Show VEST AHAINST SUBSIDY Missouri Sen tot Opposes Shipping Bill < F i MAKES BRILLIANT ADDRESS Accorded Close Attention by Senators Despite His Evident Feebleness He Spoke With Pores and Fire and at Times Was Very Eloquent Tillman Also Speaks in Opposition to tho Measure Numbsr of Bills on the Senate Calendar < Finally Disposed Dis-posed of Brief Executive Session S Washington March 10For ncarly two hours today Mr teSt of Missouri addressed the Senate in opposition to the pending ship subsidy bill No member mem-ber of the body has been accorded more flatteringly close attention than ho received Despite his evident feebleness feeble-ness he spoke with force and fire and at times became brilliantly I eloquent Mr Tillman of South Carolina followed fol-lowed with a brief speech In opposition to the bill NUMBER BILLS PASSED The Senate pastwd n considerable number of unobjectcd bills on the calendar I cal-endar as follows To restore Henry DHal D-Hal to revenue cutler service and to I make him 0 Captain on waiting orders to provide for the payment of medical expenses of sick officers and enlisted men oC the army while absent from duty with leave or on furlough and appropriating 200000 for thisr purpose to establish a additional land office In Montana at Great FallB to extend the time for the construction of the Omaha Northern railway across the Omaha and Wlnnobago reservations in Nebraska Ne-braska to reimburse the officers and crew of the United States ship Charleston Char-leston lost In tho Philippines November Novem-ber 2 1S09 The Senate agreed to the conference asked for by the House on the diplomatic diplo-matic and consular appropriation bill and Messrs Hale Cullom and Teller were named as conferees VEST OPPOSES SHIPPING BILL Mr Vest of Missouri then began 0 speech In opposition to the pending subsidy bill comparing it in Its details with the postal subsidy act of 1S01 and showing that in th pending bill It was proposed to increase the subsidy because be-cause it was claimed by the majority that the present postal subsidies were not sufficient to achieve the results hoped for from the pending bill HIS VIEW OF SUBSIDY The Missouri Senator declared that 73 per cent of the subsidy which would be received by snips on the Atlantic would go to the International Navigation Naviga-tion company and the American line The pending bill he said would take money out of the treasury of the United States without giving anything of value In return for iu Vessels would get the subsidies whether they carried a single postal card or not The peoples money ought not to be paid out to Individuals or corporations upon I any such hypothesis as that suggested In i the present bill TRADE AND THE MAILS He said that Mr Frycand Mr Hanna Han-na had presented roseate pictures of the additional commerce which the United States would acquire through tho operations of the proposed bill claiming that trade would follow the mails As a matter of fact he asserted assert-ed the malls followed the trade that had been proved by the history of the world WHAT BILL PROVIDES He declared that the pending bill provided for a pure naked and unadulterated un-adulterated subsidy and said It was defended on the ground that with the subsidy the American merchant marine ma-rine could compete with the subsidized ships of European maritime powers He denied emphatically and distinct ly h that such would be the result of the bills operations England he asserted as-serted had 53 per cent of the ocean carrying trade of the world but he denied that England paid subsidies to her vessels He declared that Great Britain paid the steamship lines for carrying the malls the sums paid be ing dependent upon the number of pounds of mall carried I ENGLANDS OCEAN COMMERCE Most of Englands ocean commerce was carried by her trainp steamers and not a penny of subsidy was paid to any of them The only real subsidy which Great Britain paid Mr Vest said was 5300000 per year to the owners own-ers of certalri vessels which could be called into ue as auxiliary cruisers In time of war If they were deemed neces sary DEEP SEA FISHERIES Mr Vest sharply criticised the pro vision of tho pending bill looking to the Improvement of the deep sea fish cries He said he did not complain of the Senator from Maine Mr Frye be cause he proposed to take 176000 a year from the taxpayers for the bone fit of New Englands deep sea fisheries Ho thought New England ought to be satisfied with the legislation for her special benefit already on the statute bookoCRITICISES CRITICISES THE MAJORITY Mr Vest criticised the majority of the Commerce committee for eliminat ing from this bill the provision which required a subsidized ship to carry at least 50 per cent of her cargo capacity on any voyage upon which she was to receive subsidy The majority he ex plained had held that the provision was of doubtful constitutionality He had read a letter from Hon George F Edmonds taking the ground that such a provision was not unconstitu tional SUBSIDIZING OTHER INTERESTS Mr Vest further along urged that 1C the shipping trusts were to be sub sidised there was no reason why the farming Industry and the mining in dt hy too should not be subsidized The Senator from Maine Mr Frye continued Mr Vest with his usual courage and frankncro had said that subsidy meant protection And he might have said truthfully said Mr Vest that protection meant subsidy The manufacturers of this country he said were protected by a tariff of 35 ncr cent against the Pauper labor of Europe aral yet they sent their Pro ducts to these very pauper labor coun tries and sold them from 20 to BO per gent lower than they gold them to our own people Mr Vest maintained that chips could be built In this country na cheaply as they could be built any where and that the contention of the majority to the contrary woo not well founded S ATTACKS NAVIGATION LAWS HI made a vK ° r ° uft attack on the navigation lnva of the United States declaring that they are responsible for the decline of the merchant marine They embodied he assorted a semi barbaric system which even China had thrown aside They had weighed down tho merchant marine until It amounted practically nothing The remedy wag to abrogate the navigation laws and permit I citizens of the United States to buy their ships where they could buy them cheapest No subsidy S would enable them to do that He as serted that If tho Democratic party 1 should regain power no ship subsidy would be permitted remain on the statute books Mr Vest said 1C I this i subsidy Is given It will be but the beginning be-ginning bf the end and will result in n monopoly equsl to that of the tan lard l-ard Oil company TILLMAN ALSO OPPOSES BILL Mr Tillman speaking on the subject of the ship subsidy bill declared that CoreSgneis will not surrender the trade they enjoy without st struggle and If necessary will resort to the cutting of rates In prder to hold it Ho said that the bill would foster monopolies and i I Incidentally referred to the proposed I Increased incorporation of the United Stales Steel company which would absorb ab-sorb the large shipyards of tho country coun-try Speaking of the use of vessels incase in-case of emergency by tile Government I Mr Tillman said he would cite ns a commentary on patriotism and love of I country the fact that four scout ships St Paul Paris New York and St Louis used during the SpanlshAmeri I can war cost the Government 2801 can war cast the Government 2864 835 and these he said had been subsidized sub-sidized under a pretense that they would servo us In time of emergency At 435 p m the Senate went into executive session and at 110 1 p m adjourned ad-journed |