Evening star., 1941-07-08

can citizens being called upon to
pay their share of the cost of con-
Struction, estimated to exceed ST.
O0,00O000
In estimating the cost Of con-
struCtion there has been nothing
! said concerning the cost of Defend
ing the St Lawrence project. Mill
tary experts are of the opinion that
it will require 81 000000,000 to erect
the necessary defenseS at strategic
locations along the l,677-mile front.
! Nor has word been uttered about
the maintenance cost of these de-
| Tense posts. For the maintenance
cost of the channel and locks alone,
| 100000 will be expended annual
| ly for the SeaWay part of the project.
/ When we consider the cost of con-
! StructiOn to exceed one billion dol
lars and add another billion dollars
for the erection of defense posts
requiring additional millions for
! maintenance costs, We can readily
see that this proposed st. Lawrence
project is destined to cost us bill
lions of dollars. l am sure you will
agree onat this is tidy sum of
money TO saddle on the already
overburdened taxpayers of America.
Fears Ruinous Competition.
For a moment. let us dwell on the
effect the st. Lawrence SeaWay will
have on the American market and
! transport facilities. Upon COM
/ pletiOn, the st. Lawrence project
will open the Great Lakes to world
shipping and within a few months
you will have dirty, cheap, ILL
manned foreign tramp steamers fly
| ing foreign flags dumping their
! CargoeS at Great Lake ports instead
/ of on the Atlantic Seaboard, as is
| being done at the present time.
/ These foreign vessels do not meet
| the standards of American shipping
in wages, living or sanitary con-
/ ditionS. The wage paid these for
eign Seamen is about half Of the
amount paid our American seamen.
In addition, the foreign vessels or
their crews pay no taxes, nor are
/ they subjected to any toll charges.
/ On the other hand. American ship
ping interests paw large taxes, only
/ to see such revenue applied TO build
ing a project that is establishing
rrinouS competition and threaten
ing to sabotage American shipping
and the American market.
Industries in the Great Lakes
area should realize that if this St.
Lawrence SeaWay is completed their
fields, mines, factories and forests
will be brought into direct COM
petition with the slave type Of labor
that may be expected to prevail in
many countries after the present
war.
AS a striking illustration, let me
/ cite the invitation TO bid issued by
the City of Detroit on May l. 1880,
/ for 642 tons of cast iron pipe. This
| invitation was sent to six firms in
| Chicago, one in Virginia and one
| in Nancy, France The bid was
| finally awarded to the French COM
pany at a price of approximately
| S24, 400 and the next highest bidder
! was the Virginia company 1T S29 900,
or $4,000 higher. The difference
between the French bid and the
Virginia bid was reflected in the
| freight cost and the cost of LABOR.
This pipe was shipped from France
| through the Strasbourg Canal,
thence down the Rhine to Rottcr-
dam and thence by a dirty, i'll
manned tramp steamer to Detroit,
utilizing the present 14-foot chan
mel from the mouth of the ST. Law
renee River to the Great Lakes.
! The American manufacturer may
expect severe competition of this
type in all commodities once the
st. Lawrence project becomes a
reality.
These foreign tramp steamers, in
addition to disruptlng the American
market, will deal a death blow to
the transportation facilities of our
Nation.
At the present time American
railroads employ more than a
million American citizens, and long
trains carry millions of tons of
freight to and from seaboard ports.
These foreign tramp steamers will
deprive the railroads of this freight
traffic, and the devastating effect
is more fully realized since every
thousand tons of freight lost to the
American railroads means the
elimination of one freight train.
When you remove freight trains
YOU destroy the jobs of railroaders.
Thus we have foreign seamen on
these dirty tramp steamers benefit
ing at the expense of the American
railroad employees.
Disrupt U. S. Market.
Without doubt, the invasion OF
foreign products, manufactured at
slave wages. transported by dirty,
ill-manned tramp steamers, will not
only disrupt the American market
but will create chaos to the most
efficient and cheapest transporta-
ton in the World-the American
railroads-and at the same time
destroy the Jobs of thousands of
good American citizens.
The proponents of the st.
Lawrence project are making glib
promises to the farmer of the great
Middle West. They promise new
markets and increased prices be-
cause of reduction in transporta-
ton costs. The farmer is told he
will save cents bushel on wheat,
yet the American taxpayer at the
same time will be asked to subsi-
die the 4 cents a bushel saving
by paying Is cents on each bushel
of wheat. We must not forget that
on general cargoes the subsidy 10
be paid by American taxpayers will
be SO so per ton. The farmer must
not forget that when the Great
Lakes are opened our farm markets
will be open to agricultural products
of foreign nations, such as we ex-
perienced in having Argentine beef
competing with American packing
house products.
So far little has been said con-