Another effort was made in the Sixtieth Congress. In his message at the beginning of this Congress (December 2, 1907) President Roosevelt recommended an amendment to the act of March 3, 1891, "which shall authorize the postmaster-general in his discretion to enter into contracts for the transportation of mails to the Republics of South America, to Asia, the Philippines, and Australia at a rate not to exceed four dollars a mile for steamships of sixteen-knots speed or upward, subject to the restrictions and obligations" of that act. In other words, to give the same subsidy to steamers in these services as allowed to the twenty-knot American mail transatlantic line, instead of two dollars a mile.[IH] A bill to this effect was introduced in the Senate December 4[II]; on February 3, 1908, was reported back from the committee on commerce so amended as to provide the four-dollar-a-mile subsidy to American sixteen-knot steamers on routes of four thousand miles or more to South America, the Philippines, Japan, China, and Australasia; was debated at length; further amended; and finally, passed, March 20. In the House it was referred to the committee on post office and post roads;[IJ] issued therefrom in a dew draft;[IK] debated; and finally failed to pass. Thereupon the subsidized service to Australia by way of Honolulu and the Samoan group was abandoned.
Again the measure was pressed in the Sixty-first Congress. It now had the backing of President Taft. In his annual message December 9, 1909, "following," as he graciously said, "the course of my distinguished predecessor," he earnestly recommended the passage of a "ship-subsidy bill looking to the establishment of lines between our Atlantic seaboard and the eastern coast of South America, China, Japan, and the Philippines." The bill, as introduced by Senator Gallinger (February 23, 1910), provided for subsidized lines of the second and third classes on routes to the points named by Mr. Taft, four thousand miles or more in length outward voyage, or on routes to the Isthmus of Panama: the second class to receive the subsidy rate per mile provided in the law of 1891 for steamers of the first class, and the third class the rate applicable to the second class. If no contract should be made for a line between a Southern port and South American ports, and two or more should be established from Northern Atlantic ports, it was required that one of the latter should touch outward and homeward at two ports of call south of Cape Charles. The total expenditure for foreign mail-service in any one year was limited--not to exceed the estimated revenue therefrom for that year.[IL]
The bill came back from the committee on commerce in March without amendment, and with a report.[IM] In June it was put over for consideration in December of the third session of this Congress. When at length it was reached, Senator Gallinger submitted a substitute. This, instead of naming the points to be covered, provided for subsidized routes to South America south of the equator outward voyage; provided for one port of call instead of two on the Southern Atlantic coast; guarded against "discrimination detrimental to the public interest," in other words "combines," by a provision that no contract be awarded to any bidder engaged in any competitive transportation business by rail, or in the business of exporting or importing on his own account, or bidding for or in the interest of any person or corporation engaged in such business, or having control thereof through stock ownership or otherwise; and fixed the limit of the total expenditure for foreign mail service in any one year at four million dollars. This substitute was finally passed on February 12, 1911, by a vote of 39 to 39, the chairman casting his vote in the affirmative. In the House the measure went to the committee on post office and post roads; and there rested.
Various other subsidy bills and measures for the revival of the ocean merchant marine without subsidies, were put into this Congress, as in previous ones, but few escaped from the committees; and these few fell short of passage.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote FS: Wells, chaps. 4 and 5, pp. 58-94. Also Rept. of commissioner of navigation for 1909.]
[Footnote FT: U.S. Statutes at Large. Also Rept. of commission of navigation, 1909.]
[Footnote FU: Marvin, pp. 240-241.]
[Footnote FV: U.S. Statutes at Large, vol. V, p. 748.]
[Footnote FW: This contract in Executive Document, 30th Cong., 1st sess, no. 50.]
[Footnote FX: U.S. Statutes at Large, vol. IX, p. 152.]
[Footnote FY: Meeker.]
[Footnote FZ: U.S. Statutes at Large, vol. IX, p. 187.]
[Footnote GA: Meeker.]
[Footnote GB: For the Sloo contract see Exec. Does., 32nd Congr., 1st sess., no. 91.]
[Footnote GC: For this contract see Exec. Docs., 32nd Cong., 1st sess., no. 91.]
[Footnote GD: Meeker. This contract in Exec. Docs., 32nd Cong., 1st sess., no. 91, pp. 71-74.]
[Footnote GE: Navy appropriation bills, Aug. 3, 1848, March 3, 1849.]
[Footnote GF: U.S. Statutes at Large, vol. IX, p. 188.]
[Footnote GG: Exec. Docs., 30th Cong., 1st sess., no. 51.]
[Footnote GH: Exec. Docs., 30th Cong., 1st sess., no. 51.]
[Footnote GI: Marvin, p. 243.]
[Footnote GJ: Meeker.]
[Footnote GK: Report in the Senate Sept. 18, 1850, in Exec. Docs., 32nd Cong., 1st sess., no. 91, pp. 14-15.]
[Footnote GL: Meeker.]
[Footnote GM: For contract see Exec. Docs., 32nd Cong., 1st sess., no.
91, pp. 154-157.]
[Footnote GN: Exec. Docs., 32nd Cong., 1st sess., no. 91, pp. 5-7.]
[Footnote GO: Marvin, p. 247. The measurement of these steamers is differently given by Spears: p. 26. "When done, the ships were found to have fine models--they rode the waves in a way that excited the admiration of all sailors. But the keelsons under the engines were only 40 inches deep, while the keels were 277 ft. long, and there was 'give'
enough to rack the engines to pieces." Spears, p. 267.]
[Footnote GP: Meeker.]
[Footnote GQ: U.S. Statutes at Large, vol. XI, p. 101; chap. CLXI, Aug.
18, 1856.]
[Footnote GR: Same appropriation act for ocean steamship service, June 14, 1858.]
[Footnote GS: Marvin, p. 279.]
[Footnote GT: Meeker gives the details as follows: Bremen line (1847-57) $2,000,000; Havre line (1852-57) $750,000; Collins line (1850-58) $4,500,000; New York to Aspinwall (1848-58) $2,900,000; Astoria and San Francisco to Panama (1848-58) $3,750,000; Charleston to Havana (1848-58) $500,000.]
[Footnote GU: Marvin, p. 253.]
[Footnote GV: Bates, p. 133.]
[Footnote GW: Same, p. 143.]
[Footnote GX: Marvin, p. 254.]
[Footnote GY: George Frisbie Hoar.]
[Footnote GZ: Marvin, p. 258.]
[Footnote HA: Bates, p. 142.]
[Footnote HB: United States Statutes at Large, vol. XIII, p. 93.]
[Footnote HC: Session of 1866-67.]
[Footnote HD: Report of the select committee on the merchant marine, in Repts. of Committee, 1870, 41st Cong., 2d Bess., House Kept., no. 28.]
[Footnote HE: House Rept., no. 2378, 51st Cong., 2nd sess.]
[Footnote HF: House Report, no. 28, 41st Cong., 2d sess.]
[Footnote HG: House Docs., no. 598, also Miscellaneous Docs.; nos. 74 and 255, 42d Cong., 2nd sess.]
[Footnote HH: House Docs., no. 268, 43rd Cong., 1st sess.]
[Footnote HI: Meeker.]
[Footnote HJ: House Docs., Rept., no. 601, 51st Cong., 1st sess.]