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TRAE Marine. REVIEW 21 is our purpose to traverse. The feature of the bill (the second section) to which the senator most strenuously objects, is that which provides $5 per gross ton per annum payment to cargo carriers. © Tle objects to it on constitutional grounds, and he re- gards it as undemocratic. In his speech, on this feature of the bill, he says: In the first place, the amount which is donated is too smail.*** Five dollars a ton, in my judgment--and I know it can be demon- strated--for twelve months' service in running a ship vf any size is entirely too.small an amount to meet the disparity which exists between the operating expenses and the original cost of vessels in the United States and vessels under foreign flags. I do not believe, Mr. President, that $10 would be sufficient to meet that disparity and put the American ship on an equality with the foreign ship."** Obviously there can be little of "graft," or "rob- bery," or steal," or "treasury loot,' to the Ameri- can vessel owners, under that provision of the bill. Obviously, too, all that the owner will receive will be disbursed by him to builders, or to masters, offi- cers and crew, and more besides, if Senator Mal- lory is correct. Therefore, the bill is in the interest of labor, and. not in the interest of capital. Invest- ed capital will lose, and labor will gain, if Senator Mallory is correct. This is a fundamental point to be thoroughly digested. Senator Mallory is an ad- miralty lawyer of extended renown; he is familiar | with ships and shipping men; he knows the sub- ject, thoroughly; he was a member of the Mer- chant Marine Commission; he was a_ painstaking and keen listener to all that was said; and he has reviewed the printed testimony taken, besides. Some vessel owners say he is mistaken, that the bill is not quite sufficient; in respect to the $5 provision, to meet all of the differences, but near enough to jus- tify them in attempting to build additional tonnage; others say it is just sufficient. The true test will be the operation of the Act, if passed. Another great feature of the bill is the provision for the establishment of ten new lineg of steam- ships to run to Africa, South and Central America, the West Indies, down the west coast of our hem- isphere, and to the Orient, and the speed and fre- quency of the sailings of the steamships are fixed in the bill, as is the maximum sum that shall be paid to each for carrying the mails. Regarding this feature of the bill, in the course of his speech Sena- tor Mallory said: But the senator (Mr. Gallinger, of New Hampshire) called my at- Be eat" Pk tani Go eke Joe che base deaticen tot ania bill The senator knows that I acquiesced readily as a member of the commission. The only fault I ever found with that is I do not Soak Te re Reet GUM coe dediter roa 'ihe Gulf of Mreea because I doubt very much whether you, will establish the lines fat are sought to be established to Brazil and Argentina on the small subsidy that is given. * F *. In another portion of his speech he recurs to the $5 per ton feature for cargo, carriers, and says that he cannot see how they will get cargoes, as the sub- sidy is so small, and he continued: i i i foreign ves: They do not get enough subsidy to compete with a f sel. oven vessels without the subsidy can beat them in the con- t: eee & The two great features of the bill are the provi- received was "No!" sion for mail lines and the provision for cargo car- riers. The suggestion has been made in every con- ceivable way that the bill is.a huge raid upon the treasury in the interest of vessel owners and' ship builders. On the contrary, the chief opponent of the bill, the man who has had opportunity to make the most extended study of the subject among the minority members of the senate, says that, for the life of him, he cannot understand how Americans will risk their capital under the postal subsidy and the cargo subsidy features of the bill. The probability is that these prospective owners are willing to face an immediate loss, in the hope, through rigid econ- omy in operation, and through reductions in cost of construction due to more steady employment in our ship yards, that eventually they will recover the loss- es and earn a profit. If Senator Mallory is correct in his ideas, the explanation we have made is the only one that seems reasonable. Me ** xk * Xx A great deal of the opposition to a shipping bill which has arisen has come from free traders, people who believe in the free admission of foreign-built ves- sels, when owned by Americans, to American regis- try. The Democrats have coquetted more or less with this plan, but more latterly they have abandon- ed it, for the reason, probably, that inquiries di- rected by the Merchant Marine Commission to Amer- ican owners of vessels under foreign flags, as to 'whether or not, if permitted by law, they would place them under American register, every reply And another possibly in- fluencing reason is that, if we imported our ships, we would hand over to aliens the em- ployment in the building of them, besides weak- ening ourselves through the mnon-possession of ship yards equipped for the construction of ocean-going ships. To depend wholly upon the for- eigners for our ships would be an extremely short- sighted, and might prove to be a fatal, policy. So, as stated in the second paragraph of this article, Senator Mallory has become an out and out advo- cate of discriminating duties. Before reaching the points of the Senator's alternative plan, there is one more quotation to be made from his speech in re- spect to the mail subsidy feature. On that he further said: I would be glad to eliminate everything from this bill except the postal subsidy. provision, and pass it in that .way tomorrow, being under the conviction that it would add a great deal more to our commerce than any other feature of the bill, because of the regular- ity, the certainty, with which those vessels would come and go. That his colleagues in the majority--if not 'some of those in the minority--are willing and anxious to goa step farther than Senator Mallory, and, very moderately indeed subsidize cargo as well as mail 'carriers, should not become a point of vital differ- ence, nor will it, we believe, be so regarded, when the final vote on the bill is. taken. ao * * * bd