By the Act of March 3, 1891, a subsidy was again provided under the thin disguise of paying for carrying the mail--a reprehensible plan, because if subsidies are justified, they ought to be paid openly. The fact is that the methods of indirection employed by the advocates of subsidy have done much to discredit their system. Under this act ships of 8000 tons and a speed of 20 knots receive $4 a mile "by the shortest practicable route for each outward voyage." Ships of 5000 tons and a speed of 16 knots receive $2 a mile. Ships of 2500 tons and a speed of 14 knots receive $1 a mile, while those of 1500 tons and a speed of 12 knots receive "two-thirds of a dollar a mile." This act was designed to maintain lines of ships which would be useful as scouts, transports, etc., in time of war. Before stating the effect of this law upon American shipping, certain facts in connection with the subsidizing of ships by the continental nations of Europe will be useful. It is a curious fact that while the annual reports of our Commissioner of Navigation have for years given much space to the "progress" of the British, the German, and the Japanese shipping, nothing has been said about the "progress" of the shipping of France, of Italy, or Austria. The progress of the shipping of England, Germany, and Japan is stated because government aid is given to shipping in those countries and shipping makes progress; but in the other countries, where still more liberal aid is given to shipping, no progress worth mention is made. The annual report of the Commissioner of Navigation is made a vehicle for the dissemination of arguments in favor of the subsidy policy. A candid examination of the policy of Germany shows that some aid has been given to lines of ships in the form of liberal pay for carrying mails. The North German Lloyd receives $1,330,420 per annum for its service to China, Japan, Australia, and the German possessions in the Pacific. The Germans thought it better policy to subsidize a line of merchantmen than to maintain a line of transports to its colonies as the United States has been doing in connection with the Philippines. The payment to the North German Lloyd is properly called a subsidy; to give the name of subsidy to all payments made to German steamers for carrying the mail is to misrepresent the facts in a way that injures the cause of the subsidy advocates materially in the eyes of all who know the facts.