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has risen nobly above cost and sells to the entire world. The present ob- stacle to the American ship builder is the lack of opportunity to standard- ize, and he related that once when he was connected with a Philadelphia ship yard they were building on ad- joining berths a ferryboat, a yacht, a revenue cutter, a tuo: and a -battle- ship, a combination which would de- feat the economy of Almighty God himself, England's supremacy in ship building was due to her ability to spe- cialize. When the woods grew down to the water's edge the American ship builder was building the cheapest and finest ship in the world, but did Eng- land buy them? No; she would not permit her. citizens to do so. Ship building is the keystone of the arch of the British empire and she has never bought 4 torei¢n ship, nor owned a foreign ship except by con- quest. 'England became a great ship building nation under a great many handicaps for she had to purchase her material wherever she could find it. When the iron ship was developed, however, she linked it with a com- pound engine and while after the civil war the United States was developing its interior, England began developing the world. She had completed the commercial conquest of the world, ex- acting tolls from every country and the largest toll of all from the United States. Transportation is not a mere transter Of goods: it is an export. Our annual payment is $300,000,000-- one-half the value of our wheat crop. Mr. Nixon: said that he realized the hecessity of party expediency but hoped that we would not have to stand forever on party politics in set- tling this question. He ascribed the financial panic in part to the constant drain upon our resources for paying for the over-sea carriage of our prod- ucts.to other nations. It has got to such a point that the country is sim- ply providing cargoes for English ships to carry and working hard to get the money wherewith to pay them. "Why should that which is national in England be regarded fiere as a private affair,'- he asked. This was his very pointed reference to the gen- erous subsidies voted by Great Britain to her steamship lines without one word of protest from the British na- tion, whereas a similar effort in the United States is always regarded in the light of someone making a raid upon the treasury for private pur- poses. Congressman W. E. Humphrey, of Seattle, said that when the law on merchant marine was written on the "TAE. MARINE. REVIEW state books of the United States more credit would be due to Cleveland than to all other cities combined. He made an address bristling with facts of the most convincing character. The Oceanic Line to Australia operating three ships have ceased running owing to lack of government support. The Pacific mail running to Hawaii and the Orient is seeking a purchaser. Of three lines running from Puget Sound to the Orient the Boston Tow Boat Co. has gone out of business. The steamers of the Boston Steamship Co. are to be sold, and the Great North- ern Steamship Co. will not replace the Dakota which was wrecked off the coast of Japan a few months ago. Of the American merchant ships operat- ing on the Pacific ocean only eight now remain. Meanwhile the Sailing Ship Owners' Association, an organiz- ation of foreign steamship companies, has already raised freight rates in some cases over 400 per cent. It was the subsidized ships of Japan which won the war with Russia. He stated that 7 cruisers, 19 battleships and 10 torpedo boats are on their way to the Pacific" coast, and when they Get there they will have just 8 mer- chant vessels to protect. He ad- vocated a direct subsidy. He hoped that when the Panama canal was fin- ished there would be American vessels afloat to use it and said that he would like to have the first vessel to use it named the Marcus A. Hanna with Theodore Roosevelt standing on her decks. Welding Ring and WB. Craiom, members of the New York Produce Exchange, were. present and. suc. gested that American citizens should be permitted to buy ships wherever they could get them cheapest. Sena- tor Gallinger replied that he did not think a dollar could be raised in this country to buy a foreign ship and op- erate her, under the American *flag in over-sea trade. He added that all ma- terials to 'be used in the construction of a ship for the foreign trade could be imported duty free and suggested that the American. ship yards be given work in that manner if anyone was disposed to try the experiment. At the afternoon session George J. Seabury, of New York, made the open- ing address, saying that for the first time' in his life he felt as though he had gots ten among friends of the American flag on the high seas. He stated that he had no interest whatever in the subject except as a student of economic topics. He made an interesting plea for the up+ building of the American merchant ma- rine. : | 27 J. G. Butler Jr., of Youngstown, ce lated the visit of a delegation of 25 tol Washington to present this subject to President Roosevelt and Speaker Cannon last year. The delegation endeavored to tell the president something about the question but it was only a minute before the president was telling them all about it. They found him to be earnestly in favor of the measure. The delegation then went to the capitol and had an. audience with Speaker Cannon, Mr. But- ler acting as spokesman. Cannon's re- ply, timed by a stop watch, took one hour and ten minutes, and Mr. Butler said that it reminded him of a lecture he once heard in Warren entitled "Sixty Minutes in Africa," the lecturer never once mentioning Africa. Speaker Cannon had little to say about the shipping bill but the delegation later discovered that he was really in favor of it, as, in fact, his subsequent actions proved. "What we want," said Mr. Butler, "is a comprehensive bill, something that will do the business. Every country that amounts to a damn has subsidized its merchant marine and we should do the same." Mr. Butler remarked sotto voce as he left the stand that the supreme court, had latterly held that "damn" was not a profane expression. : Congressman Ernest M. Pollard) of Nebraska, made an earnest plea in be- half of the upbuilding of the merchant marine. He felt that it is of vital in- terest to the farmer as the country is on the verge of a great agricultural de+ velopment and will soon need a vastly in- creased market abroad for the consump: tion of its products. He felt that 90 per cent of the people of Nebraska were in favor of a measure that would seek to relieve the present condition in which 'this country finds itself, owing to its lack of ships. F, E. Case, president of the Harvard Co. of Canton, related that Edmund Burke once declared that it took the British parliament 40 years to do a thing after it had been proved to be necessary. He felt that our 40 years were up. His address was a contrast between condi- tions as they existed 50 years ago and, as they are now. Wm. Livingstone, president of the Lake Carriers' Association, also spoke briefly. and then the principal speaker of the afternoon, Hon. T. J. McCleary, second assistant postmaster general of the United States, was introduced, Mr. McCleary's views are clear and sound. He regards the merchant marine from the standpoint of national defense and showed clearly wherein the country is lacking. He is in exclusive charge of the transportation of mail and showed (Continued on page 30.)