MERCHANT MARINE.

While American shipping in foreign trade has not yet again reached a rank commensurate with the country's needs or with its growth and greatness in other directions, American shipping and shipbuilding since the return of the Republican party to power have made good progress. The following table shows the total merchant tonnage (gross register tons) under the American flag, divided according to the trade in which engaged, on June 30 of each year named, and also the gain or loss for each period of four fiscal years, covering approximately the three latest national administrations:

*Gain in three years. The returns for June 30, 1904, not yet completed, will show a total increase during the four years of nearly 1,100,000 gross' tons, and about 1,000,000 gross tons in the coasting trade.

American Tonnage Built During Recent Periods of Four Fiscal Years, Beginning June 30.

1893-1896 inclusive... 1897-1900 inclusive.. *1901-1904 inclusive..

Gross register tons.

681,532 1,106,518

1,769,472

The notable increase in American shipping during the eight years of Republican administration has been due to wise legislation as well as to general causes. The Porto Rican act of April 12, 1900, and the Hawaiian act of April 30, 1900, brought under the American flag 51,618 gross tons of shipping formerly belonging to those islands. By applying the coasting laws to trade between the United States and those islands the construction in American shipyards of steel steamers for those trades, aggregating about 140,000 gross tons, has been encouraged, involving an expenditure for labor and materials of fully $15,000,000. Means of communication between these islands and the United States are better than ever before, freight rates are lower, and trade has increased. The first regular American steamship line around Cape Horn has been established and an American yard has built the largest steamer ever launched into the Pacific. By the Philippine act of April 15, 1904, trade between the United States and the Philippines after July 1, 1906, will be subject to the coasting laws. This act will doubtless lead to the establishment of the first regular American steamship line through the Suez Canal. Prudence dictated a date far enough in advance to permit the construction of ample American shipping for the trade, the necessary adjustment of tariff relations, and the registry under the American flag of 143,837 gross tons of shipping now owned in the Philippines.

The act of April 28, 1904, provides that vessels of the United States and no others shall be employed in the transportation by sea of supplies for the Army and Navy. This act is in accord with

the policy of England, Germany, and France, and strengthens American sea power and increases American shipbuilding.

The act of June 28, 1902, and the prompt action of President Roosevelt thereunder has put the United States in possession of the Panama Canal Zone, and the actual construction of the canal under American auspices has begun. The Panama Canal (discussed at page 265) will give a powerful stimulus to American shipping and shipbuilding. The distance from New York to San Francisco by the Straits of Magellan is 13,090 miles; by the Panama Canal it will be only 5,278 miles. The saving in distance between our Atlantic and Pacific ports will involve a great increase in the American coasting trade, increased shipbuilding and reduced freight charges by land and sea.

Mainly at the request of commercial and shipping interests Congress by act of February 14, 1903, created a Department of Commerce and Labor, charged with the duty of fostering, promoting, and developing the foreign and domestic commerce, shipping and fishery industries, the labor interests, and the transportation facilities of the United States.

The general policy entered upon by the Republican party in 1872 of exempting from duty imported materials to be used in American shipyards for vessels for the foreign trade has been extended by successive enactments until by the Dingley tariff of July 24, 1897, all imported materials for vessels in the foreign trade, or for their machinery, outfit and equipment and for their repairs, are admitted free of duty, and supplies for American vessels in foreign trade are free from customs duties or internalrevenue taxes.

The United States has always exerted its influence in favor of peace and the mitigation of the injuries caused by war to noncombatants. At the recommendation of the late President McKinley and President Roosevelt, Congress passed the following joint resolution, approved April 28, 1904:

"Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it is the sense of the Congress of the United States that it is desirable, in the interest of uniformity of action by the maritime states of the world in time of war, that the President endeavor to bring about an understanding among the principal maritime powers with a view of incorporating into the permanent law of civilized nations the principle of the exemption of all private property at sea, not contraband of war, from capture or destruction by belligerents."

Legislation for Seamen.

It

In recent years of Republican control of Congress and the executive departments the conditions of American labor at sea have been greatly improved by legislation. The act of December 21, 1898, provided a compulsory scale of provisions for seamen on American merchant vessels very much superior in quantity and quality to the food furnished to seamen on foreign vessels. also provided for the prompter payment of wages, already much higher than on foreign ships, and for the return of wrecked, sick, or injured American seamen from abroad at the expense of the Fed eral government. Forecastle quarters on American ships are now equal to any on foreign ships and superior to most. Warm rooms are prescribed in cold weather. Government relief is extended to distressed American seamen in Alaska, Porto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippines as well as in foreign ports. The penalty of imprison ment for the seaman's breach of a civil contract has been abol ished, and all forms of corporal punishment prohibited under heavy penalties. Prompt trial of cases in which the seaman is ¿ party has been provided. More rigid inspection at home and abroad of the seaworthiness of a vessel, the sufficiency of pro visions, and the adequacy of the crew are now required by law The act of December 21, 1898, imposes heavy penalties for sending an unseaworthy American ship to sea. The hulls of the larger sail ing vessels are subjected to Government inspection and their mas ters and mates are required to stand Government tests of com petency.

The evils of the "crimping" system, by which seamen have bee cheated of their wages, have been combated by legislative enact ment and administrative effort. Abuses of allotments of wage

have been reduced, under the act of December 21, 1898. Of that act the Supreme Court of the United States recently said:

"The story of the wrongs done to sailors in the larger ports, not merely of this nation but of the world, is an oft-told tale, and many have been the efforts to protect them against such wrongs. One of the most common means of doing these wrongs is the advancement of wages. Bad men lure them into haunts of vice, advance a little money to continue their dissipation, and having thus acquired a partial control and by liquor dulled their faculties, place them on board the vessel just ready to sail and most ready to return the advances. When once on shipboard and the ship at sea, the sailor is powerless and no relief is availing. It was in order to stop this evil, to protect the sailor, and not to restrict him of his liberty, that this statute was passed. And while in some cases it may operate harshly, no one can doubt that the best interests of seamen as a class are preserved by such legislation."

Already this year one crimp has been sentenced to five years' imprisonment and a fine of $5,000; three have been sentenced each to 18 months' imprisonment and a fine of $1,000; lesser penalties have been imposed in other cases, and still other cases are undergoing or awaiting trial. The acts of March 31, 1900, and April 13, 1904, providing stricter regulations for boarding incoming vessels, have reduced the opportunities for crimping.

The Shipping Question.

Thus during the nearly eight years of complete Republican control of Congress and the executive departments American shipping and shipbuilding have developed rapidly under legislation beneficial alike to the interests of shipbuilders, shipowners, and seamen and to the general welfare of the whole country; but American ships still carry a diminishing proportion of our exports and imports. In 1892 they carried 12.3 per cent.; in 1896, 12 per cent.; in 1900, 9.3 per cent., and in 1903, 9.1 per cent. A merchant fleet is a national necessity, first to furnish the reserve transports and supply ships needed in war to supplement the Navy, and second to furnish the reserve seamen required to put the country on a war footing at sea, as the national guard of the States can put the country on a war footing ashore. The transportation of our ocean mails is a public service which should be intrusted as far as practicable to American steamers.

Ocean carrying in national ships promotes a country's commercial importance and its influence in the affairs of nations; it develops and diversifies home industries to the advantage of labor, and brings to home capital a fair return on investment. During the past twelve years the values of American exports and imports carried in American and foreign vessels have been as follows:

There are no wholly reliable figures of the amount paid in freights for ocean cargoes. The late authority on international statistics, Mulhall, estimated ten years ago that the earnings of ships amounted to about 8 per cent of the value of the cargoes. rates are subject to great fluctuations, and have been low the past two years. For 1903 the freights paid on American exports and imports were approximately $140,000,000, of which American vessels received 9.1 per cent. Passenger fares exceed annually $30,000,000 of late years.

Other nations for military, mail, and commercial purposes deem it important to promote their national shipping in foreign trade by › national assistance. The annual grants for these purposes at the present time by the principal nations are substantially as follows:

The British House of Commons in July, 1903, ratified a contract by which the British Government agrees to advance to the Cunard Company £1,300,000 for each of two mail steamers, the largest and fastest afloat, to be repaid in twenty years at 24 per cent. interest. During these twenty years the Government guarantees an annual subsidy of £150,000 and £68,000 additional for the mails. So important does England, the great shipping and naval power, deem fast ocean mail steamers that by this contract she practically gives to the Cunard Company the two finest ships which can be built, if the company will operate them as mail and auxiliary naval vessels.

The best means of restoring the American marine to the ocean has been a matter of long and thus far fruitless debate. On recommendation of President Roosevelt Congress on April 28, 1904, created a Merchant Marine Commission of five Senators and five Representatives, whose duty it is to investigate and report to the Congress on the first day of its next session what legislation is desirable for the development of the American merchant marine and American commerce, and also what change or changes, if any, should be made in existing laws relating to the treatment, comfort, and safety of seamen, in order to make more attractive the seafaring calling in the American merchant service. This commission is now engaged in obtaining the views of shipbuilders, shipowners, ship managers, and others engaged in the shipping industries at the great centers of the shipping trade, visiting all parts of the country where citizens having special knowledge on this subject through experience or otherwise are to be found. It is believed that the information which they will thus collect will aid Congress in determining what steps should be taken to develop the merchant marine of the country.

PRESIDENTIAL RECOMMENDATIONS.

Extract from President McKinley's message, December 3, 1900: Foreign ships should carry the least, not the greatest, part of American trade. The remarkable growth of our steel industries, the progress of shipbuilding for the domestic trade, and our steadily maintianed expenditures for the Navy have created an opportunity to place the United States in the first rank of commercial maritime powers.

Besides realizing a proper national aspiration this will mean the establishment and healthy growth along all our coasts of a distinctive national industry, expanding the field for the profitable employment of labor and capital. It will increase the transportation facilities and reduce freight charges on the vast volume of products brought from the interior to the seaboard for export, and will strengthen an arm of the national defense upon which the founders of the Government and their successors have relied.

Extract from President Roosevelt's message, December 3, 1901: Shipping lines, if established to the principal countries with which we have dealings, would be of political as well as commercial benefit. From every standpoint it is unwise for the United T States to continue to rely upon the ships of competing nations for the distribution of our goods. It should be made advantageous to carry American goods in American-built ships.

At present American shipping is under certain great disadvantages when put in competition with the shipping of foreign countries. Many of the fast foreign steamships, at a speed of fourteen knots or above, are subsidized, and all our ships, sailing vessels

and steamers alike, cargo carriers of slow speed and mail carriers of high speed, have to meet the fact that the original cost of building American ships is greater than is the case abroad; that the wages paid American officers and seamen are very much higher than those paid the officers and seamen of foreign competing countries, and that the standard of living on our ships is far superior to the standard of living on the ships of our commercial rivals.

Our Government should take such action as will remedy these inequalities. The American merchant marine should be restored to the ocean.

Causes of the Growth of Foreign Shipping and Decline of American Shipping for the Foreign Trade.

The great causes of growth of foreign shipping and decline of American shipping for the foreign trade are well known. Great Britain began the payment of large sums to her shipowners in the forties, some in the guise of payments for carrying mails and some as direct subsidies. She was followed in this plan of encouraging the shipping interest by other European countries. This custom has grown until the annual payments to ships for mail services or as direct subsidies now amount to about 30 million dollars per annum, of which about 2 millions are paid by the United States. The sums paid by foreign governments to aid in developing their merchant marines since 1860 have aggregated many hundreds of millions of dollars. While these governments, chiefly those of Europe, have been developing their merchant marines at this enormous cost the Government and people of the United States were encouraging the development of our splendid railroad system, which now forms twofifths of the railways of the world. During that same period the ocean transportation system was being entirely changed from the wooden and iron vessels to the modern steel screw propeller. The consequence was that the American vessels which existed before the civil war became almost useless in competition with the new style of vessels, and as American capital was busy with the more profitable work of developing the railways, the lake transportation and the coastwise transportation systems of the country, the ocean shipping was neglected. The Government aid which foreign lines obtained, together with cheapness in labor for building and operating vessels, enabled them to carry freights at such low rates that little incentive was offered to Americans to invest in shipbuilding, especially as cost of labor was and is much higher here than abroad, both in the building and operating of vessels. In the domestic commerce-along the coasts, upon the lakes-and on the rivers where foreign ships are not permitted to operate, American shipping has shown a healthy growth.

Views of Minister Barrett.

In response to the request of the Congressional Merchant Marine Commission, Hon. John Barrett, United States Minister to Panama, and who has formerly been, respectively, United States Minister in Argentina and Siam, in addition to making a journey around the world as Commissioner-General of Foreign Affairs for the St. Louis Exposition, appeared before that body in Chicago, June 24, and made a statement based on his observations as a foreign representative of the United States and a traveler in many different countries. This statement, which was highly commended, not only by the friends but by the opponents of so called ship subsidies present, is summarized below. Mr. Barrett said:

I am not here to make any argument for or against ship subsidies, but to submit a few facts and suggestions based on my study of our foreign trade in many different countries and upon various seas. During the last ten years it has been my privilege to make three journeys around the world, twice while a Minister of the United States and once as Commissioner-General of the St. Louis Exposition. After what I have seen I would be lacking in patriotism and be unmindful of actual conditions if I did not urge that something should be done for the development of American shiping.

It does not seem that this is a question of so called "subsidies." It is rather a problem as to whether the United States Government is willing to pay certain sums for the carrying of the mails petween ports of the United States and ports of foreign lands, just as it would pay a railroad company, a stage driver, or a mes