Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna, wearing a sign “Please help the poor,” and J.P. Morgan, carrying a model ship labeled “Leyland S.S. Lines,” stand at the end of a pier with the “Ship Yard” behind them. They hold out their hats, one labeled “For a shipping subsidy,” to Uncle Sam standing in front of the U.S. Treasury. An enormous ocean-going steamship, flying a banner “American built ships,” floats offshore in the distance. Caption: Uncle Sam. — You are already building up a monopoly without help; – why should I pay you a subsidy?
comments and context
Comments and Context
Dalrymple’s cartoon states well the widespread opposition to shipbuilding subsidies. Political rivalries, even within his own Republican Party, resulted in frustrations for Senator Hanna, who lobbied for Cleveland manufacturers. A rising tide of anti-monopoly sentiment likewise frustrated J. P. Morgan in his goal to dominate another business sector. The “McKinley Prosperity,” including bumper crops producing materials the world desired, encouraged efforts to increase American maritime trade and ships to convey goods to the world, and return with raw and manufactured goods. Public sentiment recognized that shipbuilders were doing quite well without government handouts. Morgan, always on the lookout for handouts if he could secure them, eventually, with complicated commercial and legal machinations, allied his interests with English firms and received subsidies from the British government. Included in his efforts was the cooperation of Bruce Ismay, later a survivor and vilified figure in the Titanic disaster, and the purchase of the White Star Line, which built the Titanic.
