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1903.] STATE OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. In the issue of the Review of June 18 last it was noted that the Maritime Association of the Port of New York had appointed a committee, after a considerable amount of discus- MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. 29 the unprecedentedly low freight rates resulting from these sub- sidies and bounties received by foreign merchant ships render successful and profitable competition on the part of unprotected vessels built in the sion, to investigate the subject of American shipping in the foreign car- rying trade and to draft such a _ bill as, in the judg- ment of the com- mittee, would af- fect the upbuilding of American ocean-going sh ip- ping. . This 'com- mittee, consisting ot Messrs: A, A. Raven, Ernest C. Bliss, : Fields. -S. Pendleton, Henry E. Nesmith and Wallace Downey, reported their find- ings last week to the association and asked for further time as follows: 1. We find that, despite the quad- rupling of our for- elgn commerce, our tonnage regis- ter has declined from 2,490,894 tons in 1861 to 873,235 tons in 1902; and that while Ameri- can vessels carried 72:4 per. cent. of our exports in 1861 they carried but 6.6 per cent. in 1902. 2. ¢his dis- closes such a- re- markable decline in American ship- ping engaging in ocean trade, dur- ing a period of un- paralleled develop- ment and prosper- ity throughout the United States, as to necessitate a far more thorough and detailed examni- ination into its causes than we have yet been able to devote to it, as no effective measure of re- lief can be framed until the causes that have produced exist- ing conditions have been completely uncovered. : 3. Our investigation has been undertaken at a time when American ship building is in a state of unprecedented stagnation, when not a single new steamship has been contracted for in an American ship yard for nearly three years, when many of our most modern and best equipped ship yards have been and still are involved in serious financial difficulties, threatening the loss of many millions of dollars that have been invested in a great American industry the healthy and prosperous condition of which is essential to the independence and safety of the na- tion. 4. The United States is lacking in none of the essentials for successful ship building. We possess mines of iron ore and coal of unequalled richness and extent, forests of the finest tim- ber, steel and lumber mills in great abundance, naval architects and marine engineers of world-wide fame and skill equal to the best to be found elsewhere, an abundance of intelligent labor, exports of greater magnitude and value than those of any other nation, together with resources and wealth second to those of no other nation. : : 5. We find that American vessels engaging in our ocean trade are today compelled to meet a more serious and a more destructive competition than ever before, largely through the vast subsidies and bounties that foreign governments are now Paying to their merchant ships. We realize that the purposes for which these subsidies and bounties are paid to their merchant ships by foreign governments are chiefly military--in order that there shall be available auxiliary cruisers, scouts, transports, colliers, supply ships, and such other vessels, with their trained and experienced officers and men, as are essential to the uses of the government in time of war. And we further realize that The Largest Vessel in the World. The White Star Liner Baltic on the Stocks at the Yard of Belfast, Ireland. Harland & Wolff, United States and officered and man- ned by our own citizens, absolutely impossible. 6. The feeble and declining con- dition of our mer- chant shipping in the foreign carry- ing trade, and the steady growth and prosperity of the foreign shipping that competes with our vessels, dis- closes a perilously weak condition in one of the indus- _tries that ig an es- sential arm of the national defense, coincident with the Strengthening of that resource of the 'national de- fenses of our ri- vals. This' is" a condition that can- not be perpetuated without menacing the safety of the United States. 7. In his annual message 0. ~con- gress President Roosevelt reco m- mends the appoint- ment of a great commission to in- vestigate our ocean-going ship- ping and to report to congress at. its next session. The president recom- mends the - inclus- ion of the secre- tary of the navy, the postmaster- general and_ the secretary of com- merce. and_ labor, in any commission that congress may provide for. This suggestion recalls the fact that in I79QI1_ congress in- vited Thomas Jefferson, then secretary of state in President Washington's cabinet, to prepare a "Report on the Privileges and Restrictions of the Commerce of the United States," which report " was not made public until Dec. 16, 1793--just 110 years ago. As a branch of industry," said Jefferson in that report, speaking of our shipping, "it is valuable, but as a resource of defense, es- sential." He also uttered the following remarkable warning, at a time when American ships carried 82 per cent. of our imports and 77 per cent. of our exports, prophetic of conditions as they exist today. He said: "If particular nations grasp at undue shares of our com- merce and more especially if they seize on the means of the United States to convert them into aliment for their own strength and withdraw them entirely from the support of those to whom they belong, defensive and protective measures become: necessary on the part of the nation whose maritime resources are thus invaded, or it will be disarmed of its defense; its productions will be at the mercy of the nation which has possessed itself exclusively of the means of carrying them, and its policies will be influenced by those who command its commerce. If we lose the seamen and artists whom it now employs, we lose the present means of marine defense, and time will be requisite to raise up others when dis- grace and losses shall bring home to our feelings the disgrace of having abandoned them." With, 91 per cent. of our imports and exports now being car- tied in foreign vessels the marine resources of the United States have reached the dangerous condition of weakness so accurately described by Thomas Jefferson, wherefore the need for prompt and effectual remedial legislation was never greater than now. | 8 As we have stated, the desperate condition of our ocean- going shipping has called forth at the hands of the president ex- pressions of deep concern. Nor should the fact be overlooked that our shipping industry stands alone among all of our other