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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“I need not tell you of the inadequacy of the American shipping marine on the Pacific Coast.... For this reason it seems to me that there is no subject to which Congress can better devote its attention in the coming session than the passage of a bill which shall encourage our merchant marine in such a way as to establish American lines directly between New York and the eastern ports and South American ports, and both our Pacific Coast ports and the Orient and the Philippines.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
—Bible: New Testament, Matthew 13:45,46.
“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.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“Because of these convictions, I made a personal decision in the 1964 Presidential campaign to make education a fundamental issue and to put it high on the nation’s agenda. I proposed to act on my belief that regardless of a family’s financial condition, education should be available to every child in the United States—as much education as he could absorb.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)