12 Conservative *
UASULKSS ARGUMENT FOR SUBSI-
IJIKS.
It is possible tlmfc the millions who do
not own ships will object to paying ft
subsidy to the scores who do own them.
Such being the cnse , the business will
bo compelled to stand or fall on its own
merits , and , with every American ship
yard rushed with orders , it is not likely
to fall for an indefinite period. Port
land ( Ore. ) Oregonian , Oct. 20 , 1899.
Ships ami Shipbuilding.
Mr. James Boyle , United States con
sul at Liverpool , is the author of an in
teresting paper on "British Shipping
and Ship Building , " published in the
latest issue of Consular Reports.
It is regarded as a demonstrated fact
that we can build ships in competition
with the yards on the Clyde ; that in
quality nnd cost of ships we can com
pete with anybody. It is certain that
we are not compelled , like English
builders , to import steel plates and
other items which , according to Mr.
Boyle , we are exporting. Having every
facility , natural and acquired , why
should we not go ahead and construct
ships for the ocean carrying trade ?
Why wait for Congress "to give the
word ? " Washington Post , June 12 ,
1899.
The Shipping-Subsidy Job.
The appetite in some things grows by
what it is fed upon , and nothing is more
encouraging to the desire for a largo
subsidy than the grant of one of mod
erate proportions.
The International Navigation Com
pany had in the Payne-Hauna bill a do
nation accorded to it out of the public
treasury of unparalleled proportions.
Ships built abroad or at home were to
be subsidized in a manner that could
not fail to make them profitable to their
owners wherever they were run , and ,
having granted to the International
Navigation Company this sweeping op
portunity to thrust its hands elbow deep
into the treasury , a time limitation was
imposed which would probably prevent
other eager claimants from competing
in the work of treasury looting. The
scheme was intended to give to certain
favored individuals the chance to call
upon the government for aid and to
deny it to others. Boston Herald , June
10 , 1899.
Subsidies Not Needed.
The United States must have plenty
of ships on the ocean , and the time is
not far distant when she will have them ,
but they must be supported , like those
of other nations , by the traffic of the
world , and not by a tax on the people of
our own country. Portland ( Ore. ) Ore-
goniau , June 17 , 1899.
The Shipbuilding Ring and Its Agent * In
Congress.
Under the guise of fostering and de
veloping various industries the subsidy
bill olfored in this congress was drawn
solely with the intention of benefiting a
few powerful shipbuilders. The raid
upon the treasury as planned was , how
ever , too brazen to encourage its organ
izers in the hope that the country would
permit it to pass unchallenged. So the
old expedient of log-roiling was em
ployed in order to secure the advocacy
or the quiescence of other influences ,
and the measure took a final shape
which appalled , because of its flagrant
robbery , all save the most hardened of
the subsidy promoters. It must not be
forgotten that the lobby controlled and
energized by the shipbuilders is a crafty
and unscrupulous one , though in this
case it has luckily overreached itself.
Its only governing motive is to benefit
itself by preventing ships carrying the
American flag being built elsewhere
than in American yards , save under
farcial conditions which will never be
realized. New York Herald , March 8 ,
1899.
The Ship-Subsidy Plunk.
The Leader does not believe that the
republicans of Iowa are in favor of what
has been fitly denominated the most
gigantic subsidy scheme over proposed
on the floor of the American congress.
Wo gave the promoters of Western rail
roads gigantic laud grants , out of the
proceeds of which the railroads were
built , thus in effect presenting the rail
roads to the promoters. All now admit
this policy to have been a mistake , and
that the lauds should have been held for
homesteaders or sold to settlers , thus
realizing a sum which would have been
sufficient to extinguish the national
debt. That the old land grant grabs are
now recognized to have been robbery of
the people and a dissipation of the pee
ple's heritage is testified to by the fact
that the member of congress who would
now propose to give a railroad a laud
grant would be kicked out of the body
by his indignant colleagues. A ship
subsidy scheme is even worse , for it
proposes annually to take many millions
of money directly out of the public
treasury and deliberately hand it over
to certain largo oceanic transportation
companies.
The people of the West are interested
in the cheap transportation of their
grain and products abroad. The cheap
er the service the better for them , for
every cent taken off the ocean rates
means that much higher prices to the
producers of the great staples. The sub
sidy scheme holds out no promise of
lower transportation rates. On the con
trary , it is proposed by it to eliminate
foreign competition and to secure , by
an artificial stimulus , the carrying to
ships with an American registry. For
eign competition eliminated , and the
tramp steamer , which has done so much
to lower ocean rates , discriminated
against by tonnage duties and special
exactions , in a large measure would dis-
appear from our ports. Rates would go
up , to the injury of every Western and
every legitimate Eastern interest. Thus ,
in addition to the money which would
directly be taken out of the people's
pockets and given to great ship operat
ing companies , the ship subsidy scheme
is a menace to the West in a larger and
more important sense.
Every loyal American would like to
have American ships on every sea. But
the only way permanently to obtain this
condition is to trust to the operation of
natural causes. Des Moines ( Iowa )
Leader , Aug. 6 , 1899.
" \Vhiit Congress Is Doing.
The Hanua-Payne shipping subsidy
bill is in the hands of a committee and
will be reported to the house of repre
sentatives. A vast lobby is hero with a
number of experts who are preparing
speeches and arguments for the republi
can members. The republican leaders
on the floor are being trained and
drilled by these experts. The bill is an
infamous measure , designed to create
an ocean-carrying trust , with the United
States treasury at its back , that will be
able to destroy all competitors. The
monopolists realize that they cannot lay
steel rails upon the ocean and secure
charters that give them an exclusive
right of way to plow the Atlantic and
Pacific and control the carrying trade.
They also realize that where they can
not control the trackless ocean they
cannot create a monopoly , unless they
can have the United States treasury pay
them a bounty upon their business BO
large that they will be able to crush
competitors. National Watchman , Jan.
18 , 1900.
The full text of the parody of Kipling by
Secretary Reitz of the Transvaal is as follows :
PROGRESSIONAL.
[ Dedicated to Mr. Mudyard Pipling. ]
Gods of the Jingo-Brass and Gold ,
Lords of the world by "Right Divine , "
Under whose baneful sway they hold
Dominion over "Mine and Thine. "
Such Lords as these have made them rotten ,
They have forgotten they have forgotten.
The Nigger or the Chinee dies ,
The Gladstones and the Pitts depart ;
But "Bigger Englanders" arise
To teacli the world the Raiders' art.
Such Lords as these have made them rotten ,
They have forgotten they have forgotten.
' " the Gold the the Men "
They've "got , Ships , ,
And are the Masters of Tomorrow ,
And so mankind shall see again
The days of Sodom and Gomorrah.
These are the Lords that made them rotten ,
They have forgotten they have forgotten.
Drunken with lust of Power and Pelf ,
They hold nor man nor God in awe ,
But care for naught but only Self ,
And cent per cent's their only Law.
These are their Lords , for they are rotten ,
They have forgotten they have forgotten.
Their valiant hearts havn put their trust
In Maxim guns and Motford rifles ,
To knock thn Niggers into dust ,
And such-llko "unconsldered trifles"
For boastful brag and foolish fake
Th * Imperialist shall "take the cako. "