid for. this
great Investment at the Isthmus win
Sooi' nave an Industrial as we'll as =
mtiltary value.
More lhth x year aso the governs I'll
mont tedlllcd tor the Hrst time tnaI y
INC Sititcd suites " as spending nearly
ID ONION dollars 10 bulid a canal and
that Americans had not a merchant
SNIP that would so through it, 1t Il
true ti4t tins country mas d great navat
meet when might pass backward ana
4"I WdFu- Dut II any commerce made Il
use 81 tH@ canal, this commerce would
nav to depend upon foreign bottoms.
Inns Was because there are prac.
u'a4ty no American ships in the
""fId s merchant marine. There are +
plenty Oh coast-Wtse vessels flying the
american mas, but there are no trans.
VSe"h Vessels, aside from line from
Ne" horA 10 Europe, and one line from
tho facAiIe Coast to the orient.
Great Opportunity.
rms was the situation which for.
IhtF secretary Of War Wright forcsaw
When tie asked Bernard ~ Baker. of
baltimore an expert steamshipman.
l" investigates. AIR. Baker went to
Panama twice. then to the Pacitfc
Coast /" ice, He returned and mada
d report This report was to the at. Il
tect mat tins greatest steamship on.
PuFtu44It$ OF the century awaited some-
p"oS Who could get Into business be-
tween tue two coasts with the guar. III
aniee Of The contracts for carrying the
A1ted states mails.
Suoa5iS 10 tiie TAFT administration.
secretary right had retired from the
CABINET, ana secretary Dickerson had
come H. President Taft had not taken
an interest one way or another in
the proposition. Later, however. tho .
merchants VINO have been at the mercy
81 the traisconttnental railroads many
ears began 70 cry out for help. They
began 10 realize the advantage the
canal VIII De to them. If used. and be-
sah calling upon the administration
ana GoH&rcs4 Tor action
ms resulted In the Investigation
bE tae lnteroeean Committee of the
senate Al that time the Baker re-
Port came up, ana was made the basis
ioF the INVESTIGATION, At the same
TIME the recommendation that the
oceaa mali contract was all the help
. new steamship company might need
was passed along to Postmaster Gens
/ eraI Hitchcock. He studied the sug-
sestlon ana read the law
Mail Contracts
few weeks ago the Postmaster
General announced that he was now
prepared To enter into contracts for
( carrying the mails betwe cen the two
coasts and Panama. and that he would
/ use has authority in this connection
10 encourage the organization of a
great American steamship line to en-
gage the freight and passenger BUSH
ness between the two coasts. In due
course he issued his specifications.
These provided for weekly steam.
ship service between New York and
New Orleans on the east coast to
Colon, and weekly service between
san Francisco and Panama on the
west coast. Fortnightly service be-
| tween Seattle and Portland and
| Panama Is also required. The At
! !aatlc coast steamers were TO touch
at Charleston or ttt savannah, en- routa
10 and from New y ork and Colon
As soon as these specifications were
issued II was found that the goy-
eminent had decided that thsusteam.
ship line 10 be favored with mAh COM
tracts must he independent Of transs
continental railroads.. In other wodds.
/ these lines were not allowed to mo-
nppoiize the business and control rates
Z ~ 9Nh4AAS IViaiRtlluS SASdiuSNlp lines
1t was made clear in the specifi-
cations that no stakeholder in the
steamship line winning the contracts
L5r earry.ng the mails was to have
+ any interest in any tranSconttnetal
railroad. Nc director In one should
/ Lave any interest in tho other, This
condition was safeguarded when tho
I postmaster general reserved the right
/ 10 cancel mail contract with I
xttha
Produced that stockholders or d.r4.-
| tors Of the steamer company warA
I Interested III a competing railroad
BiLef Enters Field.
As soon Is these specifications weru
/ published MI, Baker decided that
( ne WoGic agsin enter the steauship
business and would bid for the nia1
contracts. lie had been president ana
founder OF the Atlantic TRANSPORT
,~l-sEle;sa highly ptosbefuus confpxIy
prior 10 its absorption by the Inter-
national Mercantile Marine, and COM
Guided that he would take ADVANTAGE
/ of the conditions that he had recoun~
| mended for others
| This decision resulted in the orr
| ganization of the Atlantic and Pacific
| Transport Company, a SIS 000, 900 corr
poration, chartered under the laws
/ OF New Jersey This company pro~
/ poses to build fifteen big steamships
/ OF the most modern design. They
/ VIII be 10000 ton vessels. and will
! have n sailing speed of about lis knots
/ an hour. They viii carry passengers
AS well as freight.
/ The important phase of the Situaes
tion is the fact however, that Amert~
can shipping interests have decided Il
not TO allow the English and German 4
/ lines 10 capture all the business u \
/ I've created by the opening Of the
! Panama canal II means that the
American merchant marine will once
mole he revived TO some extent, an6A
revived without a subsidy from Con-
gl'ess. 1t means too. that the shtp-#
ptrs on the Atlantic and Pacific coaSems
viii have a. steamship competitions &c
1 the movement of freight.
! TX is an accepted theory that ~
steamship can carry ton Of frolG2lIS
| five miles cheaper than a train ca&y
| carry 1t one mile. That Is the 49,
upon which the steamship un6
| operating hetwe en- the two coasts vv1(*
compete with the railroads 1t II n&6E
Ave times RS far between New YoW%&
and San Francisco via. the canal a3sa
IL is over the most direct yatlfQ{
| line. There tore the margin OF pFn1x
/ is in favor of the steamship comnnn5
Particularly Ii this true whAn
contracts are sltAApsA