The intent of this little book is to furnish in compact form the history of the development of the ship subsidies systems of the maritime nations of the world, and an outline of the present laws or regulations of those nations. It is a manual of facts and not of opinions. The author's aim has been to present impartially the facts as they appear, without color or prejudice, with a view to providing a practical manual of information and ready reference. He has gathered the material from documentar

INTRODUCTORY The term subsidy , defined in the dictionaries as a Government grant in aid of a commercial enterprise, is given different shadings of meaning in different countries. In all, however, except Great Britain, it is broadly accepted as equivalent to a bounty, or a premium, open or concealed, directly or indirectly paid by Government to individuals or companies for the encouragement or fostering of the trade or commerce of the nation granting it. Ship subsidies are in various forms: prem

GREAT BRITAIN England has never granted general ship-construction or navigation bounties except in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. Under Elizabeth Parliament offered a bounty of five shillings per ton to every ship above one hundred tons burden; and under James I that law was revived, with the bounty applying only to vessels of two hundred tons or over. [A] A policy of Government favoritism to shipping, however, began far back in the dim ninth century with Alfred the Great. Under the inspir

FRANCE France has been rightly termed the bounty-giving nation par excellence . [BD] She first adopted a policy of State protection of native shipping in the middle of the sixteenth century with the enactment (1560) of an exclusive Navigation Act, forbidding her subjects to freight foreign vessels in any port of the realm, and prohibiting foreign ships from carrying any kind of merchandise from French ports. [BE] This was followed up in the next century with the institution of the direct bounty

GERMANY Germany was a close follower of France in the adoption of the direct ship bounty system. Only two months after the promulgation of the initial French law of 1881, Bismarck brought the question before the Reichstag, with an exhibit of this act. In an elaborate memorial (April 6, 1881) he reviewed the general subject of State bounties and subsidies to shipping in various maritime countries, and closed with this pointed declaration: "It is deserving of serious consideration whether, under t

HOLLAND—BELGIUM The home Government of the Netherlands gives neither construction nor navigation bounties. Only subventions to steamship lines for carrying the mails are granted. The single purpose of these subventions is declared to be to secure the prompt and effective furtherance of the mails at reasonable cost. [CZ] The contracts are not publicly let, but go to the several steamship lines plying to foreign ports and to the Dutch colonies. The amounts fixed by contract are at a given rate per

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY The Imperial Government of Austria-Hungary spurred by the action of Germany, instituted a direct subsidy system, also modelled after that of France, in 1893, when the Austrian merchant marine was languishing. [DD] A postal subsidy had long been in operation, the subsidies being all awarded to a single steamship company—the Austrian Lloyd, earlier the Austro-Hungarian Lloyd. They were practically mileage and speed bounties, [DE] increasing with the extension of service. Ten-years'

ITALY Early after its establishment in 1861 the Kingdom of Italy adopted a subsidy system with the object of reviving and upbuilding the then languishing Italian merchant marine. This policy was instituted in 1866 with the grant of premiums on the construction of wooden ships. At the same time materials used in the construction, repair, or enlargement of ships were made duty-free. [DP] For a while under these conditions, before iron ships had come much into use, the merchant marine prospered. Th

SPAIN—PORTUGAL Spain instituted a ship-construction bounty system in 1880, when her merchant marine was languishing, and in 1886 a comprehensive system of mail subventions, contracting for the whole ocean service with a single steamship company, La Compañia Transatlantica Española . Previous to 1886, for a quarter of a century and more, postal subventions had been given to private commercial houses, or individuals, providing steam communication with the Spanish colonies and foreign ports; but mu

DENMARK—NORWAY—SWEDEN Denmark pays postal subventions to two steamship companies for carrying the mails to Sweden and to Iceland, and "trade" subsidies to other companies to encourage particularly the export trade. The latter are payments directly for reductions in freight rates, which are supervised by the Government. [EI] The postal subventions are not large, and they are generally accepted as only fair remuneration for service rendered. [EJ] Norway and Sweden both give subsidies for mail carr

RUSSIA In Russia steamship lines were early subsidized with mileage bounties, besides receiving postal subventions; and later the Government adopted the policy of returning the Suez Canal tolls to the subsidized lines. The mileage subsidies are direct bounties avowedly for the encouragement of Russian navigation, and are very large. [EQ] In 1898 a Government commission, appointed to consider and report upon the state of the empire's mercantile marine, declared that Russia was losing a vast sum a

JAPAN—CHINA While France is the bounty-giving nation par excellence , Japan is a pressing second. The development of a modern merchant marine, together with a modern navy, was among the first undertakings of the awakening empire upon her assumption of Occidental civilization. Adopting what seemed to her statesmen of the new regime, from their study of Western methods, to be the speediest way to that end, she started out energetically to attain it through lavish money-grants from the national tre

SOUTH AMERICA Brazil gives subventions from the Federal treasury to several foreign steamship companies, and some of the States of the federation also make similar grants from their treasuries. Besides the subventions to lines to foreign ports, the Government grants State aid to a considerable number of coast lines operating between Rio de Janeiro and other Brazilian ports. The total amount of the subventions in 1910 was equal to $1,437,880. [FO] The principal beneficiary was the Lloyd Brazileir

THE UNITED STATES While a navigation code founded in 1790 and 1792, and developed in 1816, 1817, and 1820, after the model of the then existing English code, [FS] has been retained in modified form through enactments in subsequent years, a system of general ship-subsidies, though repeatedly proposed, has never been adopted by the United States. From 1793 to 1866 bounties were given to fishing vessels and men employed in the bank and other deep-sea fisheries, [FT] but no subsidies to the merchant

SUMMARY Ship subsidies, open or concealed, are now granted by nearly every maritime nation. Whatever may be the designation of these Government grants,—whether mail subsidies, naval subventions, retaining fees for possible naval service, construction bounties, navigation bounties, trade bounties, Government loans, Government partnerships, tariff advantages, canal refunds,—whatever may be their form, all are distinctly Government aids, direct or indirect, the primary object of which is the develo