The Proposed Ship Subsidy
A FAT MAN who was talking loud enough to disturb his fellow-passengers on the train, said:
“What we need now is the Ship Subsidy, and the Panama Canal and”—the rest was of the same sort. He had read something like this in a newspaper, and had SEEN IT THERE SO OFTEN that he had come to the conclusion it must necessarily be true.
In this way some men get what they call their opinions.
Not YOU, of course. You get yours BY THINKING FOR YOURSELF. I know that this is so, because YOU TOLD ME SO YOURSELF.
“We need a Ship Subsidy,” declared the fat man, with emphasis and decision. So “WE” do—but who are the “WE?”
The WE who need a Ship Subsidy are the Privileged, the beneficiaries of Class Legislation, the Trusts which gorge themselves upon unjust advantages.
In order that we may enable the Manufacturing Class to enjoy a Monopoly at home while they undersell the foreign Manufacturer in the foreign market, we have put a fictitious, UNNATURAL VALUE TO THE MATERIALS OUT OF WHICH SHIPS ARE BUILT.
Consequently it costs MORE to build a ship in the United States than anywhere else in the world.
Now, our Navigation laws will not allow the national flag to protect an American vessel UNLESS THAT VESSEL IS BUILT IN THE UNITED STATES.
Result:
The foreigner has come WITH HIS CHEAPER VESSEL and borne off our carrying trade.
Our infernal Tariff and Navigation laws have driven our flag from the seas, by making it IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE AMERICAN MERCHANT TO BUY HIS SHIP ABROAD, OR TO BUILD ONE AT HOME ON SUCH TERMS AS WILL ENABLE HIM TO COMPETE WITH THE FOREIGN-BUILT SHIP.
Isn’t that plain enough, WHEN YOU STOP TO THINK IT OVER?
But the fat man declared that what WE need is the Ship Subsidy Bill.
What IS the Ship Subsidy Bill?
Why, it is a proposition that the Government shall, in effect, take money out of the National Treasury TO MAKE GOOD TO THE SEA MERCHANT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE FOREIGN AND HOME PRICE OF THE SHIP.
That’s the GIST of it, my son.
At your expense, the government has created the Trust which makes it impossible for an American to build a ship that can compete for ocean-going freight.
At your expense, that impossibility is to be abolished. The difference in price between the cheap foreign-built ship and the dear home-built ship IS TO BE MADE UP OUT OF YOUR MONEY.
At your expense, the Trust will therefore be ABLE TO COMPETE for the ocean business.
At your expense, the Trusts themselves will scoop the Carriers’ profit upon the transportation of the Trust-made goods which ARE SOLD ABROAD CHEAPER THAN THEY ARE SOLD AT HOME.
You catch it all around, don’t you, son?
***
Yes, the fat man was right.
We DO need a Ship Subsidy—we Trusts.
We want to maintain our monopoly at home, and we will do it. We want to continue to undersell the foreigner in the market and we will do it. We want, furthermore, to rake into our own coffers the profits now reaped by the foreigner who controls ocean transportation.
We COULD do this by lowering the Tariff, but that would derange our entire Class-law fabric. That would endanger our monopoly of the home market.
Consequently, the only way for us to get what WE want, is to have the Government grant us a Subsidy which will make good to us THAT DIFFERENCE IN PRICE between home-made and foreign-made vessels WHICH OUR TRUST-CREATING TARIFF HAS CAUSED.
Thus we, the Privileged, will unload upon the Unprivileged BOTH LOADS,—that of the Trust, and that of OUR escape from THE ONE CONSEQUENCE of the trust WHICH HURTS US.
***
There is only one incident to the Protective system which is a drawback to the Trusts.
That is THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF CONTROLLING OCEAN TRANSPORTATION.
Every OTHER incident to the Protective System HELPS THE TRUSTS AND HURTS THE PEOPLE.
The one incident which HURTS THE TRUSTS AND HELPS THE PEOPLE must be dealt with.
We must so manage that ocean transportation shall likewise belong to the Trusts.
How?
NOW YOU SEE WHY YOU DON’T GET THE PARCELS POST.
By giving to the merchant marine a sum of money out of the public treasury, over and above the freight which is earned.
Then, indeed, every incident of the Protective System will present a harmonious color-scheme, for THE TRUSTS WILL HAVE HOGGED THE WHOLE BUSINESS.
And that donation out of your tax money, which is intended to save the Trusts from the injurious burden of their own damnable Tariff System is the Ship Subsidy which the fat man said we need.
So long as the Protective System hurts the Common People it is a national blessing and must be gratefully sustained: but the moment the same system pinches the Protected Interests, they must rob you under the form of Ship Subsidy to get back what they lose by their own tariff.