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SHIP SUBSIDIES.
The Great German Lines Built Up In
Free Ports—The Tariff Wall.
To the Editor of The New York Times:
Mr. Root is a skillful advocate. No
body could put the argument for sub
sidies better than he does, but it
seems to me he begins at the wrong
end. We all agree that it would be
well to increase our trade with South
America. But how can we expect to
increase that trade so long as we set
up a high tariff wall to exclude as
many as possible of the products of
South America from our market?
Trade, like everything else, follows the
line of least resistance. The foreign
commerce of England is the greatest
in the world, because she admits the
products of all countries, with one or
two trifling exceptions, free of duty.
Mr. Root is mistaken when he says
that Germany has given up the policy
of free ships. On the contrary, the
• Germans adhere to this policy. Some
of the best ships in their great lines
were built in England and taken by
German shipbuilders as a model. This
freedom develops skill and promotes
Industry, as freedom always does. The
two great German steamship lines,
the Hamburg and the North German
Lloyd, had their origin in the two free
cities of Hamburg and Bremen. Even
when these cities came into the Ger
man Empire, and became subject to
the German tariff, they reserved a free
zone around their harbors, in which
their ships lie and where all that is
needed for their ships comes in free
of tax.
The Hamburg Line is the greatest
steamship company in the world. It
has never received a dollar of subsi
dy from the German government.
When it carries mails it is paid for
that, as it would be for any like cargo.
But no such thing as a bonus has ever
gone into the treasury of that great
company.
When we are seeking to increase our
foreign commerce we ought to study
the experience of our successful com
petitors. Indeed, we ought to study
our own. This country has a history
"before the war.” Compared with our
present monstrous tariff, the tariff of
those days may well be called "free
trade.”
Carl Schurz, in the "Life of Henry
Clay,” which President Eliot eulogiz
ed so highly the other night, tells us
that the highest duty under the tariff
advocated by Henry Clay in 1816 was
35 per cent.; that on cotton and wool
en goods and iron was only 20 per
cent. Many of these articles under
the existing tariff are taxed 100 per
cent., and some even more. Give us
reciprocity with South America, and
we shall have an increase of trade.
Never till then.
But for an illustration of the benefit
of free trade we need only refer to
our present condition. Our Internal
commerce on the great lakes has in
creased with wonderful rapidity. No
tax is laid in Buffalo upon the ship
ments from Duluth. Why should there
be a tax in New York on shipments
from Rio? If we want to bring about
the real cordial feeling that Mr. Root
advocates, let us follow the policy
which McKinley recommended in his
last speech, and which Roosevelt in
dorsed when he became president, the
policy of reciprocity. And since we
cannot have a two-thirds vote in its
favor from a Republican senate, let
us have a statute which requires only
a majority vote, which will give to
the people of South America and the
United States the benefits of the treat
ies that a Republican senate refused
to ratify. As John Sherman said in
the senate in 1868: "Every advance to
ward a free exchange of commodities
is an advance of civilization.”
Mr. Root says that England pays
subsidies to steamship lines. On this
point he is evidently misinformed.
England pays steamships for carry
ing mails. She makes a certain pay
ment for the expense of equipping fast
steamers to become part of a naval
reserve. These payments are not sub
sidies. They are simply paying for
what the lines furnish to the govern
ment. To such payments as these
nobody objects. It is to the bonus be
yond these that we do object. That
is the bonus which is proposed by the
subsidy bill now before congress.
There is one branch of foreign com
merce to which Mr. Root does not re
fer, and concerning which perhaps he
is not informed. Our laws prohibit
American citizens from buying foreign
built ships and sailing them under the
American flag. But they do not pro
hibit Americans from chartering for
eign ships. A great amount of Amer
ican capital is invested in foreign
trade done in chartered ships, large
ly under the Norwegian flag. This
is profitable to our citizens and prof
itable to the Norwegians. Why not
leave trade to its natural channels and
let our Norwegian friends share the
profit of it with our own people? Why
should the richest and most powerful
country in the globe take the money
of the taxpayers to pay bonuses to
make business profitable which nat
urally is unprofitable, and in this way
drive the ships of a friendly nation
out of business? What is the differ
ence in principle between a great rail
road company paying a rebate to a
shipper and a great nation paying a
bonus to a shipbuilder? The object
of each is to interfere with natural
competition and fair conditions of
trade. A FREEMAN.
New York, Nov. 26, 1906.
M H H
It’s a fortunate thing for some of
fice-holders that killing time isn’t pun
ishable by hanging.
* h n
When a married woman throws a
hint, it is reasonably sure to strike
her husband’s pocket book. —The
Young American.
JUST FOR FUN.
Bricks are hard pressed for money.
The only free man is the healthy
man.
Fools make feasts and wise men
eat then*.
•6
Three may keep a secret, if two
of them are dead.
*
At what age should a man marry?
At the parson-age.
If you do what you should not, you
must hear what you should not.
People who move in the same cir
cle—Merry-go-round riders.
Why is a coachman like the clouds?
Because he holds the reins.
W
Why is a committee of inquiry like
a cannon? It makes a report.
*
A countryman between two law
yers is like a fish between two cats.
•t
Better slip with foot than tongue.
Keep your mouth shut, and feet, dry.
R
If all men were as wise as they
claim, all women would seem sensi
ble to them.
n
A fellow in Durand’s Case the other
day, said:
"Waiter, do you serve lobsters?”
Waiter—" Yes, sir, what will you
have.” —The Young American.
THE WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
OUR LINE
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Patent Wall Plaster Window Jacks
Corrugated Iron Roofing Store Ladders
V Crimp Iron Roofing Dumb Walters
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Change of Name
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15