CO129-464 - Public Offices - 1920 — Page 478

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known shippers, grown weary of being unable to obtain

service equal to that furnished by certain British

and Japanese lines, have been obliged, for self

protection, to issue orders to their firms in the

United States to cease shipping by Shipping Board

vessels.

Now, if such a condition can exist when there

is competition, what would be the state of affairs that

the business men of these islands would have to face if

they were obliged by law to use American ships?

The proposition is vicious and should not be

allowed to go any further. While we cannot say

positively that such is the case, we believe that if all

the facts were in the possession of the local business

men, it would be found that the nigger in the woodpile

would resemble the private shipping interests of the

United States. They have slipped a joker into the

bill, which, in case they get possession of the American

merchant marine, would give them absolute control of

every ton of cargo shipped from American ports to the

Philippines and vice versa.

The coastwise lawe apply to the Hawaiian Islands,

and if congrese desires to know just how they work out-

side of legitimate American coatal trade, the big

shippers of Honolulu and Hilo can furnish abundant

information on the subject.

It is, as we have just said, the duty of the

insular government to cable immediately a protest through

the Bureau of Insular Affairs, and we believe also that

the American and Filipino business men should hold a

meeting/