phase of wages which can be stated with almost mathematical accuracy. The number of firemen, coal passers, etc., depends on the amount of coal to be handled, and the amount of coal depends on the speed to be attained. A table is printed elsewhere showing these mathematical relationships. Here it will suffice to say that 15 men in the fire room will drive a 10,000-ton steamship at 10 knots, while 32 will be required to drive the same vessel 14 knots, 39 men for 15 knots, 70 men for 18 knots, and 127 men for 21 knots. The wages of firemen are more nearly a fixed quantity than any other form of seamen's wages. The almost unbroken rule for American vessels leaving our ports is $35 per month, while the almost unbroken rule for British vessels in British ports is the English equivalent of $20 (£4=$19.44). The difference is $15 per month, or for the year $180. These men are almost invariably shipped for the round voyage, so the wages are almost continuous. The force of men considered constitutes something over 25 per cent of the crew of a passenger vessel. (In this computation the engineer force is not included, but simply those who have to deal directly with the handling of coal.) The following table is based on a 10,000 gross tons steamship, and in the first column gives varying rates of speed, in the second column the number of men required to handle the coal to produce that speed, the third column ($180) is the yearly excess of firemen's wages on American over British vessels ($15 multiplied by twelve months), the fourth column is this difference in yearly wages multiplied by the number of men involved in the case of a 10,000-ton steamship, and the last column is this total divided by 10,000, showing the excess per gross ton in a year's wages for the fire-room force alone payable by American as compared with British vessels.

The number

Outside of the fire-room force no such general mathematical approximation to difference in wages per gross ton can be made. and relative wages of the engineers and the crew on deck will vary with the trade of the vessel. The whole steward's department carried on passenger vessels will be missing on cargo boats and the wages of the officers will differ widely, according to the trade.

Combining these figures, showing the difference per gross ton annually in the cost of wages in the stokehold of an American and a British vessel, and the difference in cost of operation so far as based on the difference in initial cost of construction, an approximate estimate of the difference per gross ton annually in the cost of operating an American and a British steamship may be obtained. Thus in the case of the 18-knot steamship the difference in wages of firemen amounts to $1.26, while the difference in interest, insurance, and depreciation amounts, as shown, to $4.60, making a total of $5.86. The item of wages included covers only about one-fourth of the crew, but the force included is that where the difference in wages is proportionately greatest. Besides some allowance for difference in the wages of the remainder of the crew, a further allowance for difference in the pay of the

officers, as well as in the allowance of provisions (considerably greater and more expensive on American than on foreign vessels) would be essential to complete statement. The apparent difference of $4.60 for insurance, depreciation, and interest it has been stated is less than the real difference. This much, therefore, can be said with certainty, that $5.86 per gross ton is an understatement of the yearly difference in the cost of operating an 18-knot American steamship and a corresponding British steamship. How much that statement falls below the actual difference can not be stated accurately until there is an 18-knot American steamship engaged in transoceanic trade. By the statement of the president of the International Navigation Company to the Senate Committee on Commerce last winter it was shown that the annual cost of operating the St. Louis and St. Paul, 21-knot steamships, under the American flag is $8.30 per gross ton greater than if the vessels had been built in Great Britain and operated under the British flag.

ANNUAL MILEAGE.

Senate bill 5590 is based on the fact that the difference in operating a vessel under the American flag and under the British flag amounts to virtually 1 cent per gross ton for each hundred miles traversed. [To this general basis are added two features which must be considered separately, first, an additional half cent per 100 miles for the first 1,500 miles, and second, special graded additions for fast steamships, available as mail steamships and auxiliary cruisers.]

Under normal conditions a vessel which makes progress at sea at its usual rate of speed for one hundred and seventy-five days out of the three hundred and sixty-five days in a year may be said to exceed the expectations of its owners. Allowance must be made for the time spent in port, in taking on and discharging cargo, for the delays incidental to the weather, to the time devoted to overhauling and repairs, and to accidents, which, while often not serious and publicly reported, are a factor not to be overlooked. Trans-Atlantic liners, as a rule, are less than one hundred and seventy-five days at full speed, while vessels passing through the Suez Canal and crossing the Pacific are probably at sea for a somewhat longer period. Sailing vessels while at sea usually more days are subject to the wind, and of course do not always make full progress. Assuming that the period of one hundred and seventy-five days is a fair approximation of the time during a year when a vessel makes full headway, the number of miles traversed during a year and the annual rate allowed by the bill at 1 cent per gross ton for each 100 miles are succinctly as follows:

Twenty and 21 knot ocean screw steamships (with two small exceptions) are confined to the trans-Atlantic trade with New York, the

distance to Liverpool being 3,010 miles, to Bremen 3,465, and to Cherbourg, Havre, and Hamburg the distance is within those limits. The fast steamships on these routes make from eleven to thirteen round voyages a year (see Appendix P), so that the annual mileage stated in the table is somewhat in excess of the mileage actually traversed. Since the Paris went on the Manacles the International line has carried on its weekly service to Southampton with three steamships, involving seventeen round voyages a year, or 103,000 miles, if the service can be maintained throughout a year at that rate. Such a result, however, is possible only by the rarest combination of favorable circumstances, and would be rendered impossible by any considerable break of machinery, continued storms, or extended repairs.

It is the practice to reckon the annual mileage of a sail vessel at 18,000 miles. In brief, the mileage allowed in the table above will more frequently exceed the usual performance of vessels of any description than it will fall below the exceptional results occasionally attained.

The allowance in the table for a 21-knot steamship is $8.82 per gross ton per year. Running between New York and Southampton, such a vessel, to obtain this amount, would be required to make nearly fifteen round voyages a year. The mail contract with the only trans-Atlantic American line now calls for thirteen round voyages per steamship, to which the company devotes all its energies, making, however, one excursion trip a year to the West Indies. To obtain $8.82 per gross ton on this basis, the company must surpass its average performance. The present difference in cost of operation, as shown by the statement of the president of the company, is $8.30 per gross ton per annum.

We have no American-built seagoing screw steamships of 20 knots or 19 knots, so no actual computations for such vessels can be made. Two 18-knot steamships for trade from San Francisco to Hongkong are building. If these vessels are able to make six round voyages a year, under this provision they would receive per gross ton $7.56. As has been shown, $5.86 is an understatement of what the difference will be, the actual difference being determinable only when the vessels are in operation. We have two 17-knot American-built vessels, the Havana and Mexico, for trade between New York and Cuba, which are so far superior to other vessels in the same trade that here no comparison is feasible. The political conditions which have called for improvements in our service to Cuba quite distinguish that trade from ordinary maritime ventures. We have no 16-knot steamships for the over sea trade, and our two 15-knot vessels of that description, the Alameda and Mariposa, were built in 1883, and any figures based on cost of construction at that time would be valueless.

FAST OCEAN STEAMSHIPS.

The discussion over the provisions of Senate bill 5590, in so far as they relate to fast ocean steamships, shows erroneous impressions, real or feigned, as to the number of such vessels and their relationship to the world's sea-borne commerce.

For the current year Lloyd's Register records 15,324 steamships of 20,877,746 gross tons-12,935,994 net tons-for the entire world. Of all these steamships only 362, of 1,757,325 gross tons, are seagoing screw steamships of 1,500 gross tons or upward engaged in voyages of more than 500 miles or thereabouts-the class of vessels covered by the provisions of paragraph (b) of the first section of Senate bill 5590. Less than 3 per cent in number and less than 9 per cent in tonnage of the world's steamships are of the kind described. Half of these fast steam

ships are under the British flag and the remainder are divided among other nations. Of these vessels the largest number built in any one year was 31 in the year 1889. In 1898 the world built 24, and of those afloat 183 were built during the last decade in all the countries capable of constructing such vessels. The increase in the average speed of steamships during late years has not been important by comparison with the increase in the average size. Appendix O contains a list by name of all these vessels, with essential particulars concerning each. The list does not include paddle-wheel steamships, such as are employed to a great extent in the Channel ferries between Great Britain and the Continent or Ireland, nor the screw steamships of British railway systems used for the same purpose or for water connections between England and other parts of the United Kingdom, for these vessels have no share in oversea navigation. The same appendix shows the flags under which seagoing screw steamships sail and the years of their construction. The table shows in epitome the following number of seagoing screw steamships over 1,500 gross tons of the following rates of speed:

Senate bill 5590 proposed to classify as ocean mail steamships and auxiliary cruisers all American seagoing steamships, built and hereafter to be built, into three general classes: First, those of over 1,500 gross tons making from 14 to 17 knots; second, those of over 3,000 gross tons making from 17 to 20 knots, and, third, those of over 8,000 gross tons making 20 knots or upward. This classification is based on the groups into which the world's fast seagoing steamships are divided at the present time. There are two Peninsular and Oriental steamships making 20 knots which are of only 1,700 gross tons and one 20-knot Russian Volunteer Company steamship of 7,267 gross tons, and there are nine seagoing steamships of less than 1,500 gross tons which are assisted by Government as mail steamships which make 14 knots or over. Other fast seagoing steamships, however, fall into the classes as to speed and tonnage proposed in the measure, which in this respect accordingly is based on the maritime experience and practice of nations. The world's seagoing screw steamships of 1,500 tons or upward capable of making 14 knots or over an hour are owned by seventy-four companies or individuals. Toward the maintenance of the steamship lines thus owned, partly for services rendered as mail carriers, partly for services possibly to be rendered as auxiliary cruisers, and partly as an encouragement to national navigation and shipbuilding, the governments of the world now contribute, in round numbers, $20,000,000 annually. This sum, which is not an overstatement, is not the full measure of the extent to which legislation has been invoked in behalf of shipping. There are other forms of legislation which can not easily or accurately be converted into money equivalents. Such aid, for example, are the coasting laws of the United States, France, and Russia, the British naval reserve appropriations and refund of light dues, the German preferential freight rates on state railroads, the Russian refunds of Suez Canal tolls, and Roumanian Government ownership of steamships.

In behalf of about 80 per cent of the seagoing screw steamships of the world of 1,500 gross tons or upward capable of making 14 knots or over an hour legislation is now employed by the nations of the world. This fact would appear to be abundant justification for the employment of the same agency by the United States if we are to profit by the experience and practice of our maritime rivals. The extent of this assistance, so far as it can be readily shown to the eye, will appear from the following table:

GOVERNMENT PAY TO FAST STEAMSHIPS.

The table shows the companies which own the fast vessels of the speed and size described, with the number of vessels of each rate of speed. It also shows the nature of the legislation invoked, and where the amount can be stated in money terms it has been so stated. In a few instances it has not been practicable to obtain in time for this report the relations of the company or the individual to the State or the amount of direct money assistance. In some instances vessels which make less than 14 knots and are not included in the table share in the subsidy, while in other instances vessels over 14 knots do not directly share in the subsidy. Thus the North German Lloyd Steamship Company receives a subsidy for some steamships as slow as 123 knots, not included in the table, while some of its faster steamships included do not share in the subsidy, except in so far as it is turned into the receipts of the company and is in part the basis for dividends on the entire capital stock.

Again, some companies receive mail pay from other governments than those whose flags they fly. The United States, for example, have been particularly generous for many years in contributions in this respect, and in refunds, reductions, and exemptions from tonnage dues to foreign steamship companies. Subject to these qualifications the table, it is believed, indicates on broad lines the relationship of the State to fast steamships throughout the world. (The particular vessels reterred to are published in Appendix P.)