The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1922-01-10
SHIP SUBSIDY IS !.
/ COMING UP. AGAIN
ADMINISTRATION PROBABLY Is
TO RECOMMEND the SCHEME
UNDER ANOTHER NAME.
10 SAVE MERCHANT MARINE
Arguments For and Against the Plan,
Hsard il Congress During Many
Years, Are Being Revivsd--Feared
BY Both Parties. i y q 40

n
BY Both Parties. j. @ "a,
i. BY EDWARD 8. CLARK 49,.
! Washington. seems certain to-
day that legislation looking to some
thing like a ship subsidy is to be rec
commended by the administration. Ev-
cry. effort which has been made to
build up, the American merchant ma
rine has resulted in failure. There is
no denial that some kind Of ship
subsidy scheme Is under considera-
ton.
This renewed talk Of subsidy for
ships makes old men of good many
uational legislators and Washington
correspondents. OF and on they have
been talking ship subsidy, sometimes
under another name, all through the
IS years that the correspondent VINO
writes this has been in Washington.
Legislators have stood Oh their feet to
say that through a subsidy the Amer
ican flag can be restored to: the seas
OF commerce, aud that restoration eau
come in no other way. >,
Tie country. especially the non
coast. part Of it, SHES ut subsidies.
The word has an expensive sound
Men who seem to know the shipping
business say, that If there is no sub
sidy there will be no American lner-
chant marine worth the name.
Subvention was one word that was
used instead or ship subsidy in an
elder, day, and now it is said that the
administration will call subsidy ire
Enumeration" OF course, whatever
name is given to it. the sum total
Will be the same thing.
There are some subsidy advocates
in the shipping board. One Of them,
q Maine man, knows more about mer-
chant marine than any other man IN
Washington. He is a subsidy man be-
cause he believes that only through
subsidy can anything be done. Men
here have respect for his views. but
some Of them say that he Is an en-
thusIast and that he is wrong.
Senator. La Toilette Blamed.
Lnndsmen who live at distance
from the coast and who come to
Washington as senators and repre-
sentatives.' or to act in some other
capacity, find it hard to understand
the. merchant; marine matter. Sen
ator La Toilette. who is a lands1nan
OF ldnls1nen save for the fact that
he lives. near one Of the Great Lakes.
Is held by many Of the advocates Of q
great American merchant marine as
being partly responsible for the pres
elit; ebb of things maritime. 1t Is GER
,ain that legislation which Mr.. La Fol-
lette fathered is making it difficult for
ahe, United States to establish n mer-
chant marine on a basis Of c0mpe-
tltien with the shipping Of other na-
hons, but long before LIZ Toilette came
to Washington the merchant marine,
as somebody has put it. was water
logged In the trough Of the sea.
Under both Republican and Demo-
cratic control congress has looked
with .unlindly eyes on subsidy legis-
lation. Most OF the Democrats look
on it as an unmitlgated evil, while
most Of the Republicans look on it
'as something to be avoided because
lit IS dangerous in tho Districts" es.
,peciolly In the Middle West.
There is one thing which is certain.
II the United States government
should substitute its merchant marine,
ships would sail the seas and fetcl,
and carry goods under the Stars and
Stripes. The argument Of the sub.
,sidy men is that new trade routes
would be opened and that the advan'
itage to The people from increased in
dustry' would make up the subsidy a
Thousand fold. There are others who
say that it is an evil thing for the
government to "pay money to cor
poratiOns."
-. Controversy over Submarines.
The submarine controversy in the
international conference was about as
vlrulent, so far as external appear
,ances 60, within the last few days Us
1t was along about the time that the
HLusitanla was sunk. However, no loss
of life has been reported up TO thu
present moment, though there has
been some loss Of hope.
; The international conference la:
been principally ups" but there ar
occasional downs" Some of the pes
sinism concerning the general outcome
apparently has been fathered by de
sire for disaster. There can be NJ
discounting this.
In administration circles in Wash
.lngtons there is some evidence of dis
appointment that savors Of petulanc
at times because Of the disposition II
some places to hold that the confer
ente mag be failure because some 0
the minor matters under discussion
have not been or may not be settle
ito the satisfaction Of all parties cor
Icerned: Auxiliary naval craft in trut
4 are an auxiliary matter.
The settlement Of big-ship problems
!tt seems to the administrators friends
should be considered n victory bi