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2326
hands of the United States almost entirely.   I believe we carry 
less than 11 per cent of our imports and exports. 
Mr. PERKINS.   About 9 per cent. 
Mr. TELLER.   About 9 per cent, the Senator from California 
says.   I suppose we will get down to nothing. 
Mr. President, I do not think we would suffer very much if we 
admitted to registry these vessels.   We want to be a little bit 
respectable and have our flag go somewhere.   We hear a good 
deal about trade following the flag, and all that kind of stuff.   We 
do not have our flag on the ocean any more except as we may 
carry it on our battle ships, and they are not so numerous, per- 
haps, as they ought to be.   We have reached a point where we 
are told that in order to maintain what little carrying trade we 
have, or possibly with the hope of acquiring a little more, we are 
to grant subsidies to the ships.   I wish to say now that I am going 
to vote for free ships, but I am going to vote for some modifica- 
tion of the shipping laws, if I ever get a chance, that will encour- 
age either the Americans to build ships or will encourage the 
foreigners to bring their ships here and sail them under our flag. 
Rather than to vote for subsidies, if I have to do that, or for free 
ships, I am going to vote for free ships.   I do not believe it is nec- 
essary to do either. 
Mr. CULLOM.   Mr. President -- 
Mr. TELLER.   Let me get through. 
Mr. CULLOM.   I was going to ask the Senator a question. 
Mr. TELLER.   I do not see why we should not take in these 
ships, even if it is a pretended Hawaiian registry.   They were 
registered there under a pretense at least on the part of the 
Hawaiian authorities that they had a right to register them.   I 
do not believe we will suffer very much if we take them in.   As 
we need them in our trade particularly, I think the committee 
would be justified in extending the time, so as to take in those 
that were registered apparently under Hawaiian law. 
Mr. FRYE.   Mr. President, just one word.   I hope the Senator 
from Colorado, before he votes for free ships, will read the report 
which the Committee on Commerce has to-day presented to the 
Senate on the question of reviving the American merchant marine. 
It has been carefully prepared and has a good deal of information 
in it.   But as to admitting foreign-built ships, the War Depart- 
ment was obliged to purchase or charter some vessel, and four or 
five, perhaps six, ships that were purchased were admitted to 
American registry at the request or the Government itself, that 
they might fly the flag over them. 
As to admitting other ships to American registry, it has been 
done under a law on the statute books which provides that if a 
ship is wrecked within 3 marine leagues of our coast, is recovered, 
and in our yards two-thirds of her value is expended in fitting her 
for the sea, the Secretary of the Treasury may admit her to an 
American register.   Now, once in a while there comes a case be- 
fore Congress where a ship has been wrecked outside of the 3 ma- 
rine leagues, and it being a mere technicality, the committee - 
they are obliged to come to Congress, of course, then - has gener- 
ally taken the view that if they complied with the law in every 
other respect, the fact that she was wrecked a little outside of the 
3 marine leagues would not prevent her from receiving an Ameri- 
can register.   Those are about all that have been admitted. 
Mr. CULLOM.   May I ask the chairman of the Committee on 
Commerce a question?   In view of the development that there are 
other ships which possibly may be registered and possibly not, 
had not the amendment that I offered myself arid withdrew bet- 
ter be left to the Committee on Commerce, to report just exactly 
what ships ought to be admitted to American registry, and leave 
the whole question out of this bill? 
Mr. FRYE.   The Committee on Commerce were entirely satis- 
fied from evidence produced that the ships which were named in 
the amendment had been properly registered - that is, under the 
authority of the Hawaiian court they had been admitted to a Ha- 
waiian registry - and that we would extend to them an American 
registry.   There are no other ships known to the Committee on 
Commerce entitled to any such equities. 
Mr. TELLER.   Mr. President, if I may be allowed, I will say 
to the chairman of the Committee on Commerce that I am not 
liable to vote for free ships without some consideration of the pro- 
visions of the proposed law to retrieve our former position as to 
the carrying trade.   I think, though, that there have been some 
ships admitted to registry outside of what the Senator speaks of. 
I do not object to those.   I think it is very proper that the class 
of ships he has mentioned should be admitted.   I recollect a few 
years ago we admitted two great ships on condition that the com- 
pany should build two more.   So we nave been making a struggle 
to get a marine to carry our products abroad and to bring back 
things we want to buy.   We have failed absolutely.   Now, if the 
committee has a scheme that will do that and that is fair, I shall 
be very glad to support it.   But up to the present time, Mr. Pres- 
ident, I have not seen anything that I believe would, in the first 
place, give as a marine, and if I did, I believe it would be at an

expense that would not be justifiable.   I speak now of the sub- 
sidies.   I will take great pleasure in looking over this report and 
joining the Senator in any reasonable scheme for securing to the 
American people a marine of their own. 
Mr. PERKINS.   I was absent in committee room when the 
amendment was proposed by the committee.   Do I understand 
that it is now withdrawn? 
Mr. CULLOM.   I proposed it myself, understanding that it 
was the wish of the Committee on Commerce or several members 
of it.   It was suggested to me by the junior Senator from Minne- 
sota [Mr. NELSON].   I supposed there would be no question about 
it: but as the Senator from South Dakota seemed to have a list of 
a large number of vessels that did not appear to be included in 
the amendment, and it became a question rather for investigation 
of the Committee on Commerce, I determined to withdraw it if I 
was at liberty to do it, and I did so. 
Mr. PETTIGREW.   Mr. President, I do not know that I object 
to the enlargement of the merchant marine, but I do object to its 
enlargement by subsidy.   I do not know that I would object to 
free ships.   I see no reason why we should be very solicitous about 
carrying our freight on the water when we do not own the rail- 
roads that carry it on land.   The reason why we are not on the 
seas is because we find a more profitable investment at home, and 
the reason why we do not own our railroads, which carry our 
freight by land, which is most of our commerce, is because we 
can borrow money in Europe and produce at home cheaply the 
articles with which to repay our loans. 
Until we can carry our freight which goes by land, which is 
the chief part of our commerce, why should we be so crazy to 
carry it on water that we wish to tax the people of the United 
States to pay a subsidy to somebody, perhaps foreign owners under 
the guise of American ownership, and foreign money, too, to carry 
our flag?   The reason why we do not have more ships on the Pa- 
cific Ocean is because a ship becomes American soil when it be- 
comes an American ship, and the business of the Pacific Ocean is 
done by ships that have Chinese crews, and a member of the Chi- 
nese crew gets 15 Mexican dollars a month and boards himself. 
Now, all the British ships, all those splendid ships that cross the 
Pacific, are manned by Chinamen from Canton, who receive $15 
for each month's labor and board themselves, or seven and a half 
dollars a month in our money. 
Mr. TELLER.   They receive Mexican dollars. 
Mr. PETTIGREW.   Yes, Mexican dollars.   Now, Americans 
will not work for that sum.   Our seamen have an organization, 
and you can not expect them to do it.   You will pay a subsidy 
that will more than make up the difference in wages to man ships 
under the American flag; and as long as money is so much cheaper 
in Europe than it is here, so that our railroads are owned in Eu- 
rope, you can not get American money to build ships.   It will be 
European money that will build those ships; the title will appar- 
ently be held by Americans to get the subsidy, and we will go on 
just as we have done before.                      
Mr. TELLER.   I presume the Senator might have added that 
probably they would still be run by Chinamen, too.   What I want 
to do, and what my interest is, is to get some ships that fly our 
flag and employ Americans, if possible.   I have never seen a 
scheme yet that has been presented here that really seemed to be 
in that direction with any promise of success - that is, any promise 
of securing American sailors on these ships.   I would just as lief, 
until we can do that, that an English ship that is run by China- 
men would do the work as to have an American ship run by 
Chinamen.   I would like to see American sailors once more such 
as we used to have.   They would come in very handily in some 
cases, in times of war, in times of difficulty.   That is my interest. 
It is not simply so much to cover the freight with our flag as it is 
to get the benefit that we would get by having American labor 
employed on the ships.                                                   
Mr. CULLOM.   As the Senate has provided that the judges of 
the supreme court of the Territory and also the circuit judges of 
the Territory shall be appointed by the President, it takes them 
out of the category of being paid by the people of the Territory, 
and I offer an amendment fixing the salaries to be paid by the 
United States Government. 
The PRESIDING OFFICER.   The amendment will be read to 
the Senate. 
Mr. CULLOM.   It comes in at the end of page 45. 
The SECRETARY.   Amend section 94 by adding the following:  .
And the chief justice and associate justices of the supreme court shall each 
receive an annual salary of 15,000; and the judges of the circuit courts, of  
whom the two judges for the first circuit shall each receive an annual salary 
of $4,000, and the judges for the second, third, fourth, and fifth circuits, re- 
spectively, an annual salary of $3,000 each.
Mr. CULLOM.   The salaries of the circuit judges are fixed at 
the exact salaries that they were receiving in the islands. 
Mr. SPOONER.   How many are they? 
Mr. CULLOM.   There are six judges.

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