Last June Congress abrogated all 31 ocean mail contracts by which the U. S. Government had been subsidizing U. S. shipping at an annual cost of $20,000,000. Under the new Merchant Marine Act the Maritime Commission was empowered to provide "differential" subsidies for U. S. shipping to establish "competitive equality" in foreign trade. By last week eight U. S. shipping companies, having agreed to build 50 new ships in the next six years, had subsidy agreements with the Maritime Commission totalling about $10,000,000.
To companies engaged in foreign commerce, this arrangement meant calm...
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