BANQUET. 233 
$13,000,000 worth of diamonds in the rough. The duty was 10 per cent, and additional 
duty would be an additional 10 per cent, which would mean $1,300,000. Mind you, 
gentlemen, the diamonds could probably be brought in in a small grip. The 5 per cent 
off the duty gives the American ships an additional $65,000, a total of $1,365,000 in favor 
of the goods being brought in in American ships. You must recognize the fact that 
with this clause in operation our shipowners would be able to get better freight rates 
and would be able to command return cargoes that we could not otherwise get. The 
question of the difference in the wages, in the difference of the cost of operation, does 
not mean anything when compared with these figures. 
We also brought in $13,800,000 of cut, but not set, diamonds, carrying 20 per cent 
duty. The additional duty on them would be $1,380,000, and the 5 per cent special 
discount, $69,000, making a total of $1,449,000 in favor of American ships, and this, 
mind you, would be but a very small portion of the cargo of the ship. 
Take broad silks from Japan. In 1918 we imported 2,000,000 pounds, that is, 
1,000 tons. The duty was $5,100,000; the additional revenue, if brought in foreign 
ships would be $1,150,000, and with the 5 per cent discount, $250,000, a total of $1,400,- 
ooo in favor of American ships on 1,000 tons of freight. 
Take Axminster carpets. We brought in 400,000 yards in 1918, valued at $2,- 
150,000 with 50 percent duty. In that case 10 per cent extra if carried in foreign ships 
would be $215,000, and the discount of 5 per cent would amount to $53,750, or an 
amount in favor of American ships of $268,750, and mind you, gentlemen, this is with- 
out taking anything out of our pockets. 
In the writing of the Jones Bill, the question of a subsidy was not considered, because 
it was believed in this section there is a sufficient advantage to keep our ships at sea 
through their ability to command a higher freight rate, because when they arrived at 
a foreign port it would be an advantage to the foreign shipper to send his return cargo 
in the American ship rather than to pay the additional duty if he sent it in a foreign 
ship. . 
There is another benefit in the Jones Bill, and that is that the import and export 
rates provided in the railroad legislation should be only applicable to American ships— 
that if foreign ships come into our ports they would have to pay the local railroad rates. 
I can cite one instance of that—a rate made before the last advance in freight rates. 
I have no record of the new rate, but wool from Australia was imported to and carried 
arate from San Francisco to Boston of $24.50 or $25. Local wool grown in this country, 
in California, carried a rate of $49.50 to Boston, a difference between the foreign wool 
and American wool of about $24. This means, when placed into operation, a dif- 
ference between a foreign ship and an American ship of $24 a ton. These are some 
of the means by which we expect to keep our American merchant marine on the sea. 
We have the matter well thought out, and there is no mistake in our judgment, in my 
opinion. We made up our minds that this country must have a merchant marine, 
and we propose, if it is possible by legislation or by some other means, to keep these 
ships built by the Government at such great expense on the sea. (Applause.) 
In 191s I spent seven months in the Orient. I saw the old New York come into 
the Olongapo Navy Yard in the Philippine Islands with the American flag flying. I 
saw a few boats of the Pacific Mail Steamship Line, then going out of business. The 
last trip of the Manchuria was made while I was in Japan. Outside of this I saw very 
few American flags upon the ocean anywhere—U. S. transports, yes; Pacific Mail Steam- 
