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The National Geographic Magazine 



away all those treaties and enter upon a 

 war of commercial retaliation and repri- 

 sal for the sake of accomplishing indi- 

 rectly what can be done directly should 

 not be seriously considered. 



3. There remains the third and obvi- 

 ous method: To neutralize the artificial 

 disadvantages imposed upon American 

 shipping through the action of our own 

 government and foreign governments by 

 an equivalent advantage in the form of a 

 subsidy or subvention. In my opinion 

 this is what should be done ; it is the sen- 

 sible and fair thing to do. It is what 

 must be done if we would have a revival 

 of our shipping and the desired develop- 

 ment of our foreign trade. We cannot 

 repeal the protective tariff ; no political 

 party dreams of repealing it ; we do not 

 wish to lower the standard of American 

 living or American wages. 



We should give hack to the ship owner 

 what we take azuay from him for the pur- 

 pose of maintaining that standard, and 

 unless me do give it back, zve shall con- 

 tinue to go zvithout ships. 



How can the expenditure of public 

 money for the improvement of rivers and 

 harbors to promote trade be justified 

 upon any grounds which do not also sus- 

 tain this proposal? Would any one re- 

 verse the policy that granted aid to the 

 Pacific railroads, the pioneers of our 

 enormous internal commerce, the agen- 

 cies that built up the great traffic which 

 has enabled half a dozen other roads to 

 be built in later years without assistance ? 

 Such subventions would not be gifts. 

 They would be at once compensation for 

 injuries inflicted upon American shipping 

 by American laws and the consideration 

 for benefits received by the whole Ameri- 

 can people — not the shippers or the ship- 

 builders or the sailors alone, but by every 

 manufacturer, every miner, every farmer, 

 every merchant whose prosperity depends 

 upon a market for his products. 



The provision for such just compensa- 

 tion should be carefully shaped and di- 

 rected so that it will go to individual 

 advantage only so far as the individual 

 is enabled by it to earn a reasonable profit 



by building up the business of the 

 country. 



A MOST IMPORTANT MEASURE 



A bill is now pending in Congress 

 which contains such provisions ; it has 

 passed the Senate and is now before the 

 House Committee on Merchant Marine 

 and Fisheries ; it is known as Senate Bill 

 No. 529, Fifty-ninth Congress, first 

 session. It provides specifically that the 

 Postmaster General may pay to American 

 steamships, of specified rates of speed, 

 carr_ving mails upon a regular service, 

 compensation not to exceed the following 

 amounts : For a line from an Atlantic 

 port to Brazil, monthly, $150,000 a year; 

 for a line from an Atlantic port to Uru- 

 guay and Argentina, monthly, $187,500 a 

 year ; for a line from a Gulf port to 

 Brazil, monthly, $137,500 a year; for a 

 line from each of two Gulf ports and 

 from New Orleans to Central America 

 and the Isthmus of Panama, weekly, $75,- 

 000 a year ; for a line from a Gulf port to 

 Mexico, weekly, $50,000 a year ; for a line 

 from a Pacific Coast port to Mexico, 

 Central America and the Isthmus of 

 Panama, fortnightly, $120,000 a year. 

 For these six regular lines a total of 

 $720,000. The payments provided are 

 no more than enough to give the Ameri- 

 can ships a fair living chance in the com- 

 petition. 



There are other wise and reasonable 

 provisions in the bill relating to trade 

 with the Orient, to tramp steamers and to 

 a naval reserve, but I am now concerned 

 with the provisions for trade to the 

 South. The hope of such a trade lies 

 chiefly in the passage of that bill. 



Postmaster General Cortelyou, in his 

 report for 1905, said: 



"Congress has authorized the Post- 

 master General, by the act of 1891, to 

 contract with the owners of American 

 steamships for ocean mail service and. has 

 realized the impracticability of command- 

 ing suitable steamships in the interest of 

 the postal service alone by requiring that 

 such steamers shall be of a size, class, 

 and equipment which will promote com- 



