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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.