Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1915-02-03
"WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1915.
OLD SHIP sUesIDYs LAST DITCH

WEDNESDAY, - - > :
OLD SHIP sU9sIDY's LAST DITCH
The great Europ can war has disar-
ranged the deep-sea commerce; OF
? this country. The German and Aus
, trian merchant ships have been driv-
en- from the ocean, and hundreds of
English and French merchant ships,
formerly engaged in our ocean-carry-
ing trade, are now used by those
countries for war purposes. Since the
Civil war this country has had very
few ships engaged in overseas COM
merce. These conditions are in
4 juriously affecting this country's
foreign trade which exceeds four bill
/ lion five hundred million dollars a
year. .5.. s;I2. II. "A 55.S 7, 5s
To relieve this condition the Will
4 son administration fayors the pur-
chase Of merchant ships by this
y country and their operation until
normal conditions are restored. 5,r
This prop osition naturally calls for
\: q review Of the causes which have
deprived this country Of merchant
marine: IN ll 1851, when the Civil war
4 commenced the United States had a
large fleet Of merchant ships engag-
II ed in foreign trade. Some Of these
ships were destroyed by privateers,
but the larger part Of them took out
foreign registry. s .' ]. Is.
The civil war brought into exist
y ence q protective tariff, which was
e more deadly enemy to American
merchant ships than southern privat-
GERS. III i. tsst 81.
To the provisions that forbade
American registry to foreign-built
ships were added the high duties on
\ the materials that entered into ship
4 building. .yss .s]s .:,@sat%. IS:
Not satisfied with this, American
\ shipbuilders secured the passage Of
a law at the end of the Civil war
that forbade American registry to
1 any ship that had ever flown for
eign flag. ,es,-> !, .,-@8.e ~:
The authors of these laws natural
~ expected government subsidy to
enable them to- compete with foreign
ship owners on equal terms. During
all of these intervening years they:
have clamored for a subsidy without
success, and our merchant marine
has steadily decreased. Those who
are engaged in It have refused to
invest dollar without another dol
lar Of subsidy. \: III $ .ssp
h Recent legislation has given Amer
4 lean ship masters the privilege of
buying ships in the free markets Of
the world, but they have not invest
ed to any great extent. They say
4 they are still at a disadvantage be
cause they cannot hire their seamen
as cheaply as their foreign compel
itors. Be this as it may, there seems
to be no immediate prospect for re-
lief without government action Of
some kind. .s.st r s.m -.
/ /, The foreign ship owners have in
B creased their freight rates from $50
to 1850 per cent. and President Will
son proposes to break this strangle-
hold upon our trade by having this
y government own and operate large
fleet OF merchant vessels.
If government owned merchant
ships can be profitably operated, the
clamor for ship subsidies will cease,
and every subsidy interest is fight
Ing desperately to prevent the pass
age Of the ship-Purchase Bill now be-
ing debated day and night by the
United States Senate.
5%R If the United States is given the
right to purchase free ships and hire
I free crews there is no doubt about
+ it's ability to compete successfully
with all mankind. =
This government has spent many
millions of dollars in helping farm
ers, stock raisers and those engaged
in other lines of business how to
manage their Industries to better adj
: vantage, and we see no reason why
Uncle. Sam may not with equal pro-
priety spend a few, millions in CIV
ing our ship builders an up-to-date
object lesson, and at the same time
relieve all the people from extortion-
ate ocean freight rates.
u.