The Washington herald., 1912-11-13
WEDNESDAY. NOVEMBER 49, 1872.
To Aid American Ship Building.

The regulations prepared by the
Treasury Department to carry out the
free material" section of the Panama
Canal act have been revised by Secre-
tary MacVeagh and will be signed by
him in a few days. The Secretary has
decided to give liberal construction to
the act, so liberal, in fact, that perhaps
concerns like the Fore River or New
port News Shipbuilding Companies
could import free of duty every article
that would enter into the construction,
Quitting. and equipment of a vessel
and assemble the same as the product
of an American Shipyard. The revised
regulations also will authorize the free
admission of articles of outfit and
equipment and the replacement of the
same, thus enabling the Navy Depart
ment, for instance, to purchase all but
consumable supplies abroad. The law
! provides thus:
All materials of foreign production
/. which may be necessary for the con-
struction or repair of vessels built in
the United States and all such mate
rails necessary for the building or re-
pair of their machinery and all articles
necessary for their outfit and equip
ment may be imported into the United
States free of duty under such regula-
! tlCns as the Secretary of the Treasury
may prescribe. This clause applies, as
= stated, only to vessels which shall en-
gage in the foreign trade
The word vessel is contrued to mean
all watercraft such as are now docu-
smented under the law, also revenue
cutters, naval vessels, and other gov
! eminent craft.
Materials are interpreted to be any
imported article which may enter into
the construction or repair of a ship or
its machinery, and is taken by the de-
.partment to mean not only raw mate
rails of the character of pig iron and
lumber, but completed machinery. like
marine engines, dynamos, and other
machines which might be ready for in
slant operation. None of these articles
will be admitted free if to be resold.
Outfit and equipment is construed to
mean everything that would be placed
aboard the ship to make her ready for
sea, except provisions, wines, coal,
medicines, and like articles that are
conSumable. A ship, in other words,
; may be completely QUILTED abroad ex-
-cept as to certain minor articles of
relatively little value in her permanent
equipment Suitable provision for
warehousing and release is made.
This decision oVerrules the previous
decision OF the Treasury Department
tnot promulgated oficially) that Con-
gress contemplated the free admission
only of articles i'll the rough, but would
forbid replacement 1t is not the. opin-
ion of the officials that any great vol
sume of free import will be created by
the new law. In fact, leading ship
builders have informed the department
that they did not care how broadly
Or how narrowly-the law was con-
strued, if only they could be informed
promptly of what the construction of
the law was
For years there was a provision for
the free entry of shipbuilding materials
for ships to engage in the foreign
trade, and in at least one instance the
department has decided that a COM
Pleted engine might come in. The point
is made that as the chief cost of con-
struction of a ship is labor, the United
States cannot seriously compete with
foreign countries in shipbuilding, be-
cause of our high wages, notwithstand-
ing that we can produce materials al
most as cheaply as any other country.
Before deciding upon the new regula-
tons, high Treasury officials held con-
ferences with members of the House
and Senate who were active in getting
the free materials clause through Con-
gress and have inferred that it was the
intent of the lawmakers-though per-
haps written only crudely into the bill
TO open our doors as widely as pos
sible to the encouragement of Ameri-
San slipbuilding.