The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

166 MARINE hen again, our exporters are entitled to every possible facility, such as frequency of service, ports desiring to be reached, suitability of ship for particular commodities, etc., all of which are better furnished where the foreign ship is allowed to compete on equal terms with the Ameri- can ship. We have not enough American ships. Another point to be remembered is the benefit to our com- petitive Canadian ports. This, in my opinion, is one of the effects that will be noticeable immediately if Section 28 is put into effect under present conditions. We, of course, want to build up our American merchant marine but we should proceed along more substantial and more promising lines. It would help American steamship owners greatly if foreign built ships could be given Ameri- can registry with ease and at low cost, and it would be if the This would enable our American of great help to American operators seamen’s act were to be repealed. operators to run their ships at costs comparable with the foreign ship. * * The following is from a Pacific ship- owner whose name commands attention whenever heard. He requests us not to use his name. He reflects a Pacific opinion con- trary to that generally heard. We are in favor of the application of Section 28 as a legi- timate and much needed means of assisting American shippers. This practice of preferential rail rates was of great assistance in building up the strong merchant marine that Germany had before the war. There is much talk of retaliation should Sec- tion 28 be applied, but as a matter of fact we have had this retaliation in advance—for example, there is a 30 per cent pref- erential duty on American goods imported into Australia, pro- vided those goods are shipped via a Canadian railway and ex-_ ported via a Canadian port. Instances such as this could bz multiplied. \ There is much talk to the effect that foreigners control our foreign trade—that is, they buy our goods f.o.b. American factory and control the routing; in the same way they sell us our imports c.if. delivered at the factory. This is in «a REVIEW May, 1924 measure true and is indeed a sad commentary on American manufacturers, exporters, importers, chambers of commerce, ete. The object of this method is to control the routing for If our merchants, exporters their respective foreign flags. and importers would adopt the same practice of selling their goods cif. and buying ‘their goods f.o.b., it would take the place of a substantial subsidy to our merchant marine. There is ample American tonnage on the Pacific coast to handle all of the traffic, both import and export, that is affected by application of Section 28. There is probably not more than 10 per cent of the volume of cargo going out of the Pacific coast that is under through bills of lading under preferential export rates. The other 90 per cent of the cargo originates locally or is handled under domestic rates where Section 28 would not apply. Wecan very easily take the small quantities of overland cargo that is affected by our American steamers and transfer to the foreign steamers an equal amount of local cargo that is not affected by Section 28. Again, the commodities imported from the Orient do not originate onthe Pacific coast or domestically; consequently than the : refer to such commodities as raw silk, crude rubber, pig tin, tea the import rates are no_ less domestic rates. I matting, bamboo, rattans, etc.; consequently application of Section 28 would not affect the carriage of this cargo by foreign steamers. There is much argument that application of Section 28 would force our traffic by the Canadian Pacific and the port of Vancouver. If this is so, it seems very strange that the British Columbia Shipping federation and other interests in Canada are opposing the application of Section 28. The whole thing is a tempest in a teapot. There is only one way in which I be- lieve our Pacific would be affected. It might force more traffic via the Atlantic seaboard and Panama canal, reducing The only other bad feature of the application of Section 28 is the the quantity that comes to the Pacific coast for export. offense it might give to foreigners. America is, of course, noted for her consideration of the feeling of foreign nations. We never have the nerve to do anything that any foreign country might:consider opposed to its interests; but are we to continue deferring to foreign views and foreign interests and sacrificing our own selfish interests in the way of foreign trade and an American merchant marine? A Few Replies to Question 6 on Retaliations No retaliatory measures could be any more damaging than the consistent discrimination against American ships. Brooklyn, N. Y. Section 28 is one of the best laws for our shipping and should be given a thorough try out. Dorr, Mich. The whole thing is wrong in principle as weil as impracticable from a railroad standpoint. Galveston, ‘lex. No foreign country having shipping relations with this United States could afford to promulgate any stable measures to counter- act this section, New York. It could not be any worse than existing conditions, therefore, Sec- tion 28 would work an improvement. Brooklyn, N. Y. Retaliation through customs discriminations, Newport News, Va. Foreign shipping interests go as far as they can now in discrimina- tions to favor their own ships and very properly so. New York. Think it most unfair legislation and _ confident foreign owners will retaliate. Baltimore. Foreigners will send their ships to Canadian ports. Bangor, Me. No retaliation damaging, if Americans will] patronize American ships. Boston “We will be hurt through foreign countries making higher import rates, port and other charges, purchasing in other markets and chainging to Canadian ports. New Orleans, As American vessels can not compete with foreigners without assist- ance, let it be in form of subsidy or, nothing. If subsidy im- possible, sell the vessels to best advantage. Pensacola, Fla. Probably the most damaging retaliatory measure would be the imposi- tion of increased duties on American products to equalize or exceed the differential, Seattle. Canada will handle transcontinental rail movements. Portland, Oreg. Foreigners can not take away much more business than they already have and still leave any cargo for American ships. Seattle. When congress gives American shipping a real chance and when American money really wants to establish a marine, we will have one and not until then. Fool laws never will. Tacoma, Wash. We have always used American ships on account of better services and no discrimination exercised in delivery of goods in foreign ports. Seattle. Operators may thus reduce expenses and _ the government its losses. Portland, Oreg.