Jasper County Democrat, Volume 9, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 December 1906 — SHIP SUBSIDY AGAIN. [ARTICLE]

SHIP SUBSIDY AGAIN.

There is very little doubt that the next session of Congress will see the passage of that iniquous measure, a Ship Subsidy Bill. One of the strongest indications in this line has come from the sessiou of the Trans-Mississip-pi Congress before which. Secretary Root has just delivered a notable address, in which he spoke urgently in favor of the shipping subsidy as the one thing essential to build up the trade of the United States with South America. This is the v 'Srst time that the administration has ever come out squarely in favor of such a bill. There is a bill now pending before Congress that is said to meet the requirements of the case, and it is interesting to see just what the appropriation will involve. This bill is designed primarily to help the mail steamship service, but it will of course furnish a series of steamship lines by which American goods can safely and regularly be transported abroad. It will involve the expenditure in the first year of 11,709,500 for a mail service and ultimately an expenditure of $2,932,000 per annum. The ships to earn this larger subsidy do not now exist in the United States, but it is believed that to earn the bonus they will be built. The various lines that it is proposed to establish are about as follows: To Brazil, 14 knots monthly steamer service, $150,000, fortnightly service $300,000. To the Argentine Republic, 14 knots steamer, $187,000 subsidy for monthly service and $375,000 for a fortnightly service. To South Africa, the same amounts for a line of 12 knots steamers. Gulf ports to Brazil, u 12 knot line at $137,500 and a fortnightly service at 275,000. There is provided a $75,000 subsidy for lines from the Southern states to Cuba and the same from Gulf ports to Ceutral America. The Gulf ports to Mexico, $50,000 would be invested on a 12 knot weekly service. To Hawaii, Japan, China and the Philippines, 16 knot steamers at $500,000 for a monthly service and *600,000 for a fortnightly service. A line is provided from Puget Sound to Japan, China and the Philippines at $210,000 for a monthly service. Provision is also made for services to Hawaii, the Samoan Islands, Australia, the west coast of Mexico and to west Central American ports. It is seen that this program is both extensive and expensive, but Secretary Root held in his speech that it would be a paying investment. The Committee on Resolutions of the Congress did not go

so far as to straightway endorse the subsidy bill proposition, but it did endorse the building np of the American Merohant Marine, and suggested that Secretary Root had proposed the proper plan. This will be nioe for the trusts and monied power.