8 Conservative *
THK SHIP SUBSIDY BILI
If there is one pretense more bold than
the rest under which the pending subsidy
bill is pushed , it is that it will help our
foreign mail service.
At page 52 Mr. Ohamberluiu suggests
that :
"A reduction in the special rates pro
posed for steamships of 14 knots or
upward will preclude the possibility of
establishingHnew lines of American mail
steamships to different quarters of the
globe , and would thus defeat one of the
most important public objects of the
measure. * * * The rates proposed
for American mail steamships by both
( Senate and House ) bills , on the other
hand , must share in the uniform reduc
tion when the maximum expenditure
has reached the limit , $9,000,000. "
This reminds us of Senator Frye's
claim that of the $9,000,000 per annum ,
contemplated as subsidy , only $7,500,000
should be really so considered ; since on
his theory , we are now paying $1,500 000
for mail service , for which the United
States , under the subsidy bills , would
pay nothing.
The fact , however , is as no one
would more promptly admit than will
Mr. Frye and Mr. Chamberlain that ,
while there might sometimes be a little
benefit to the United States from free
mail carriage to offset against subsidies
paid , its amount would be petty and un
certain.
For , in the very nature of things , we
must employ to carry our mails the best
and fastest ships to be secured. When
the pending contract with the Inter
national was made , its ships the Paris
and the New York and the newly built
St. Paul and St. Louis , were among the
fastest in existence. Since that time ,
however , and notably within the last
two years , marine engineering has so
developed that , whereas ten years since
there was none faster , and only four
others as fast as the International's
( then ) two steamers ; in 1900 there were
floated nine which surpass them in speed
three by one knot per hour , two by
two knots per hour , and four by three
knot * per .hour. Moreover , line after
line has contracted for ships of from 23
to 24 knots speed , until within five years ,
a 20 to 21-knot ship ( even now not con
sidered an eligible carrier for fast mail
between here and Europe ) will be a
leisurely-going tub , as compared with
the faster steamers that will then carry
our mails.
But under the subsidy bill , we are hot
likely to have American mail steamers.
In the first place its promoters admit
that such is not the case.
( House Hearings , p. 34) ) :
"Mr. Clyde : We know , as practical
men , that the 21-knot ship is a bad ship
for the shipowner ; and we know from
the inquiries we have made as to what
ships will be built if this bill is passed
that all the vessels contemplated will be
vessels of moderate speed , none of them
exceeding 17 knots. "
In the second place , the bill is so
drafted as to discourage the building of
really fast steamers by American ship
yards. It is on every hand conceded
that the cost of building , fitting , and
running a steamer increases very rapidly
and out of all proportion to the speed
attained. And when we remember that ,
though scheduled by Lloyd's as 20-knot
steamers and so rated only last year by
Mr. Chamberlain the International's
flyers are now considered by Mr.
Chamberlain as competent to draw sub
sidy as 21-knot vessels ( see p. 198) ) we
evidently have the data in view of
which the subsidy bill was drafted.
The International's four steamers
could not hope , even on a temporary
test , to be rated as over 21-knot speed ;
hence , though the bill provides special
speed subsidy at 2.36 per gross ton per
100 miles on 21-knot steamers , while
giving only 1.4 cents for the next fastest
(17-knot ( ) American steamers in exist
ence , it provides for no higher rate for
swifter vessels ; and , therefore , it offers
least inducement of all to the building
of faster steamers than 21 knots. The
provisions of the bill as to "speed" sub
sidy , therefore , are not intended to
induce the building of a single fast
American mail ship , but rather to
pauperize the four superannuated "grey
hounds" of the American Line to the
tune ( when the Paris shall be back in
service ) of some $1,500,000 a year.
Instead , therefore , of any prospect
that our government will save $1,500,000
by free carriage of mails in subsidized
ships , the fact is that the International's
mail contracts are mainly in respect of
vessels that already are or will soon
become unfit for mail carriage at all ; so
that our government must in any case
contract with faster steamers.
This particularly applies to shipping
in the Atlantic trade. That is to say :
The International's four great subsidy
grabbers the New York , the Philadel
phia ( formerly Paris ) , the St. Paul and
the St. Louis last year received
$647,278 from the United States for mail
carriage under contracts which , though
proper when made , can never be re
newed. It is now proposed by the
pending bills to double even this enor
mous subsidy for ten years to come after
they shall have practically ceased to be
eligible for carrying the mails at all.
Indeed , a scandal has already arisen
in this connection. At page 13 of the
Report of the Superintendent of Foreign
Mails , dated October 23 , 1900 , appears
the following :
"The rules under which the mails for
trans-Atlantic destinations were for
many years assigned to the fastest vessels
available for their conveyance that is
to say , in the cose of two steamers leav
ing New York for Great Britain at or
about the same time , the mails were
assigned to the steamer which , accord
ing to the record of its three voyages
just preceding the assignment , delivered
the mails in the shortest time in Lon
don has not been rigidly adhered to
during the year just closed , preferences
having been given to vessels flying the
flag of the United States. "
It is not here specifically stated what
American vessels were thus favored ,
but on the next page is given a schedule
of all ships whose records were kept in
this connection. This includes no other
American ships than the International's
St. Paul , St. Louis and New York ( the
Paris now being rebuilt ) , and shows that
for the mail service between New York
and London , their average records for
the last three months noted ( April-June ,
1900. ) were :
St. Paul 178.2 Hours
St. Louis 185.0 "
Now York 185.8 "
As compared with the time for similar
carriage by other steamers as follows :
Kaiser Wilhelm dor Grosse , ( North
Ger. Lloyd ) 102.8 Hours
Lucania ( Cunard ) 109.5 "
Campania ( Cunard ) 172.8 "
Oceanic ( White Star ) 171.1 '
Kaiser Frederick ( Hamburg-Amer
ican ) 174.1 "
Fuerst Bismark ( Hamburg-Ameri
can ) 1700 "
In other words , Mr. MoEinley's post-
office department is deliberately pre
ferring slow ships to faster ones for
trans-Atlantic mails.
How grava is the favoritism thus
shown the International can be best
appreciated by an instance :
According to Bulliuger's Guide the
steamers advertised to convey the United
States mails from New York to the
United Kingdom and the continent , on
November the 7th , 1900 , were the St.
Paul , scheduled to leave at 10 a. m. , and
the Teutonic , scheduled to sail at noon.
On the voyage from Southampton to
New York , the St. Paul , of the later-
national Navigation Company ( Ameri
can Line ) met with an accident to one
of her propellers , on account of which
she only reached New York on Novem
ber the 4th , and , after the extent of the
damage had been ascertained , she was
withdrawn from the service to be laid
up for several months on account of
repairs.
Upon the withdrawal of the St. Paul ,
of the American Line , it was naturally
understood that the mails to be des
patched on November the 7th , would
be sent by the Teutonic , of the White
Star line. On Thursday , November the
8th , it was , however , ascertained to be
the fact that the mails on Wednesday ,
November 7th , were not despatched by
the Teutonic , of the White Star Line ,
but were sent instead by the Inter
national's slow steamer Friesland
normally some two or three days slower
than the Teutonic , and in fact arriving
this time about a week later.
It would probably occur to no one
