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22 DEVOTED TO EVERYTHING AND EVERY INTEREST CONNECTED OR _ ASSO- CIATED WITH MARINE MATTERS ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. Published every Thursday by The Penton Publishing Co. CLEVELAND. PUPP ALO i.) cae. ee 932 Ellicott Sq. GHICAGO! 2s citi ecs cece ss 1362 Monadnock Blk. CINCINNATI £2.22... First National Bank Bldg. NEWYORK: 32.0.6... 1005 West Street Bldg PITUSBURG .4.5 0% 0 cc sec ec ces 521 Park Bldg. DULUTH Correspondence on Marine Engineering, Ship Building and Shipping Subjects Solicited. Subscription, U. S. and Mexico, $3.00 per annum. Canada, $4.00. Foreign, $4.50. Subscribers can have addresses changed at will. Change of advertising copy must reach this office on Thursday preceding date of ; publication. The Cleveland News Co. will supply the trade with the Marine Review through the z regular channels of the American News Co. European Agents, The International News Company, Breams Building, Chancery Lane, London, E. C., England. Entered at the Post Office at Cleveland, Ohio, as Second Class Matter. December 26, 1907. OUR MERCHANT MARINE. On Saturday last the annual conven- tion of the Merchant Marine League or the United States Cleveland. There will be found else- was held in where in this issue a brief report of that convention. A few pertinent ob- servations might here be made con- the Frankly this meeting did more to awaken public cerning meeting. eonscience upon the question of our single The evidence of this is already apparent. merchant marine than any event that has transpired so far. Men who had not hitherto given much thought to the matter are now discuss- They all admit that something should be ing it with great intelligence. done. That is precisely what the Mer- Tae Marinz REVIEW chant Marine League was organized for--to urge that something be done. It is rather unfortunate that the word subsidy should be connected with this the word has a discredited meaning. As Mr. that which is, regarded as a national movement because commonly Lewis Nixon said, it is odd that affair in Great Britain should be con- sidered a private affair in the United States. viewed, In whatever way it may be compensation must be made. Any compensation is a subsidy, and it is odd therefore that should be so The. tavitt is a subsidy, and what would this country be with- opposition to the word widespread. out it? It is quite clear that the campaign of education projected by the Mer- chant Marine League has borne fruit. There is no doubt whatever but that the question of the rehabilitation of the merchant marine of the United States is the most important question the Sich 4 statement if made years ago would before people today. have excited ridicule; today, however, it is being taken seriously by men in all classes of lite. As an eminent ad- vocate has said, there are two kinds of persons in the United States, those that are heartily in favor of the wup- building of the merchant marine and those that know nothing at all about is liter- the subject. That statement ally true. lf-a person knows: any- thing at all about the subject he must be in favor of upbuilding because no country was ever in a more helpless, lamentable situation than the United States today. Think of sending a squadron of battleships and melancholy from the Atlantic to the Pacific with Why, this fleet could not leave New York harbor without What a ridiculous situation that is for the foreign colliers! the consent of Great Britain. most resourceful nation in the world. We have a lopsided navy. No navy is complete without a complement of merchant ships. As Assistant Secretary the said, the warship is a complex and Newberry, of navy department, dependent instrument and cannot take the sea for many days together with- out replenishment of its supplies and these supplies can be drawn from no in some form' of common defense. other source than supply ships and colliers. The only economical auxili- The navy department could only maintain ary fleet is a merchant marine. supply ships and colliers at enormous They would have to build through expense. them and maintain them many years of peace for possible use Such a policy would cost the government through a few months of war. hundreds of millions of dollars, and this American navy is utterly useless. yet without auxiliary fleet the It is perfectly plain that this ques- tion of the merchant marine is one How can there be a divided opinion upon the neces- sity of upbuilding it? That nation is most secure from insult which is most prepared to resent it; and yet he who opposes the upbuilding of the merchant marine is laying this coun- ignominious treatment The United States could not possibly prevent the Jap- tiv. Open. 10 from other nations. anese government from seizing and holding Hawaii and the Philippine Is- Hundreds of thousands that . the should get rid of the Philippine Is- lands. are probably willing country lands, but is there an American liv- ing who would not resent their being taken by force? An adequate mer- chant marine is necessary to the pres- ervation of national honor. The most direct and cheapest way to get it is to make the operation of steamships a profitable matter. It is unprofitable now owing to the artificial handicaps that our fiscal policy has imposed upon ship building and ship owning. should be These artificial handicaps Strmounted by artificial means. If the American ship builder is permit- ted to standardize in the construction of ships he will speedily triumph over the obstacle of cost and build a ship quite as cheaply as a British competi- tor. The United States is already sell- ing locomotives to the world because it is enabled to economize by stand- What with resources ardizing the parts. our abundant natural and the high efficiency of labor-saving machin- ery, we may be able to build ships for foreign countries if given adequate assistance now,