Evening star., 1922-11-26
BY q. GOULD LINCOLN.
THE government of the United
| States has podred out billions

States has poured out billions
of dollars in aid of various
meritorious projects in the
ast-proiects for the aid of the
farmer. the manufacturer and labor
and no one has thought to call these
billions subsidy"
But now that the government-the
Harding administration. for that Is
the government today-proposes that
ad shall be given the American mer-
chant marine aid that will permit it
10 compete with the merchant marine
Of other nations, Immediately its op-
ponents dub it subsidy" They real
ize there is something in name. par
ticularly when the name gives rise to
suspicion of benefits to special In
terests." 1t is idle to say that the
administration merchant marine aid
bill would not smell Sweeter il 1t
were termed an adjusted compensa-
tion" measure instead of a subsidy.
Subsidies Of the Past.
President Harding in his recent ad-
dress to Congress pointed out that
IL
many sections and to many classes
rightfully eXtended-and that the
present proposal of government aid
as embodied in the shipping bill is no
different from the others. in that it
will result in benefit to the whole
people-to the farmer of the middle
west as we'll as to the manufacturer
and ship owner of the SeabOard.
Let's see how this government aid
sidy it might be called as readily as
the proposed aid for shipping.
The federal government, between
the years 1850 and 1870 gave 15S.293,-
1854 acres of land aid in the devel-
opment of the railroads. The mini
mum value placed on the lands so
given was in 1850 $1.25 an acre.
1t is idle to argue that this govern
ment aid was not in the interests OF
the west and the people of every part
of the country eventually. Various
estimates have been put upon the
value of the lands granted the rail-
roads. estimates running from s2,0O6.-
VoO,0OO as minimum to $4,000, 0e0,-
GOO
Billion For Waterways.
The federal government in the last
100 years has expended in round num-
bers, S1,O6O, 900, 900 for river and harbor
Improvement and related works This
government aid also was in the interest
Of the farmers of the middle west, par
ticularly. aiding them to get their
produce to the ocean ports via the Mis-
sissippi and other great rivers.
The federal government since 1916
has appropriated and authorized to be
appropriated a total of $540,000,000
for good roads-roads to carry the
produce of the farmer to the market.
The federal government in the last
twenty years has expended about
sIfo.oO0.0O0 for the reclamation and
irrigation of the arid lands of the
great west Who would say that this
was not, after all. in the nature Of a
subsidy to the men who desired to
build homes and make living out Of
the crops they raised? But some Of
tne leg WIN Ho" ueHOuhSS thO
shipping bill as subsidy" have
been and are ardent supporters of the
expenditure of millions by the gov
ernment in reclamation projects.
Subsidy to Motherhood.
Furthermore. the government has
spent and IS spending millions to aid
the mothers of the country through
the maternity Jaw: to aid the farmers
through the research work Of the De-
pertinent of Agriculture; to aid the
people seeking education through the
Eand-grand colleges. established in
many of the states and catering par
ticularly to the education of the
farmers. and through the vocational
education law. operating also through
the Department of Agriculture.
The protective tariff laws of the re-
publicans-and also the tariff for
revenue laws of the democrats-have
resulted in government aid to labor,
to the farmer, to the manufacturer on
a stupendous scale. Indirect. 1t is
true, but aid which made it possible
for American labor to obtain better
wages and better standards of liv-
Ing; which made 1t possible for the
manufacturers of the country to build
up great industries. and which. in the