New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-06-26
Foreign-Built Vessels Can
Register Under Stars
and Stripes.
COMMERCE BUREAU
REPORT PUBLISHED
Covers Methods of Various Cow
erumentS in Furthering the
Merchant Marine.

Washington. June Is. - American
shipping now has an opportunity such
as England had fifty years ago. accord
ing 20 a report on Government Aid 70
Merchant shipping" just made public
hv the Bureau Of Foreign and Domestic
Commerce. This opportunity, says the
report, comes az time when American
citizens owning foreign built ships can
ply them under the American flag,
when interest IN foreign trade Is wide
spread. the necessity for foreign mar
kets clearly recognized and the profit
ableness Of shipping under present con-
diuors Is allurinC.
Tho report was written for the bu
rsau by Special Agent Grosvenor NJ.
Jones. author Of several recent works
on shipping, and covers the subject
completely. Il is one result of the
present widespread discussion Of ways
end means Of building up an American
merchant marine. 1t aims to make
clear just what the several govern
ments have done TO assist shipping
The reservation OF cossting trade TO
national ships is one Of the effective
ways in which governments have
helped their merchant marine. says the
rerort The United States, France,
Italy. Austria Hungary, Spain apd Bel
GUM. among the more important mari
time countries, have long reserved their
coas-nc trade.
Go over TO England.
For many years no country Of impOr-
lance other than the United States has
required that ships flying the national
fac hall be % domestic construction.
As O. result Of this free ship policy the
merchant marine Of England received
large accessions during the Civil War,
when more than 100000 tons of Ameri-
can shipping secured English register
20 avoid capture or destruction.
Assistance in the form Of lower rail
rates on goods shipped over specified
steamship lines is a practice that has
been followed in Germany in the case
Of the German Levant and the German
East Africa lines. These diferentials,
by enabling German manufacturers to
sell their products at lower prices in
the countries reached by these lines,
develop German trade and at the same
time increase the traffic on the pre-
fcrred steamship lines. France also
ias made use Of diferential export
2. road rates.
The policy Of granting loans 20 ship
owners at low interest or without in
tcrcst WAS begun, IL is believed, by Aus
tria. The only instance of such q loan
lv the British government was that
made 10 the Cunard Steamship Com
panv under the mail and Admiralty
enbvention contract Of 1908. Under
This contract the British government
loaned the steamship company Sl2,652,-
900 for building two steamers that
would be suitable for use by the Ad-
ulraltv and be the fastest afoat This
brought the Lusitanis and the Maure-
iania.
Exempted from IOrt Dues.
Denmark and Belgium are the only
important countries that have ex-
tended aid 10 shipping by granting ex-
centions from port dues or making re-
imburscn emit for them, although Den
mark withdrew this privilege from the
favored Zines i'm 1910. IL is interesting
90 note that Belgium for many years
previous 20 the war reimbursed the
North German Lloyd. the Kosmos
Line and the United Steamship Com
pauy Of Copenhagen for all pilotage
fees. port dues, etc. paid TO the Bel
gian and Dutch officials.
The policy Of granting indirect aid
70 shipping by reimbursement OF canal
dues was instituted by Russia in 1879.
This practice has been extended from
time TO time, and now provides for the
reimbursement Of the full amount OF
The canal dues paid by Russian steam
ers bound for or sailing from any Rus
sian port In the Far East, and for re-
endorsement Of two-thirds of the full
dues paid by Russian steamers bound
for or sailing from ports on the Indian
Ocean and non-Russian ports on the
Pacific Ocean. The Austrian govern
ment makes a reimbursement OF Suez
Canal dues paid by steamers OF the
Austrian LLOYD. The Swedish govern
ment Is under contract 20 reimburse
the Swedish East Asiatic Company for
60 per cent Of the Suez Canal dues
paid IN 1915, 90 per cent Of those paid
IN 1916 and 90 per cent of those paid in
1917 Italy refunds all Corinth Canal
dues paid by the ships of the Societa
Nazionale di Servizi Marttimi The
French government reimburses the
Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes
FOR Suez Cana. dues.
Taxation Exemption.
Exemption from taxation Is form
Of indirect assistance granted only by
Austria-Hungary and a few of our own
states. A notable law in New York
State exempts from all taxation for
state and local purposes all American
owned ships registered az any port in
the state, If engaged IN the foreign
trade Of the United States.
The granting Of postal subventions
20 steamship lines antedates the bounty
or subsidy system, and is in more gen
eral use throughout the world. Great
Britain was probably the first 10 pay
subventions Of this kind, the first con-
tract Of the sort being made IN 1888.
The United States and France soon fol
lowed suit-the United States IN lo4i
and France I'm 1851. Germany did not
adopt the policy until 1885, when a
contract with the North German Lloyd