New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-02-01
The Revised Shipping Bill.

! he NSNiSSd OiiippllS DAH'
81 am not what | am" said Iago. Like
wise the Administrations new shipping
bill is not what it is. The bill fathered
las, wear by President Wilson and Secre-
tarv McAdoo provided for government
ownership and operation Of merchant yes
sells in competition with private owners.
Il was clcar-cut application Of the theory
Of state socialism. 1t was passed 10y a
Democratic House and defeated in a
Democratic Senate, Mr. Wilson said that
the Senate in defeating ii misrepresented
the people. Yet with the House still
Democratic and the Senate more Demo
cratic than it was last year, the Admins
tration has not ventured 10 reintroduce a
straight-out government ownership and
operation measure. The new bill wears
gum shoes and q mask.
The main purpose. however. is about the
same-to take S5O.OOO0OO out Of the Fed
eral treasury and spend it purchasing
merchant ships. Just what the govern
rent is 10 90 with these ships after II
gets them is left in the shadow. They are
TO constitute an auxiliary fleet for naval
use. They may be leased or resold 10
private shipping companies They may
even be opes ated by the government as
ordinary freighters All these details are
slurred over and left to the discretion Of a
shipping board. which is, besides. 10 take
over the duty Of regulating interstate
and foreign commerce by water. now per
'ormed by the Interstate Commerce
Commission.
Most Of these provisions are merely
trimmings to conceal the real object at
which the Administration aims-that is,
o extort tactical victory from Congress,
inilar in effect to the diplomatic vic
;orv on the submarine issue sought TO be
cxtorted from Germany. The President
and Mr.. McAdoo want to be able TO re-
pair their defeat Of last winter-to prove
20 the country that Congress has yielded
o them on the government ownership idea.
4 they can vindicate the principle OF gov
eminent ownership by getting S5O,O0O,-
400 appropriation Tor the purchase of
ships, it viii be Of comparatively little
consequence. what happens thereafter %
Z the s5OOQOOOO
20 win their moral victory 1ey ar.
of ..
financial tncocia of Mr. Wilson's recent
message 10 Congress. The President told
Congress Chat ho could not consent 20 an
issue o. bonds 90 meet the cost oi na-
honal enterprises except when perma-
acnt things are TO be accomplished which
many generations viii certainly benefit
~ and which 1t seems hardly fair that q
rgle generation should pay for lie
r.iused to consider preparation for ma
''onal defence such am undertaking Of per
manent benefit he has declined to ISSUE
bonds to meet either the cost o. current
construction ON the Panama Canal or q
reimburse the Treasury for cash advance
on earlier construction. The Panam;
Canal is also not to be classified as an
enterprise of permanent value. But while
insisting On raising OV taxation The money
to pay for naval and military preparation
and for further construction a. Panama, he
solcmnlv ask, Cong SIS To authorize thC
issue of Panama Canal bonds to the
amount Of S5O.00O.O0 to pay for merchant
ships. which are u be held by the govern
ment as naval auxliarics or leased TO i'm
dividuas or corporations for use In ordi-
nary deep sea trade. Yet the only thing
permanent about this shipping scheme
would be the permanent disappearance of
the S5O,0OO.00O.
Nothing could better illustrate than this
the recllessness with which the Admins
tration is fighting for a vindicaton Of its
shipping bill programme. Every point is
to be strained to make it easy to put that
particular S5O.OOOO 600 i'm circulation Con
gress would never levy new taxes to raise
that sum; so it is 20 he deducted from the
casf balance which the Panama Canal
now owes the Treasury.
The shipping bill is vicious i'm principle
thoroughly unsound economically and GER
tain. if passed, TO injurc American com
me,ce instead of benefting it. Can the
country afford TO throw away S5O0OO,OoO,
which it sorcly needs for military uses,
simply to insure the Administration a
petty political triumph?