The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1915-06-04
Ocean Trade Has Been Aban-
doned TO Japanese, Says
Maritime Authority
SEANEN'S BILL HITS
COMMERCE VITALITY
With Eyes Wide Open President
Wilson Blots Out Mer-
chant Marine
BY WINTHROP L. MARVIN,
Author of "a History Of the Ameri
can Merchant Marine

|
can Merchant Marine
| The American congress has hauled
down the American flag and given
Japan a monopoly of the great mail,
passenger and freight carrying trade
across the Pacific ocean. To the unin.
formed this NAV seem an incredible
statement, but it is absolutely true,
A little clause in the new seamen 3
law of March 4 last, which President
Wilson promptly signed, requiring that
seN enty FIVE per cent of the crew of
steamship in all departments shall
understand the language of the officers,
has had this far-reaching and disas
! trous consequence, On its face this re
| quirPment is innocent enough and even
praiseworthv. '"0f course" the aver
age man will promptly say, ''the crew
., ship ought to understand the lau-
gua0e of the officers" But general
conditions are such that the inevitable
result OF this pToviso is to drive the
Stars and Stripes of the trans Pacific
route and turn this great trade wholly
over, so far as American seaports are
| = . ~nd 10 the Asiatic. named steam
, ship lines, SO heavily subsidized by the
a anese government.
WRECKS PACING NAH
For many years steamships Of all ma
tioBaIities plying between the western
American coast and Japan and China
have been chiefly manned by industri-
Gus and docile Chinese sailors, fremeR
| and stewards, though on the japanese
lines their own people have been sub
stituted. These Asiatics have been en-
gagged frankly because they were cheap,
| and they wi work for wages of about
/ IS a month. where white men would
| demand $50 to $50. But the Chinese
and the same thing is true of the Japa.
nese-are not only cheap, but reason.
ably efficient and thoroughly ameRable
70 disciDIine. Orders of European or
| American officers are communicated to
the crews through their own leading
men. who know both languages.
What the American congress has now
| demanded is that the Chinese should
go, not orlv from American ships, but
| from British or other European shins
| entering our ports in trans, oceanic com
TCrce. As a quick and certain sequel,
the Pacific Mail management has ~
nouncnd that after November 2 newt,
| two days before the new scamen's law
goes into effect, its entire trans Pacific
service will hc suspended.
No Other Course Possible
No other course is humanity possible.
| The Pacific Mail, as an American steam
ship company. is not subsidized by its
government. But the Togo Risen Kai-
sha. m" Of its IaranpS" COW EDITORS
paralleling its route from San Francisco
TO the Orient, receives subsidy of
q .2Ao."on ii wear. The Osaka Shosen
Kaisha, another Japanese concern. re-.
eeivcs $6o5,00O and the Nippon Yuser
kaisha --"Oth of these running out of
| Puget Sound - receives $23S,O0O. The
| British trans Pacific line, called the
Canadian Pacific Steamship Company,
is subsidized by the British Canadian
| governments to the amount of $21S 900
| n wear.
All Of these foreign competing com
! Panies EMPLOY cheap Oriental labor
Tn" Pacific Mail has done the same,
and through an exceptionally vigorous
and able management has managed to
m"int"l" its service against the sub
| sidlZcd Japanese and British fleets, but
for many years the American company
has paid no dividend.
No Subsidy for Ships
| Now, however, in addition to the
hopeless handicap of these foreign sub
sides, the American congress loads
upon th" American trans Pacific line
the obligation to discharge it's Chinese
| stewards. sailors and irempn, and EN-
| plOy white men at from four to six
times hi"hcr wages. That is to say,
tn" Paeifr Mail Company, without n
subsidy, is required by the mandate Of
the American congress to compete with
inr"I|n concerns. generously subsidized
ana allowed, moreover, to retain Asiatic
crews
Not even an extraordinarily capable
American management can meet these
overwhelming conditions, and the Amer.
itah SHIPS are therefore to be with.
drawn. The British Pacific company,
that sails out Of the Canadian port
OF Vancouver - not subject to our
Seam"n : law. The japanese steamers
come to American ports, but their Japa.
mes" crews understand the language OF
their JaPancs" officers.
British and Japanese ships, unhin.
d"red. will continue to run, and after
November next any American citi-
zen travelling from an American Pacific
port to the Orient will have TO sail
under japanese cOlOrs -- bee ause the
lawmakers of the United States have
forced the stars and Stripes from the
Parihr ocean
when congress took this sxtraoTdi.
nary step it was with fnll knowledge
OF tn" consequences. The Pacific Mail
managers had told senators and repro.
sentatiVes precisely what would follow.
There was an opportunity to put Ameri.
can ships on an equality with foreign
ships hv granting mail pay or naval
re'erNe pay equivalent to foreign sub.
sidies
But congress- would not and did not
1t" TINS. With eyes wide open, Presi.
drnt Wilson and his followers blotted
their "Ount"y'S flag Off the sea-Aand
FOR thus Us for some other things,. there
Is gong to be stern and speedy ae.
counting