The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1922-02-28
HARDING URGES
ship SUBSIDY
ON CONGRESS
CONTINUED from First PageJ


away OF applying suitable aid to
on shipping. which the Congress
ciearly' Intended. and at the same
time avoid the embarrassment OF
our trade relationships abroad.
The Recommendation Of today Is
based wholly on this commendable
intent OF Congress. The proposed
aid of the Government to it's mer-
chant marine Is to have Its chief
dburce- in the duties collected on
fthports. Instead of applying the
discriminating duty to the specific
cargo, and thus encouraging only
the inbound shipment, I propose
thar we shall collect all import
duties, without discrimination as
between American and foreign bot
TOMS and apply the heretofore
proposed reduction to create fund
for the Governments aid to our
MERCHANT marine. BY such pro-
gram we. shall encourage not
alone the~carrying of inboundrcar-
Hoss subject to our tariffs but we
shall strengthen American ships In
the carrying of that greater in
Squad tonnage on which no duties
ARE levied and, more important
than these, we shall equip our mer-
chant marine to serve our out
Etchitid commerce. which is the
11fleasure Of our eminence in foreign
Trade. -,
"a Total Value Of Imports.
- II is interesting to note, in con-
nection. with the heretofore pro-
posed plan OF discriminating tariffs
on Imports, carried to our shores
in American bottoms, that the total
value of all dutiable imports for
1920, in all vessels, was Sl,9S5,-
$4,000, while the cargoes ad-
mitted free Of duty, on which no
discrimination was possible, were
Waited at $3,115, 1858 900. The &C.
tpai tonnage comparison is even
more significant from the view
point of cargo carrying. because
the. dutiable cargoes measured, in
round numbers, 100000 tons,
and the nondutiable cargoes were
$4,000. 900 tons. The larger en-
ployment, by two and a half times,
twas in nondutiable shipments.
Continued trade must be reclp-
rocal. We cannot long maintain
bales where we do not buy. In
the. promotion of these exchanges
we should have as much concern
for the promotion of sales as for
the Meditation of our purchases.
There is not a record in all his
tory of Iong-maintained eminence
In export trade, except as The
exporting nations developed their
own Carrying capacity.
No story of national develop
ment is more fascinating or SO
full Of romance as that of de-
veloping capacity for the eX-
changes OF commerce. Expand
ing civilization may be traced
over the avenues OF exchanging
cargoes. No matter how mate
realistic II may sound, nations
have developed for themselves
and have influenced the world
almost precisely as they have
promoted their commerce. We
heed not refer TO the armed con-
fficts which have been incident
thereto. When commerce has
been destroyed, fading glories
have attended.
~ Resume Of Efforts.
,EfFIt will avail nothing to attempt
Eeven the briefest resume of our
own efforts to re-establish that
American importance in com
merce carrying on the high seas
which was recorded in the earlier
days OF the Republic. The as
piration is nation wide. The
conflict between two schools of
political thought heretofore has
sdefeated all efforts to employ
THE governmental aid which other
nations found advantageous while
we held aloof, and the terms
Subsidy and "subvention" were
made more or less hateful to the
American public. But the ma
tion-wide desire to restore our
merchant marine has outlived all
defeats and every costly failure.
Eight years ago the aspiration
found expression in a movement
TO have the Government sponsor
nm enterprise in which individual
genius seemingly had failed. 1t
would be difficult correctly to APP
praise the policy, because the
world war put an end TO all nor
NAL activities. Before we were
involved our shipyards were sud
denly turned to feverish and costly
activities by the call of the allied
powers . for shipping, without
which they could not hope to sur
yive. American energies were APP
piled to construction for others, as
We, had never dreamed OF doing