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146 THE MarINeE REVIEW April, 1919 In Behalf of the American Marine HE Committee of One Hundred of the National Association of Manufacturers of the Merchant Marine, listened to _ spirited speeches from distinguished speakers in behalf of the merchant marine, at a dinner given at Hotel Knickerbocker, New York, on March 14. D. A. Tomp- kins, of Charlotte, N. C, was_ toast- master. Congressman W. E. Humphrey, of Washington, the leader in the movement to restore the American. flag to the seas, said in opening his address that he had -an interview with President Taft the preceding Sunday, in which the chief magistrate said: "Give my compliments to the great or- ganization that you represent and tell them that the work has my interest. I think it is one of the greatest questions pefore the American people .today, and Y will do all in my power to bring about the establishment of our mercantile ma- vine." "Both on the Atlantic and the Pacific," . 'Mr. Humphrey went on, "are foreign trusts preying on American commerce. On the Pacific ocean is the Ship Owners' International Union, representing more than 1,300,000 tons--practically all the foreign sail tonnage on the Pacific ocean. It is composed of English, German and French ships. "Its declared' purpose is to raise freight rates from American ports. Im- mediately after its. formation rates on the Pacific were advanced more than 400 per cent. wheat from Seattle to Europe was raised from $1.25 a ton to $5.62, and now is: $6.90 a ton. This summer ships carried to Seattle freight from Europe for $1.25 a ton, but refused to. take a return cargo for less than $6.90, and _ sailed away in ballast. "On the Atlantic. ocean there is an- other combination of foreign ships, and there is yet another preying on our commerce with South America. These two combinations pool issues and divide the spoils. Not only has the Hamburg- American Packet Co., which controls our carrying trade to Europe, raised freight rates, but, according to the complaints filed with the Inter-State Commerce Commission, it tells the American mer- chant when he shall send his goods, how he shall send them, upon what ship he shall send them, and what amount he shall send. If any house violates these demands, it is boycotted and, if possible, driven out of business. "There is not a more exacting trust than the combination of foreign vessels plying between here and South America. The . freight on.a ton of - 'ships of various kinds. It is dictated by the English firm of Lamport & Holt. It resorts to rebates, discriminations and boycotts.. It has act- ually compelled American ships to return from South America in ballast. Even if they offer to carry American goods for nothing they cannot get a cargo. Our Ambassador in Brazil gives an illustra- tion of a firm of coffee merchants be--- ing compelled to refuse to give a cargo of coffee to a ship already in the harbor, although it offered to carry such cargo for just one-half the rates charged by the combine. "The controlling sat of these two combinations that work together for a common purpose is Herr Ballin, of Ham- burg, Germany.* A short time ago the representatives of these combinations "met in Europe, with Herr Ballin as their guiding genius, and raised freight rates between the United States and Europe 50 per cent. This is the same Herr Bal- lin whose company, when complaint was filed against it before the Inter-State Commerce Commission for rebating and boycotting, courts, and would take such action in these matters as it saw fit. This is the same Herr Ballin whose company, when war was declared with Spain, voluntarily withdrew two of its fastest and best vessels and sold them to Spain 'to sink, - burn and destroy' American commerce. "These trusts of foreign ships are to- day doing the same thing for which do- mestic corporations have been dissolved and fined. If these corporations were today within the jurisdiction of our courts as are our domestic corporations, we would have their representatives on their way to the penitentiary inside of 90 days. But these trusts are beyond our laws; we have no way to control them. "The military side of the question is more alarming still. According to the War Department we need for the use of the army in case of war 228 merchant If we were to face an emergency today, we could not furnish 20 vessels suitable for war pur- poses. We are in a worse 'condition today than when war was declared with Spain. "Then it took us 20 days to get a sufficient number of vessels to carry 10,- 000 men to Cuba. These old, antiquated vessels cost us, when ready for this trip, $13,000,000. Even then they were totally unsuited for this purpose and exposed Our troops to greatest peril. "Our next contest will be upon the Pacific: We are as helpless today on that ocean as was Russia. Japan today has 550 vessels fit for transports. The made reply that it was DES 'yond the jurisdiction of the American United States has on the Pacific six merchant vessels and four or five ant. quated government transports. Japan can easily carry 200,000 troops at One time; on the Pacific we could not car 10,000. Japan could -place 250,000 troops in the Philippines in 30 days, and 100,- 000 in Hawaii in the same time. We could not get 10,000 troops ready to em- bark from any point upon the Pacific coast in 30 days.. If we had transports we would not dare attempt to take them to our island possessions, for we have nothing but cruisers to meet the battle. ships of Japan." Henry Clews gave figures of the de- cline of American shipping. Only about 9 per cent of the imports and exports of the United States, he said, are now being carried in vessels 'flying the Amer- ican flag. In 1826, the amount carried. was 92 per cent. Of 423 steamships sailing recently from New York for foreign ports only 28 (or about 7 per cent) carried the American flag: 265 sailed for European ports, only six of which were built in American yards; 71 were bound for ports in Cuba, the West Indies, and Mexico, but only 22 of these were of American registry. The Amer- ican merchant tonnage registered for foreign trade in 1900 was 836,229, while the population was 75,000,000. When the population was only 7,000,000, in 1810, we registered a tonnage of 981,019, "the first step," went on Mr. Clews, "to be taken toward the restoration of American shipping is to convince Con- gress of the necessity of removing the handicap placed upon it at the time of the civil war, by forbidding the transfer of foreign-built ships to American regis- try, even when owned by Americans. "This practical embargo should be promptly superseded by a law permitting. foreign-built ships to receive registers here, when owned by 'Americans, and we would soon be flying the American flag all over the world, and share large- ly in the world's carrying trade. "The principle of protection cannot be made to work at sea. Unfortunately, American ships cost more to build and run that any others in the world, This, gentlemen, is the real reason why our merchant. marine is disappointing; this is the crux of the whole question. "We must secure our ships and our sailors on the best terms possible. That is the foundation of England's extra- ordinary success. She buys her ships, her supplies, and her labor in the cheap- est market. So must we. If a ship costs $1,000,000 here and $750,000 abroad, we must buy abroad." : As Mr. Clews said this, loud cries of