CHAPTER XIV
SUMMARY
Ship subsidies, open or concealed, are now granted by nearly every maritime nation. Whatever may be the designation of these Government grants,—whether mail subsidies, naval subventions, retaining fees for possible naval service, construction bounties, navigation bounties, trade bounties, Government loans, Government partnerships, tariff advantages, canal refunds,—whatever may be their form, all are distinctly Government aids, direct or indirect, the primary object of which is the development and expansion of the merchant marine of each nation granting them; and generally, if not universally, the upbuilding of this marine for service in time of need as an auxiliary to the national navy.
Summarized, the various grants of the various nations thus appear:
Great Britain grants mail subsidies, and admiralty subventions; her colonies, steamship subsidies.
France: mail subsidies; construction and navigation bounties; fisheries bounties.
Germany: mail subsidies; steamship subsidies; preferential rates on the State railroads for shipbuilding materials.
Belgium: premiums to certain steamship lines; pilotage refunds.