SUCCESSFULLY WITH FOREIGN SHIPS? 209 



cent, on the average of the unlicensed men — sailors, firemen and stewards — in the beyond- 

 seas trade or American trade, were American citizens, and yet at that time the pay of the 

 crews of the American ships was just as much higher as in the days when the law required 

 two-thirds of the crews of American ships to be American citizens. 



Moreover, I call your attention to the circumstance, that under the volimtary action of 

 the American Steamship Owners' Association and of the United States Shipping Board, for 

 some months past preference has been given to our own seamen, firemen and others, who are 

 American citizens, and that has resulted in a great increase of the American personnel on our 

 ships in general — it has been so great that the Sea Service Bureau of the U. S. Shipping 

 Board has been able to announce in the last month that almost all the men shipping from 

 that bureau have been American citizens. We now have the highest American personnel in 

 the experience of any living American owner. 



Sea wages are fixed by land wages. They are higher on sea in our case than they are 

 in foreign countries, because land wages are higher, and that is an economic law we cannot 

 dispense with in our day and generation. 



Another point — we need a merchant marine, as you know, largely for naval reserve 

 purposes. A substantial part of the crews must be American citizens for our own protec- 

 tion. During the war there were several instances of shameful conduct on the part of crews 

 — nearly all foreigners — of merchant ships that were torpedoed and sunk by the German sub- 

 marines, and the United States issued an order that no aliens should be shipped on vessels 

 carrying troops from America to Europe. The Navy substituted green boys who had not 

 been to sea before, and they did remarkably well. 



I am in earnest in believing that we shall never have a merchant marine in this coun- 

 try if it is chiefly manned, as economical considerations might demand it should be manned, 

 by foreign labor. The American shipowners must show that they are employing a very con- 

 siderable proportion of American sailors and firemen before they can hope for any sub- 

 stantial protection or encouragement whatever from the Congress of the United States. 



The President : — The remarks of Mr. Marvin can be considered as preliminary only. 

 He is therefore privileged to reply to any other discussion, so that the discussion is still 

 open for those who wish to express themselves. 



Mr. Edwin C. Bennett, Member: — I had not intended saying anything in connection 

 with Mr. Marvin's paper, for I am not a ship operator and therefore feel a certain hesi- 

 tancy in entering a discussion upon one of the most vital problems facing the American peo- 

 ple. I am, however, a naval architect and shipbuilder, and therefore the success or non- 

 success of the American merchant marine reflects itself very materially in the business I 

 am engaged in. It is a subject whose solution will be of the greatest influence upon the future 

 welfare of this Society and every member connected with it. I feel that, of all the papers 

 being read at this meeting, this is of the most vital consequence to all of us and should receive 

 the greatest attention. 



Mr. Donald, in the tables presented in connection with his discussion, very clearly shows 

 the handicaps under which we are struggling even with ships carried at $20 per ton dead- 

 weight, and puts forth anything but a rosy outlook. Mr. Marvin also in his valuable paper 

 refers to the first cost of the American ship as an item to be seriously considered. Now 

 we know there are today something like 3,000 American ships, owned by citizens or the U. S. 



