OCR Text |
Show CHAMBERLAIN IS FIRST WITNESS Washington, April 13 -The senate canals committee resumed publio hearings with E, T. Chamberlain, commissioner of the bureau of navigation, navi-gation, as the first witness. The commissioner com-missioner declared his belief that under un-der the treaty tho United States had no right to exempt its ships unless the government absorbed the proportionate propor-tionate charges for the operation of tho canal property assessable against such ships. He believed this should bo done either by collecting and remitting re-mitting tolls on all ships or by direct di-rect subsidy. Senator O'Gorman sought to show by extracts from re- ports made by tho commissioner that he had not always held such an jH opinion. H Senator O'Gorman said it was gen-orally gen-orally assumed that 92 per cent of the coastwise traffic was In railroad owned ships, which the law bars from jH the canal, and on that proportion jH there would he few American coast-wise coast-wise ships to enjoy a tolls exemp- "That is assuming," remarked Sen-ator Sen-ator Thomas, "that the railroads don't beat the devil around tho stump and get through tho canal anyway." Senator O'Gorman conducted a lino of questioning-to show that no tolls were charged to ships in inland ca-nals ca-nals and waterways of the United States. |