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The United States Shipbuilding Company was a short-lived trust made up of seven shipbuilding companies, a property owner and steel company. Its stocks and bonds were unattractive to investors, and several of its member shipyards were overvalued, conditions which brought down the company less than a year after it was formed in 1902. The company’s failure enabled Bethlehem Steel to become Bethlehem Shipbuilding & Steel Company. At the turn of the 20th century, John Willard Young, a son of Mormon pioneer Brigham Young,〔“( Young’s Suit Reopens Shipbuilding Tangle ),” New York Times, 1905-03-04.〕〔Henry Wysham Lanier, "(One Trust and What Became of It )," The World's Work, Vol. VII, p. 4445 (Feb. 1904).〕 promoted the idea that many leading American shipbuilding companies should form one gigantic combination.〔L. Walter Sammis, “(The Relation of Trust Companies to Industrial Combinations, as Illustrated by the United States Shipbuilding Company ),” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Vol. 24, p. 241 (1904).〕 The United States Shipbuilding Company was the manifestation of that idea.〔Robert Hessen, "(Steel Titan: The Life of Charles M. Schwab )," 145-62 (1990) ("The U.S. Shipbuilding Company Scandal"), ISBN 0-8229-5906-2.〕 Under that idea, the enterprise's central designing office would apportion the shipbuilding work to the yards best able to take it, to better compete with European shipyards.〔“Ship-Yard Trust Launched To-Day,” New York World, 1902-06-11, at 3.〕 Although American shipbuilding was not considered a highly profitable venture,〔Arthur Stone Dewing, "(Promotions and Reorganizations )," Vol 10 ch. XVII at p. 464 (Harvard Univ. 1914).〕 the political environment seemed right for improvement. President William McKinley and his new Vice President, Theodore Roosevelt, had endorsed federal subsidies for American shipbuilding industries, to compensate for the subsidies provided by European governments, but Congress had not yet approved such a measure.〔Marguerite Miller McKee, “(The Ship Subsidy Question in American Politics ),” pp. 50-51 (1922).〕 A renowned naval architect and public servant, Lewis Nixon, was chosen to lead the venture, and helped to attract several major shipyards to participate.〔 Unfortunately, however, "the one thing (consolidated firms ) lacked, individually and collectively, was a realistic prospect of earning sustained profits."〔 Financially the corporation failed almost immediately. As one scholar would later write of this plan, “the theory was impossible; the condition was untenable; the trust, as it was manufactured, was impracticable; and the United States Shipbuilding Company was insolvent.” 〔 ==Groundwork== Young first obtained an option to purchase the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company (of Newport News, Virginia), then approached Nixon, who was then the lessor of the Crescent Shipyard in Elizabethport, New Jersey. Nixon agreed to work with Young in forming the proposed combination, and granted him an option on his own plant.〔 They then obtained options to purchase other shipbuilding companies. Working with a cotton industry bank known as the Trust Company of the Republic, they sought out underwriters, and planned to issue stock and sell bonds, in order to provide the funds to buy the plants and then operate them at a profit. An initial prospectus was prepared for issue on May 7, 1901, but the actual issuance was withheld at the last moment because of what became known as the Northern Pacific “short squeeze” of 1901, a panic that occurred on that date.〔 A news dispatch of that date described the proposed combination.〔May 7, 1901 dispatch, reprinted in “Ship Trust Sure: Capital of New Corporation $65,000,000 and Hydes on Board of Directors” Bath (ME) Independent, 1901-05-11 at 2.〕 It described a combination that would include Union Iron Works (of San Francisco), Bath Iron Works of Bath, Maine, Hyde Windlass Co. (also of Bath), Crescent Shipyard, Samuel J. Moore & Sons Co. of Elizabethport, New Jersey, Canda Manufacturing Co. of Carteret, New Jersey, and Newport News Shipping and Drydock Co. All but Canda Manufacturing were shipyards, and Canda (which manufactured car wheels) reportedly owned a prime location near Staten Island for construction of a new shipyard.〔 Three months later, it was again announced (again prematurely) that the new corporation would be launched in a few days. This time, British arms manufacturer Vickers Sons & Maxim, which had acquired the William Cramp & Sons shipyard in Philadelphia,〔“(Cramps to Consolidate with English Firm ),” New York Times, 1901-02-15.〕 and the Bethlehem Ship & Armor Plate works were included on the published list of interests included in the corporation.〔“Great Shipyard Combine,” Adrian (MI) Daily Telegram, 1901-08-10 at p. 7.〕 Ultimately, Vickers stayed out of the venture. In September 1901, while the USSC was still just a concept, Roosevelt replaced the assassinated President McKinley. Roosevelt had crusaded against trusts, and his elevation created a hostile environment toward formation of combinations like USSC, marked by the Department of Justice’s suit in February 1902 to prevent the formation of the Northern Securities Company railroad trust. Meanwhile, federal shipyard subsidy legislation stalled in Congress.〔“(Mr. Vest Denounces the Shipping Bill ),” New York Times, 1902-03-11.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「United States Shipbuilding Company」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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