CHAPTER XIV

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 development and expansion of the merchant marine of each
nation granting them; and generally, if not universally, the upbuilding
of this marine for service in time of need as an auxiliary to the
national navy.

Summarized, the various grants of the various nations thus appear:

_Great Britain_ grants mail subsidies, and admiralty subventions; her
colonies, steamship subsidies.

_France_: mail subsidies; construction and navigation bounties;
fisheries bounties.

_Germany_: mail subsidies; steamship subsidies; preferential rates on
the State railroads for shipbuilding materials.

_Belgium_: premiums to certain steamship lines; pilotage refunds.