White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1927-03-18
ates the necessity of British ship

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Buenos Aires with a cargo Of coal,
and return with load of wheat, each
commodity paying its own way,
whereas an American ship which car
ries coal to Argentina rarely secures
return cargo, which means that the
coal has to pay for the round trip.
While the rapid growth of the JAP
anese merchant marine has been due
to many factors, one Of which was
heavy subsidies, geographic and eco
nomic conditions favor an expansion
of Japanese shipping; strategic po-
sition with reference to Asia,
crowded population, forced either into
industrial activity for which bulky
raw materials must be imported, or
into wholesale emigration. 1t seems
necessary for such country, which
must depend upon the importation OF
essential commodities, to maintain
large merchant fleet. A country
which possesses abundant natural re-
sources has not the same need; other
countries will come to it's doors to
buy
Shipping as a common carrier Is
only about 125 years old. The Black
Ball Line, established in 1916, was
the first one in this country to carry
at fixed rates the goods of anyone
offering them. This development had
taken place two or three decades
earlier in England. Prior to that time
a ship was merely a floating ware
house and the owner derived his
profits mainly from the sale of his
own merchandise.
If one forgets the comparative
youth of ships as common carriers,
it appears that when countries have
needed certain articles they have
built ships and gone after them. The
Greeks sought the Golden Fleece, the
wheat and wool Of Russia. The Phoe-
nician and Roman ships went to Eng
land for tin; they may have carried
goods to use in exchange, but they
sent ships after what they lacked.
The modern British ships go to Aus
tralia, Argentina and America to get
what their home country needs: grain,
meat and raw materials. It is true
that they carry British products on
their outbound voyages, but the ex-
ports are subsidiary to the imports
and dependent on them. The country
that needs foodstuffs and bulky raw
materials in general builds ships and
goes after them.
That shipping has developed as an
aid to a country's import trade might
be argued with some conviction. Ger
tainly the view that a merchant ma
rine is indispensable to export trade
is not much more than century old,
having appeared after the results of
the industrial revolution made it
necessary for manufactured goods to
be marketed abroad. The only no.
table exceptions are British coal and
such countries as Norway and Greece
with their large fleets engaged in
trade between foreign countries. 1t
might be pointed out here that the
outward carriage Of coal has merely
made British shipping more profitable
and that in the absence Of this COM
modify, British ships would have been
built nevertheless, and sent out for
food and raw materials.
An examination of trade and eco
nomic facts, however, cursory, brings
to light the necessity Of qualifying
and defining the statement that the
United States must have large mer-
chant marine. A fleet of ships is not
an end in itself, and is an industry
paying dividends commensurate with
domestic enterprises only in countries
with poor natural resources. If we
are to pay the price for merchant
marine 1t is only common sense to
know exactly what benefits we are
seeking from it and whether or not
these benefits can reasonably be ex-
pected to follow from it's possession.
A fairly strong case can be made for
the establishment Of American liner
services to carry large part Of our
manufactured and semi-manufactured
products which meet severe competi-
ton abroad. A case of the same
strength cannot be made for tramp
shipping on the same basis. Other
facts outside the limit Of this article,
however, may enter into a discus
sion Of this point; such, for instance,
as the obvious fact that it will be
difficult to get the government out Of
shipping without subsidies, and that
as a matter of expediency it may be
essential to help all shipping in order
to be assured of support to essential
lines.
On the basis of British experience
during the 10 years preceding the
war, it must be admitted that the
shipping business was improbable, as
Americans consider profit. The pres
ent excess of tonnage makes 1t abso-
lutely certain that shipping will not
be profitable for some years to come.
Even on the assumption, therefore,
that American shipowners could real
lie profits as high as the British, the
shipping business is less attractive at
present than 1t was before the war.
But American shipowners cannot
earn as much from shipping enter.
prises as their British competitors. 1t
cannot be denied that it costs more
to man vessel under American than
under British, Japanese, or Norwe-