THE PROBLEM OF RE-ESTABLISHING THE MERCHANT MARINE1 IRVING T. BUSH NOME of the older men here tonight remember when we had a merchant marine. That was before the coming of the iron vessel. Those were the days of the romance of the sea; for when the Good Hope or the Adventure sailed, she carried with her the hearts and the fortunes of her home port-the hearts, because her sons and husbands sailed in her, and the fortunes, because it was the custom for the vessels to be owned jointly by the people of the community. The ship and the flag both vanish from the sea and the old square riggers which carried the stars and stripes to the Orient and brought back a queer smelling cargo with perhaps a bit of old lacquer and china, and a silk dress for Nancy at home, have all sailed their last voyage and have been succeeded by groaning freight steamers. It is idle to discuss why American shipping has declined. It is sufficient for our purpose to know that it has all but vanished from the sea. It has gone, and we have established standards which have made it extremely difficult for us to re-establish that merchant marine. Occasionally efforts have been made to re-establish it, but the people of this country, busy with their own interests, have paid but scant attention to the carrying of merchandise beyond their border, until suddenly this great European conflict, this tragedy of tragedies, has paralyzed the ocean-carrying trade. Hundreds of vessels were interned in foreign ports, and hundreds, almost thousands, have been taken by the governments of belligerent nations to use for military purposes. Suddenly the people of this country have been brought face to face with the fact that great as we are in all other depart 1 Introductory address as presiding officer at the dinner of the Academy of Political Science, November 12, 1915. ments of human effort, we are absolutely dependent upon foreign nations for the carrying of our produce to market. If I read the sentiment of this people aright, they are determined that this condition shall cease. This meeting, and hundreds like it throughout the country, are evidence of that intention. Not only have our people determined that ships shall be created under the American flag, but they have determined that those ships shall be manned substantially by American crews. For we cannot become a great maritime power unless both the officers and seamen of our vessels speak our language, think our thoughts, and honor and respect the flag under which they sail. But we have established by law and custom conditions which make it difficult for us to re-establish a merchant marine. We have created conditions in our forecastles which make it more expensive from the standpoint both of wages and of food, and it is difficult to see how we are to maintain these conditions unless, through some co-operative agency of the people—either public ownership or public aid,—we equalize the cost of operating the vessels under our flags and the flags of our chief competitors. Conservative people have a deep prejudice against the principle of government ownership. They say that it is state socialism, and that it is state socialism in a dangerous form. Even the friends of state socialism feel that if it is to be tried, it should be tried in some manner which gives a better guarantee of success. State socialism in the ownership of railroads, of telephones or telegraph lines, where the state not only controls the physical property but has an absolute monopoly, is a much simpler thing. Under those conditions the state by fixing the rate can guarantee a proper return upon the money invested. But state ownership applied to vessels on the high seas, which must be constructed at greater cost and operated admittedly at greater cost, and which must in times of peace meet the keen competition frequently existing, is a very different thing. On the other hand, there is another great part of our people who object just as strongly to the principle of government aid through subsidy. They say that subsidy spells graft. It means opportunity for dishonesty and favoritism. Yet we have established conditions which we apparently must maintain, making it more expensive for us to operate ships under the American flag than under the flag of our chief competitors upon the sea. Here we seem to be suspended upon the horns of this dilemma: If we adopt the principle of public ownership, we go contrary to the judgment of that great part of our people who object to that course; if we adopt the principle of public aid through subsidy, we go contrary to the judgment of that other great part of our people who object to that course. I shall not attempt tonight to offer a solution, but shall leave that task to the gentlemen who are to follow me. These gentlemen who are to speak tonight have shipped with us as pilots on this voyage of discovery to that land of our imagination where lies whitening on the beach the timber of our old merchant marine. In an effort to show us how we may rebuild it, put it afloat and set it again sailing the seas under the flag which we all love, I shall urge only that we sail a safe course. Rocks of public opinion beset us on all sides, and great voyages cannot be sailed unless there is substantial harmony among the crew. Let us not crowd on sail unnecessarily; for many of the dangers which we thought would overtake us last year have proved to be but phantoms of the sea. It is better to be safe than sorry. Our crops, which last year it seemed impossible to carry to market, have all gone forward, and the farmer is still able to buy gasoline for his automobile. The last Flying Dutchman has been interned in a neutral port. Let us make haste slowly. Give the people of this great country time to think this over, and let us go slowly until we can get behind some plan the great, united public opinion of this country. 1 I can conceive of many worse things that might happen in this present situation than to have established just such a board or commission as Senator Owen and the other speakers have all urged. That board should be composed of men so eminent 1 Concluding remarks. and so high in the public eye that their report would inspire confidence. It should be given the task of studying this question and conducting an educational campaign so that we may know what is the wise thing to do, and may thus unite behind whatever plan is agreed upon the real public opinion of the country. I question whether during this waiting period we are losing much; for if we build ships today, either by government or by private aid, we are building them under war cost and under war conditions. They will probably be launched just at the close of the war and be brought into competition with established lines replenished by the thousands of ships which will then be released to mercantile trade. That will create a dangerous business situation whether the task be undertaken by the government or by private capital. Further, I question whether the people of this country are paying any substantial part of the great increase in freight rates which the war has occasioned, for as I sit on the bulkheads in South Brooklyn and watch the merchandise go to sea I notice that the pressure for cargo room is for space from this country to Europe, and that many ships come back in ballast. Apparently there are not cargoes from the other side to be carried to this country at a profitable rate. It seems fair to say that the anxious buyer of our wheat, our products and our munitions in Europe is paying by far the greater part of the burden of the increased freight rate. It is true that we in this country must pay some share of it, because of the increased insurance and the danger of the sea, but chiefly upon import cargoes. There is a great deal to be said at the present time in favor of referring this whole question to an eminent board to report what should be done, to stimulate public interest and to educate public opinion exactly as was done in the currency-reform fight, which resulted in such magnificent work by the present administration in passing our federal reserve law. (64) DEVELOPMENT OF THE AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE' WELDING RING Chairman, Committee on Foreign Commerce and the Revenue Laws, New York Chamber of Commerce T HE history of the American mercantile marine is both a romance and a tragedy. The romance goes back to the early part of the nineteenth century, after the close of the war of 1812, when there was a rapid growth of American shipping, until in tonnage and class of ships we became the leading shipping country of the world. There were many reasons for this wonderful growth and success. First, we possessed the finest class of seafaring men that the world has ever produced. In our eastern states it was considered an almost necessary part of a young man's education to go to sea for at least a few years, thereby fitting him for a position of command, and many at a very early age became masters of the finest ships that sailed the world over. Second, in the growth of our forests we possessed the materials for building the staunchest and fastest craft that human skill could design. Third, our shipyards were manned by skilled mechanics whose trade was handed down from father to son, and into the building went the best of work and endeavor, for the hearts of the workers were in their task. Our poet Longfellow, in his poem of "The Building of the Ship," has most beautifully described its construction: Thus said he, we will build this ship! Lay square the blocks upon the slip, Of all that is unsound beware: 1 Read at the meeting of the Academy of Political Science, November 12, 1915. |