Mr. Chamberlain was for 12 years Senator from Oregon, being Chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs during the war. He is now a member of the United States Shipping Board.

What the Ship Subsidy Bill is designed to accomplish is the building up of American steamship lines flying the American flag and employing American officers and men to the end that these all-American lines may be the servants of the American people and of the American people first and foremost. Men and women who have for years voted for a protective tariff on farm products and manufactured goods are today doubtful as to whether they should support a plan for the protection of the American shipping industry when upon its protection at this time depends the future for the already protected farm and factory products.

Abraham Lincoln said:

"If I buy a pair of trousers abroad for $10, I have the trousers and they have my $10; If I buy them at home I have the trousers and we have the $10 at home."

Thus, if we carry our foreign commerce, or the major part of it, as we aim to do, the freight money, instead of being paid into foreign hands, will be paid into American hands, the great bulk of it to be spent in this country. It is generally estimated that ocean freight charges represent about 8 per cent of the value of the goods carried. It is easy to understand, then that if nine-tenths of our goods are carried in foreign ships, which would be the case without an American merchant marine worthy of the name, our ocean freight bills will run into millions of dollars annually. If the subsidy results in cutting this freight bill in half it will pay for itself over and over again.

Quotes Freight Rate Totals

Take a look at the figures on imports and exports for the calendar year 1921. Leaving out the trade on the Great Lakes and the oil carrying, our exports for that period totalled $3,806,955,000 and our imports $2,186,365,000. Figure our freight charges at 8 per cent of the total value of exports and imports and we find that $478,000,000 was paid out to those who carried this commerce. Who got this money? We find that the ships of various nations received freight money as follows: United States  $171,000,000 Great Britain  172,000,000 Japan  33,600,000 France  20,100,000 Norway  18,800,000 Holland  18,500,000 Italy  14,300,000 All Others  29,300,000

Here we see that $307,000,000 went out of America in ocean freight rates. An additional $100,000,000 must be added for marine insurance charges on the cargoes. At least half of all this would stay in America if the pending Ship Subsidy Bill were a law and in operation.

The necessity for an adequate merchant marine as for a national defense is so well known to New Englanders that it may be unnecessary for me to mention it here. At the same time, the national defense is one of the principal points and it may be well to refresh our memories regarding that subject.

Our geographical situation is such that we do not need a big standing army, for a treaty that has stood a century keeps us at peace with Canada, our neighbor on the North, and conditions are such that we do not apprehend aggressive action toward us on the part of Mexico, our neighbor to the South. But on the East and West we have long seacoasts which need protection, and their principal protection is our navy.

Needed in Time of War

Our fighting craft must be supported by what are known in naval parlance as auxiliary craft. These include scouts, transports, colliers, oil tankers, ammunition ships, aircraft carriers and various other craft with specialized equipment. A certain number of these vessels have been specially constructed for naval purposes and are useless for anything else. They belong to the regular navy just as much as do battleships and other armored fighting craft.

But working with these there should be a number of vessels, the regular cargo boats for carrying supplies, passenger ships to carry troops, colliers and oil tankers which are not specialized and which may be used in valuable commercial pursuits during peace. And there is where the Merchant marine comes in. With a healthy, well developed merchant marine in operation, a nation need not spend so much money on its actual naval auxiliary, since, when war comes, its merchant marine is immediately called into service to support the navy. For many years America has been without that necessary support.

A glance back to the events that have occurred within less than a quarter of a century will prove this. When the war with Spain came we had not real auxiliary support for the navy. In order to carry his fuel and other supplies into Manila Bay, Admiral Dewey was compelled to hire British vessels. He chartered the Nanshan and the Zafiro, two British colliers, for that purpose. Suppose Great Britain had then been at war? It just so happened that these vessels were available in Pacific waters. And what was the situation on the Atlantic?

Admiral Cervera's fleet was somewhere in the Atlantic between Spain and America, and the Flying Squadron was formed to guard our Atlantic Coast. In 1891 Congress passed the Ocean Mail Act providing for a subsidy for fast vessels carrying the mails and suitable for naval auxiliaries. The American Line proposed to purchase two large British passenger vessels if it could obtain for them the American registry necessary to bring them to the terms of the Ocean Mail Act. By a special act of Congress this was permitted on condition that the American Line build, in American yards and according to navy specifications, two other ships, equal or superior to those purchased. The ships purchased from the British were renamed "New York" and "Philadelphia". The vessels built in this country were named "The St. Louis" and "The St. Paul". These four ships, made possible by subsidy, were the only merchant vessels of good speed and ocean going size that the United States possessed.