The Hawaiian gazette., 1915-06-22
MAIL TO
+. p OUT IN AUTUMN
Yss~ y
So Says Special Despatch To San
Francisco Chronicle From
New York

The latest story of the plans of the
Pacific Mail comes in the San Fran
cisco Chronicle, which prints, under
date of June 10, the following special
despatch from New York: r..3--
Through inability to comply with the
seamen's bill and continue to meet
the Japanese competition in the Pa
eific ocean, and because of the Panama
canal act which prohibits steamship
lines controlled by n railroad company
to carry freight and passengers be
tween Pacific and Atlantic ports via
tho canal, it is the intention of the
management of the Pacific Mail steam
ship company to sell its vessels as
soon as possible, and then dissolve.
This means the end of the only
American steamship line on the Pa
cifc. A rise of ga points in the com
pany's stock on the exchange today
was attributed to the fact that be
| cause of the European war ships are
more valuable today if they can be
operated under other than United
States regulations.
OF the outstanding capital Of $50.
| 100000 more than 81 100000 is held
by the Southern Pacific Company.
Owns Thirteen Vessels
The steamship company now owns
thirteen vessels, with a book value
of $ll ,29S,000. Because of the pas
sage of the Panama canal act, the
Pacific Mail company was forced to
! cancel an order for four big steam
ships, to, cost $l2,0O0,O00. The man
agement announced, however, that it
would continue to keep ships in Orer-
alton between the Orient and the
Pacific Coast, in competition with four
big Japanese lines heavily subsidized
by the Japanese government. The
passage of the seamen s act, prohibit
ing employment of Oriental crews,
however, has made this impossible.
Cost Is Too Great
In table compiled by the com.
pany it is shown that the total in
crease in wages and cost of feeding
crews which would result by oper
ating under the seamen's act would
amount to $902.04 for coastwise trade
and $G2l ,542 for deep sea traffic. The
company has already announced that
Il would cease to sail its ships across
the Pacific ocean ON November .. r
p. Schwerin, vice president and gen
craI manager, said to Congress com
mittee recently:
80 If you had struggled for twenty
wears. as I have, taken a line that
was $l,25O, 900 in debt, doubled it,
traffic by slow, hard labor, RAISED
$l2 O0O,0 900 to build four 37OO0-tor
ships to put into the trade from New
York to the Philippines and You were
defeated by Congress through tn,
canal hin and the seaman 3 act,
think YOU would be little disrour
aged.
Done With the flag
81 have given twenty years Of m!
life, morning, noon and night, to SEE
the American flag on the ocean, an'
if those four ships had been built
would have had four more for tn,
coast of South America and four mcr
equal to the lmpeTator, all under thu
American flag. As it is, am dom
with the American flag forever.
would not raise my hand to raise
dollar for American shipping. | hav
no interest in the shipping business
| am about to retire.
Mr.. Schwerin pointed ont that tn
Panama canal act killed tn" Pacif
Mails trade for, the Atlantic coas
and that the Seamen : art put an en-
to the compauy''s Pacific ocean bust
ness. which was all there was to Kill
Increase In Income
The Pacific Mail company rrpor
for the year ended April 80, issue
TODAY, showed a gross income Of 81
u4G. sol, compared with $S49 500 tn
previous wear. Deductions from grrs
income lett IA net income Of $SSS,4S
an increase of $l77641.
The increase in business. the rtpor
saws. is entirely attributable to tn
orr, rtions of Transatlantic line due t
conditions brought on by the Europca
war Many of the ships of the belIil
rrrnts w"re taken out of service II
result of which the company wa
able to obtain larger proportion q
the traffic.