if engaged with a first-class power; and therefore it is necessary to establish reserves of men in both services and of ships in the naval service. I will not discuss the cost of maintaining a battleship or the desirability of keeping a considerable number of the fighting ships of the navy in reserve if we had reserve men enough to man them in case of war, but the same general reasoning will apply with equal force to auxiliaries.

It is well known that when the battleship fleet made its trip around the world a few years ago it was accompanied by auxiliaries carrying coal for the fleet, flying foreign flags and manned by foreign crews, largely Lascars and Chinese. This was necessary because there were no suitable Amer

ican ships for that purpose. Under present conditions the navy is substantially in the same need, and in order to make it homogeneous it should have added to it scout cruisers, repair ships, supply ships, hospital ships, and colliers. Such vessels are not now available and they should be constructed at once if they cannot be obtained from our merchant marine.

The cost of maintaining auxiliary naval vessels in commission is indicated by taking the cases of the Mars, Vulcan, and Hector, which are colliers having a capacity of 7,100 tons. The entire cost for the maintenance of these ships for a year is $105,000 each, provided they are officered and manned by civilian crews, but is much more than that if under the charge of naval officers and manned by naval crews. For example, the repair ship Panther, which is not so large as the colliers, costs about $200,000 a year. Generally speaking, in the naval service it costs approximately one thousand dollars per man of the crew to maintain a vessel.

It is absolutely essential from the standpoint of the navy that there be suitable ships in operation which can be drawn on in time of need. A material saving could be made if this course were followed. In fact, it can be completely demonstrated that if this government paid sufficient subsidies or subventions to private lines of fast steamers covering all the principal ports on both coasts of South America, to be constructed under the direction of the Navy Department, and suitable for auxiliary purposes, with the provision that crews and ships should be

transferred to the navy in case of need, the saving to the government would be equivalent to the subsidies paid.

Furthermore, we need men for our naval reserve. During the Spanish-American war we had the greatest difficulty in shipping able seamen-only about 1,500 being obtained during the duration of the war-and the purchase of ships at that time made necessary by our not having auxiliaries for the navy indicated that if they had been sold at the end of the war there would have been a loss of about fifty per cent on their purchase price. The ships were purchased because it was impossible to charter them, as is done by England and other countries having a well-developed merchant marine. Therefore, from the standpoint of the navya standpoint which should not be neglected—there is every reason for our giving encouragement to the upbuilding of our merchant marine and to the increase of that part of our population engaged in seafaring life; so that we may develop a naval reserve which will enable us to lay up a large part of our fighting ships when we are at peace.

If my contentions are sound: 1. We need a merchant marine for mercantile and naval purposes. 2. We should repeal any legislation, like portions of the Seamen's Bill to which I have referred, which militates against this development. 3. We should follow the practise of all other nations, which has resulted in the development of shipping by giving sufficient aid to overcome the difference in costs which stands as a handicap to our shipping. 4. Such aid should apply only in cases where the operation cannot be conducted profitably, and should continue only so long as that condition prevails, such aid being based on the service performed either in carrying mails or in furnishing ships for auxiliary purposes. 5. Any government operation which places government-owned or controlled ships in competition with privately-owned and operated ships should not be countenanced. The judgment and experience of experts of all kinds on this subject should be sufficient to deter us from taking such a hopelessly fatal step. 6. As the navy needs auxiliaries even more than any other facility, any measures taken to increase its efficiency should give first consideration to and be influenced by the development of a merchant marine.

WHAT CONGRESS SHOULD DO TO DEVELOP AN AMERICAN MERCANTILE MARINE 1

T

ROBERT L. OWEN

United States Senator from Oklahoma

1

HE American merchant marine has apparently been the object of much solicitude by the great political parties of the United States. The Republican party in its national platforms from 1884 to 1912, every four years, has strenuously declared in favor of a revived merchant marine, the declaration in 1912 being: "We believe that one of the country's most urgent needs is a revived merchant marine. There should be American ships and plenty of them to make use of the great American oceanic canal now nearing completion." The Progressive party favors this policy. The Democratic party since 1880 through its national platform has declared its belief in fostering the growth of a merchant marine "which shall develop and strengthen the commercial ties which bind us to our sister republics of the South, but without imposing additional burdens upon the people and without bounties and subsidies from the public treasury."

Various plans have been proposed:

First, subsidies. The Republican party never has been able to put upon the statute-book effective subsidies because of its divided opinion and because of the opposition of the Democratic party, which has believed that subsidies would lead to public corruption and unjust and indefensible discrimination in favor of private interests against the public interest.

Second, discriminating duties. Congress in 1913 made a provision for discriminating duties, but the Attorney General found that it violated our treaty obligations with other nations. Third, guaranties by the government of the bonds of private corporations. This would be a subsidy and impracticable. Fourth, the amendment of our navigation laws. The ship

1 Address at the dinner of the Academy of Political Science, November 12, 1915.

ping interests of the country have apparently never been sufficiently interested to present their views in an adequate and proper manner to the committees of Congress, showing the amendments of the navigation laws which were essential to the upbuilding of the merchant marine. Certainly those who are interested in the ocean-carrying service should, if these laws are as harmful as is sometimes suggested, present to Congress the reasons which would justify a change in these laws.

Fifth, Congress has, by the ship registry bill, opened the American registry to ships built abroad, and in this way quite a large number of vessels have been added to the American merchant marine, subject to the laws of the United States, and have at least added to the statistical respectability of the American merchant marine.

Sixth, during the last Congress a bill was presented authorizing the United States government to take stock in a corporation to be organized under the patronage and control of the government of the United States, with a capital of ten millions of dollars and the right to use thirty millions of Panama bonds to enlarge the enterprise, the government of the United States taking the bonds of the corporation in lieu of such advances.

This latter enterprise has various obvious advantages:

First, these ships would meet the needs of American foreign commerce between the United States, Central and South America, and the Orient, in which there is no adequate service by privately-owned ships.

Second, these ships would be manned by American seamen paid American wages, having the ideals and language of the United States, having a patriotic love for the United States and its interests.

Third, such ships would comprise a very important naval auxiliary and could serve instantly in case of foreign war as colliers, ammunition boats, supply boats, transports, oilers, hospitals, and repair shops, all necessary in times of war. They would be manned by patriotic Americans and not by foreigners without interest in America and ignorant of the language.

These boats would be self-supporting and would comprise an auxiliary naval merchant marine. They would have an

extreme mobility. They could be sent to develop new lines of commerce where at present we have no regular mail service, no regular freight service, no regular passenger service, and consequently no reliable commercial ties. Whenever private capital could be attracted to fill a field thus developed, these boats could be used to develop a new field.

We have a right to believe that they would pay well from the beginning, because we know that the exports of the United States to many of the South American countries have doubled in the last year, and that there is an enormous field of commerce, of imports and exports, immediately available whenever reliable channels of intercommunication shall have been established. The exports from Europe to South America in 1914 were $667,000,000.

The representatives of the South American countries, at the Pan-American financial conference held in Washington last May-eighteen American nations participating-declared their eagerness to co-operate with the United States in improving the trade and commercial relations between the United States and the Central and South American nations. There is no doubt that these countries will extend every possible facility in the forms of docks, terminals, and favoring laws.

Until the passage of the federal reserve act, American producers and shippers had no adequate banking facilities in Brazil, Argentina, or other South and Central American nations; no adequate credit facilities, and no adequate American business representatives. But under the federal reserve act a number of American banks have already been established in South America and many more are in contemplation. Through these American institutions accurate and reliable information as to the credit of purchasers can be obtained; credits can be extended, and exchange can be afforded. But if American shippers must rely upon the British ship or the German ship as a means of competing with British and German goods, American shippers would be absolutely at the mercy of those whose sympathies would be against the success of the American shipper and altogether in favor of his competitor, the British or German shipper.