250 DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE FLORIDA CANAL
individual interest of those concerns, respectively, and cannot be
made the basis for determining whether or not commerce in general
will avail itself of the improvement or, for that matter, whether all
commerce would not use the improvement once it came into existence,
regardless of their preference for or satisfaction with, the status qo.
 Senator VAND Bm Now, Mr. Buckman, respecting these shi
operators, whose testimony I presented, lest your comments would
seem to indicate that it was an occasional and sporadic sort of testi-
mony, I want you to know that I interviewed the precise ship oper-
ators upon whose attitude General Pillsbury said his Board relied for
their economic justification. They are the, ones I introduced. They
are the ones who have made these adverse comments to which you
now refer, so that the inspiration for this testimony was not mine,
but it is General Pillsbury s, who at the time was the acting head of
this institution to which you pay such a deserved compliment
 Mr. BUCKMxN. I understand that, Senator, and I am glad you
made the point clear because I intend to refer to it in a few moments,
although I attach a different significance to it.
 Senator VANDENBERG. All right. I have not any doubt of that.
 Mr. BUCXMAN. It is of record that there was a very considerable
body of adverse opinion among ship operators with regard to all the
great canals of the world prior to their construction, and it is also of
record that, with unimportant exceptions, commerce in general
promptly availed itself of these new routes when opened.
 Ship-operating concerns may be divided into a number of classes
which include the following:
 (1) Those operators whose Gulf-Atlantic shipping is secondary to
some other phase of their business. Many companies falling within
this group have interlocking directorates and ownerships m other
businesses which do not show on the surface and can only be deter-
mined after an elaborate analysis of the holdings of these companies.
 (2) Those operators who hold mail-subsidy contracts from the
United States Government: While the rate of pay by the Govern-
ment varies, nevertheless the general principle is to subsidize the
American-flag vessel so that it may compete with the cheaper oper-
ated foreign vessel in the same trade. Today's subsidy to the mail
vessels in the Gulf trade is approximately $2.50 per outbound mile.
Further, the contract stipulates that the vessel is paid on the shortest
available route. Therefore it is obvious that by construction of the
Florida canal the route would be shortened and the pay to these
ships would be reduced by $2.50 per mile for each outbound mile so
shortened.
 The CHAIRMAN. Now, Mr. Buckman, you have made a fine pres-
entation so far, but this is mere sophistry, because there is not a
man in this country who holds a mail contract that does not know
he is not going to have any more of them after a certain length of
time.
 Mr. BUCKMAN. Yes; I agree with you.
 The CHAIw AN. So I do not think that particular argument is very
 forceful.
 Mr. BUCKMAN. Except it would tend to show conditions in the past
 when that was not quite so obvious. It is a fact that they will not
 have a mail subsidy contract very long, but it might very well for-