Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 08.djvu/466

LEFT SHIPPING 402 SHIPPING SUBSIDIES the U. S. Navy, had proved the availability of the screw, the chief advantage of which was getting the propelling machin- ery below the water line. The develop- ment of the propelling machinery re- sponded to the demand for increased speed and the tricompound and triple-ex- pansion engine was evolved. The evolu- tion of the water-tube boiler led to the quadruple-expansion engine until at last the turbine and similar forms of steam and internal combustion engines brought the development of steam-shipping to the modern types in transatlantic service. From the middle of the last century the transatlantic service has naturally led in the development of shipping, size and speed being in nearly every case the gov- erning considerations. Vessels like the "Germanic" have marked the milestones of progress reducing to about eight days the average length of passage between New York and Queenstown. The "Maure- tania" and the "Lusitania" showed the development of a generation, reducing the voyage in favorable weather to about five days. The White Star Line led the way in the development of vessels of large dimensions. The "Olympic" (46,000 tons) launched in 1910, marked the high water mark, and this was outclassed by the Hamburg-American "Imperator" (52,- 000 tons) in 1913. The World War had the result of retarding the construction of great passenger vessels, but the inten- sive competition in warship building had its bearing on commercial steamship ser- vice. As a result of the larger knowledge furnished by the experiences of the war, oil-burning vessels are likely to be the predominant type of the near future, and the scramble for oil-lands by the great nations is largely occasioned by future needs in that direction. A development of the war is the United States Shipping Board which was author- ized by Congress in 1916 with power to investigate, regulate and fix the rates in United States marine business. The board has authority to issue bonds not exceeding $50,000,000 to build, purchase or lease vessels for a merchant marine. It constitutes the head of a corporation to endure for a period not to exceed five years after the war. The annual salary of the members of ~ the board was fixed at $7,500. During the war the Board operated the merchant marine as a na- tional enterprise. As a result American shipping has promised to be as important in peace as in war. The decisive manner in which the United States entered the world of shipping during the war has awakened the most sanguine hopes of those interested in the development of an American mercantile marine, and legis- lation looking to the promotion of Ameri- can shipping is looked for under the new Republican administration. SHIPPING BOARD, UNITED STATES. See Shipping. SHIPPING SUBSIDIES, financial aid to shipping by public authority. Great Britain appears to have led the way in this manner of promoting shipping ser- vice, Parliament in 1730 providing for a bounty of 20 shillings per ton on ves- sels of 20 tons and more employed in the white-herring fisheries. In 1839 the British Government also granted a sub- vention to the Cunard Company as a recompense for the carrying of postal matter, between Canada and Liverpool. The amount, beginning with £60,000, was gradually increased, finally being made to depend on the weight of mail matter carried. By methods such as these the British succeeded in building up their merchant fleet and in driving from the high seas the American clipper lines which previous to these subsidies had won much of the ocean-carrying trade. In ad- dition subsidies have also been paid by the British Government for the option of buying or hiring certain speedy Cunard and White Star steamers in time of war. The policy of granting subsidies to ships has been followed by other European countries, though various methods have been employed. Germany paid an annual subsidy for the East Asian service, and other subsidies were paid the North Ger- man Lloyd for other services. Indirect subventions were paid also in the form of exemption from import duties. France also voted mail subsidies which amounted in 1914 to $6,030,000. Italy paid subsi- dies in aid of construction and navigation amounting in 1912 to $2,000,000. The United States has followed no set- tled policy in the granting of shipping subsidies, though in 1845 it began to pay for the transportation of mails by ships. The abrogation of contracts for carrying of mails in 1858 by the United States Government brought about the failure of the Collins line which till that time had competed favorably with the Cunard. The abrogation of similar contracts later brought about the failure of the Pacific Mail Company. Under the Act of 1891 the United States instituted a mileage basis of payment for the carrying of mails, and the subsidies have been paid to foreign as well as to American lines. A general subsidy measure was introduced in Congress in 1898, but failed to pass the House. A Senate committee in 1905 recommended a subsidy policy, and its permanent advantages have been grad- ually recognized in the plans put forward in 1919 for the resurrection of an Ameri- can merchant marine.