Chapter 14

SUMMARY

Ship subsidies, open or concealed, are now granted by nearly every maritime nation. Whatever may be the designation of these Government grants,--whether mail subsidies, naval subventions, retaining fees for possible naval service, construction bounties, navigation bounties, trade bounties, Government loans, Government partnerships, tariff advantages, canal refunds,--whatever may be their form, all are distinctly Government aids, direct or indirect, the primary object of which is the development and expansion of the merchant marine of each nation granting them; and generally, if not universally, the upbuilding of this marine for service in time of need as an auxiliary to the national navy.

Summarized, the various grants of the various nations thus appear:

_Great Britain_ grants mail subsidies, and admiralty subventions; her colonies, steamship subsidies.

_France_: mail subsidies; construction and navigation bounties; fisheries bounties.

_Germany_: mail subsidies; steamship subsidies; preferential rates on the State railroads for shipbuilding materials.

_Belgium_: premiums to certain steamship lines; pilotage refunds.

_Austria-Hungary_: mail subsidies; construction and navigation bounties; Suez Canal refunds. Hungary; bounties to Hungarian ships.

_Italy_: mail subsidies; construction and navigation bounties.

_Spain_: mail subsidies; construction and navigation bounties.

_Portugal_: mail subventions to steamship companies.

_Denmark_: trade subsidies; exemptions from harbor dues.

_Sweden_: State contributions--loans to steamship companies.

_Norway_: State contributions; trade subsidies.

_Russia_: mail subsidies; mileage subsidies; Government loans; steamship subsidies; Suez Canal refunds.

_Japan_: State aid to steamship companies; mail subsidies; construction and navigation bounties; fisheries bounties.

_China_: State aid to steamship companies; subsidies to ship-yards.

_South America_: Brazil and Argentina, subsidies to foreign steamship companies.

_United States_: mail subsidies to seven steamship lines.

The United States confines the coastwise trade to American ships, and these are exempted from tonnage dues. It excludes foreign-built ships from American registry, admitting only American ships, or those taken in war as prizes or forfeited for a breach of United States laws, belonging to American citizens.[IN] Ownership of American ships is restricted to "citizens of the United States, or a corporation organized under the laws of any of the States thereof."[IO] The master of an American ship, and all officers in charge of a watch, including the pilots, must be American citizens. Since 1871 foreign materials for ship-building have been admitted free of duty. Since 1909 such materials, and all articles necessary for the outfit and equipment of ships, have been duty-free, with this proviso: that vessels receiving these rebates of duties "shall not be allowed to engage in the coastwise trade of the United States more than six months in any one year," except upon repayment of the duties remitted; and that vessels built for foreign account and ownership shall not engage in this trade.[IP]

In 1910 the subsidized American service covered only the one transatlantic line from New York to Southampton, calling at Plymouth and Cherbourg; lines to the north coast of South America--to Venezuela; to Mexico; to Havana; to Jamaica; and on the Pacific, from San Francisco to Tahiti.

The total cost of the service for the year on these seven subsidized routes was $1,114,603.47, a net excess over the amount allowable at present rates to steamers not under contract of $346,677.39, or, deducting the amount would have been paid non-contract steamers for the despatch of the foreign closed mails which these steamers carry without additional cost to the department, a total excess of $293,013.40.[IQ] "All other mail service between the United States and foreign countries," the postmaster-general regretfully reported, is "wholly dependent on steamships over whose sailings the department has no control."[IR]

* * * * *

The total tonnage of the United States in 1910 as given by Lloyd's was 5,058,678 tons:

No. of vessels. Tons.

Sea 2774 2,761,605 Northern Lakes 606 2,256,619 Philippine Islands 89 40,454 ---- --------- Total 3469 5,058,678

The number of ships on the lakes as given does not include wooden vessels trading on the Great Lakes. While the ocean tonnage has declined from more than two and a half million tons in 1861 to some eight hundred thousand tons, that engaged in the coastwise and inland trade has steadily increased for many years.[IS] On the Great Lakes especially is employed a fine and powerful merchant fleet.

THE END.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote IN: Registry law of 1792, in Revised Statutes, sec. 4132.]

[Footnote IO: Revised Statutes, see. 4131.]

[Footnote IP: Tariff act of Aug. 5, 1909, sec. 19.]

[Footnote IQ: Postoffice Department report, 1910.]

[Footnote IR: Postmaster-general Hitchcock, report, 1910.]

[Footnote IS: American Year Book, 1911.]

INDEX

_Adriatic_, the steamer,

American Shipping League,

American Steamship Company,

American Year Book, _reference to_,

Anderson, Com. Gen. George E., _reference to_,

_Arctic_, the steamer,

_Argentina_, use of subsidies in,

Aspinwall, W.H.,

_Atlantic_, the steamer,

Atlantic Transport line,

_Auguste Victoria_, the steamer,

Australasia line,

Australian line,

Austria-Hungary, history of the use of subsidies in, provisions for two classes of subsidies in, increase in the proportion of steamers built in, total of tonnage in, grants of,

Austrian Lloyd Company,

Austro-American Shipping Company,

Austro-Hungarian Lloyd Company, _see_ Austrian Lloyd Company.

BABBITT, VICE CON. GEN. E.G., _reference to_,

_Baltic_, the steamer,

Barker, J. Ellis, _reference to his_ "Modern Germany,"

Bates, W.W., _reference to his_, "American Marine,"

Belgium, use of subsidies in,

Bismarck's Memorial to the German Reichstag, _reference to_,

Black Sea Navigation Company,

Brazil, use of subventions in,

_Britannia_, the steamer,

Brown, James,

Brown, Stewart,

_California_, the steamer,

Canada, granting of mail and steamship subsidies by,

Cargo Ship Bill, the,

Charleston and Havana line,

_Chargeurs Réunis_,

Chile, use of mail subsidies,

China, use of subsidies in,

Chinese Merchants' Steam Navigation Company,

_City of New York_, the steamer,

_City of Paris_, the steamer,

"Clippers," American,

Colbert, finance minister of France,

Collins, Edward K.,

Collins line, the,

_Columbia_, the steamer,

_Campagnie des Messagéries Maritimes_,

_Compagnie Fraissant_,

_Compagnie Générale Transatlantique_,

Compañia Transatlantica Española, La,

Cromwell, code of, _see_ Maritime Charter of England, Great,

Cunard, Samuel,

Cunard Company,

_Curaçoa_, the steamer,

DAWSON, GEN. WILLIAM, JR., _reference to_,

Denmark, granting of postal subventions and "trade" subsidies by,

Dominion line,

"Dramatic line,"

Dutch East Indian lines,

EAST AFRICAN LINE,

East Asian line,

England, history of the use of subsidies in, first navigation law of, Great Maritime Charter of, Cromwell's code for, competition between the United States and, testing of steam for navigation in, building of steamships, total of subsidies paid in, grants of,

_Falcon_, the steamer,

Farquhar, James M.,

France, history of the use of subsidies in, the navigation laws of, the disappearance of the domestic mercantile marine of, commercial treaty between England and, the Merchant Marine Act of, organization of steamship companies in, granting of "shipping premiums" in, total cost of bounty system in, capacity of, for building steamships, grants of,

_Franklin_, the steamer,

Frye, William P.,

GAFFNEY, T. ST. J., U.S. Consul,

Gallinger, Jacob H.,

_Georgia_, the steamer,

German-Australian line,

Germany, history of the use of subsidies in, first steps in domestic shipbuilding in, establishment of a subsidized mail service in, building of large steamships in, extraordinary growth of the merchant marine in, grants of,

_Great Britain_, the steamer,

_Great Western_, the steamer,

Great Western Steamship Company,

Green, John R., _reference to his_ "Short History of the English People,"

Greener, Gen. R.T., U.S. Con., _reference to_,

Grosvenor, Charles H.,

HAMBURG-AMERICAN lines,

Hanna, Mark,

Harris, Arnold,

_Hermann_, the steamer,

Hitchcock, Postmaster-General, _reference to_ Report of,

Hoar, George Frisbie,

Holland, maritime supremacy of, granting of subventions for carrying mails in,

_Humboldt_, the steamer,

Hungary, _see_ Austria-Hungary

_Illinois_, the steamer,

_Indiana_, the steamer,

Inman, John,

"Inman Line,"

"International Mercantile Marine Company,"

International Navigation Company, _see_ American Line

Italian General Navigation Company,

Italy, history of the use of subsidies in, construction, subsidies provided for in, mail subvention system of, increase of tonnage in, grants of,

JAPAN, history of the use of subsidies in,

Japan Mail Steamship Company, _see, Nippon Yusen Kaisha_, the

Japan Year Book, _reference to_,

Jwasaki Yataro, the Japanese merchant,

LAW, GEORGE,

Lindsay, W.H., _reference to his_ "History of Merchant Shipping," _also his_, "Our Navigation Laws,"

_Lloyd Brazileiro_, the,

Lloyd Italiano line,

Lloyd's Register, _reference to_,

_Lusitania_, the steamer,

Lynch, John,

Lynch bounty bill,

MACGREGOR, JOHN, _reference to his_, "Commercial Tariffs,"

Mellvaine, Bowes,

Mail Ship Bill, the,

Maritime Charter of England, Great,

Marvin, Winthrop L., _reference to his_ "American Merchant Marine,"

_Mauretania_, the steamer,

Meeker, Royal, _reference to his_ "History of Ship Subsidies,"

Merchant Marine Commission, the,

Miller, Con. Gen. H.B., _reference to_,

Mills, Edward,

Mordecai, M.C.,

Morgan, J. Pierpont,

"Morgan Steamship Merger," _see_ "International Mercantile Marine Company"

NAVIGATION, Report of (U.S.) commissioner of, _reference to_,

Navigation law, first English,

New Orleans packet line,

New York, Havre, and Bremen line,

New York and Chagres line,

_Nippon Yusen Kaisha_, the,

North German Lloyd line,

Norway, granting of subsidies for mail carriage by,

O'BRIEN; THOMAS, U.S. Ambassador, _reference to_,

Ocean Steam Navigation Company,

_Ohio_, the steamer,

_Olympic_, the steamer,

_Oregon_, the steamer,

_Pacific_, the steamer,

Pacific Mail Steamship Company,

Pacific Steam Navigation Company,

_Panama_, the steamer,

Parliamentary papers, _reference to_,

_Pennsylvania_, the steamer,

Portugal, granting of postal subventions and subsidies by,

Postal Aid Law, the,

Postal Ocean Steamship Company,

Preble, George H., _reference to his_, "Chronological History of Steam Navigation,"

_Princeton_, sloop-of-war, the,

RED STAR LINE,

Ricardo, John Lewis, _reference to his_, "Anatomy of the Navigation Laws,"

Roach, John,

Roberts, Marshall O.,

Roosevelt, President,

Root, Secretary,

Royal Mail Steam Packet Company,

_Royal William_, the steamer,

Russia, history of the use of subsidies in, proposed granting of bounties in the form of loans, increase in the fleet of, grants of,

Russian Volunteer Fleet,

ST. GEORGE'S PACKET COMPANY,

_St. Louis_, the steamer,

_St. Paul_, the steamer,

Sammons, Thomas, U.S. Con. Gen.,

_Savannah_, the first steamer to cross the Atlantic,

Shipbuilding, in the United States, in England, in France, in Germany, in Austria-Hungary, in Spain, in Russia, in Japan, in the United States,

_Sirius_, the steamer,

Sloo, A.G.,

Skinner, Robert, U.S. Consul,

Small, Consul General, _reference to_,

Smith, U.S. Consul, _reference to_,

Snodgrass, Con. Gen. John H., _reference to_,

South America, use of subsidies in,

Spain, history of the use of subsidies in,

Spears, John R., _reference to his_ "Story of the American Merchant Marine,"

Subsidy, definition of term, various forms of, use of, in England, in Canada, in France, in Germany, in Holland and Belgium, in Austria-Hungary, in Italy, in Spain, in Portugal, in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, in Russia, in Japan, in China, in South America, in the United States, summary of,

Sweden, granting of subsidies for mail carriage by,

TAFT, PRESIDENT,

_Tennessee_, the steamer,

UNION MARITIME COMPANY,

United States, competition in the overseas between England and the, history of the proposed system of ship subsidies in the, establishment of mail steamers in the, the "clippers" of the, revival of the steamship-subsidizing policy in the, condition of the merchant marine in the, bills in Congress relative to bounties in the, grants of the, ownership of ships in the, subsidized service of, in 1911, total tonnage of the,

VAN TROMP, the Dutch admiral,

Vera Cruz packet line,

Viallatés, Achille, _reference to_,

_Washington_, the steamer,

Wells, David A., _reference to his_ "Our Merchant Marine,"

Wheelwright, William,

White Star Line,

Wood, J.K., U.S. Consul, _reference to_,