The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (P.L. 66-261) is a United States federal statute that regulates maritime commerce in U.S. waters and between U.S. ports. Section 27, better known as the Jones Act, deals with cabotage (i.e., coastal shipping) and requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried in U.S.-flag ships, constructed in the United States, owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents. As global trade increased and the ability to finance overseas corporations correspondingly increased, there appeared loopholes in US Law by which large shipping and maritime companies could circumvent US Labor and Trade laws and regulations by using cheap labor, impressed labor, and even indentured labor from poor undeveloped countries as well as build ships using similar labor, thereby lowering costs whilst capturing the profit differential at the expense of US shipbuilders and sailors. Consequently, the purpose of the law is to support the U.S. maritime industry.
In addition, amendments to the Jones Act, known as the Cargo Preference Act (P.L. 83-644), provide permanent legislation for the transportation of waterborne cargoes in U.S.-flag vessels. As the lobbying power of large multinational corporations increased, the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 has been revised a number of times to end these Protectionism measures, the most recent and thorough revision was the recodified version of 2006.
Read more about Merchant Marine Act Of 1920: Cabotage, Seaman's Rights, Criticism, Support, Waivers of Shipping Act Provisions
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“People run away from the name subsidy. It is a subsidy. I am not afraid to call it so. It is paid for the purpose of giving a merchant marine to the whole country so that the trade of the whole country will be benefitted thereby, and the men running the ships will of course make a reasonable profit.... Unless we have a merchant marine, our navy if called upon for offensive or defensive work is going to be most defective.”
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—Bible: New Testament, Matthew 13:45,46.
“God has a hard-on for a Marine because we kill everything we see. He plays His game, we play ours.”
—Stanley Kubrick (b. 1928)
“The act of putting into your mouth what the earth has grown is perhaps your most direct interaction with the earth.”
—Frances Moore Lappé (b. 1944)