These provisions
added two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the former's subsidy of
seven hundred and fifty thousand, and two hundred and seventeen thousand
to the latter's of two hundred and eighty-three thousand. The reasons
given for these increases were: in the case of the American Line,
because this line "meets the fiercest competition of the State-aided
corporations of Europe, soon to be intensified by the new subvention of
one million one hundred thousand dollars granted to the Cunard Company
by the British Government, on terms so liberal as to make it equivalent
to one and a half million dollars a year"; and in the case of the
Australasia Line, because it "operates in Pacific waters where cost of
fuel, labor, etc., is considerably greater than at Atlantic ports; ...
is required to maintain a very high speed; ... employs exclusively white
crews instead of the Asiatics utilized by many other Pacific companies."
Another provision, as a special encouragement for American shipowners to
enter the Philippine trade, added a subvention of thirty per cent above
the regular rate, or six and a half dollars a ton. The naval volunteer
retainers were extended to seamen of the Great Lakes and coastwise
trade.
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