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Show 4 SUBSIDIES Advocating the Democrat c plan to foster our merchant marine Pres dent Wilson takes the opportunity to ex plain that a government owned mar ne is a ery different th ng from a sub I s dized mar ne By inference he at ' tacks the subsidy plan which has re eelved the support of Kepubl can legis lators and Indorses what he fe gns to be the Democratic party s superior plan A subs dy is a tax which the people pay to a spec al interest for bene fits which will accrue to the public The only difference between the Demo crat o idea and the Republican idea is that m the one case the subs dy is pa d in advance and in the other it s not paid until the work has been per formed. The Democrats would have the government operate a merchant manse and thus build up a t ade which sooner or later will perm t p vate companies to engage in the ocean transportation business We will pay millions of dollars while the govern ment is build ng up the trade Ob viously this monev will be a s b sidy because the benefits will be turned over to the private companies at such times as they are enabled to engage in the business When the president pharisaically con gratulates h mself and his party that they are not like the Eepubl cans he is indulging n a decept on of wh ch he should not be guilty It s highly improbable that he has deluded h m self on th s quest on E ghtly o wrongly he is given cred t for being one of our most erudite poht a economists, and it is difficult to believe that he cannot see the identity be tween that form of subvention which s called a subs dy and the Democrat Bubvent on wh ch masquerades under an alias but wh ch is none the less a mbsidy |