Omaha daily bee., 1899-04-30
THE CONFLICT OF COMMERCE.

AS the guest of honor at a dinner in
Frye of Maine spoke on trade and com
merce and the best way of promoting
them, a subject in which all intelligent
Americans take a deep interest. Mr..
Frye said that the commercial war upon
which the world has entered will be-
come fiercer and fiercer and he eX-
pressed the opinion that Germany will
be our most dangerous rival. This view
finds warrant in the fact that the wages
of labor are much less than here-Mr.
FRYE said not one-half of ours-while
no other European country is manifest
ing so much energy and enterprise in
| industrial and commercial development
as Germany is. That nation has made
remarkable progress in the last few
years in securing South American trade
and it is expanding its commerce in
Asia. German manufactures go to all
the markets of the world and the eX-
ports of that country are steadily grow
ing.
The advantages which Germany has
over the United States are in the lower
wages of labor and in the fact that she
transports her products in her w
ships. Senator Frye said that we could
not safely reduce wages TO the German
plane, but we should carry in Il own
| ships, under our own flag, all of our i'm
ports and exports. He urged that we
should pay to our own people he 5000
900 a day we now pay to foreigners.
1--WE should make of the officers of those
Ships he said, '%'active, intelligent and
interested agents for the discovery of
new markets and the promotion of our
trade. Suppose, to accomplish this, 1t
does cost us ~SS,00O,0OO or SlO,0OO,OOO
| annually, will there not be ample com
pensation? Great Britain, Germany and
France will not surrender this carrying
trade without a determined conflict,
which alone will reduce freight rates %
per cent" Such Il reduction would save
to our people S~50,0OO,OOO annually, our
foreign m being estimated Mt
5O,OOO,O 600 tons and the average ocean
freight rate the world owe being 81 a
ton. The importance which Senator
Frye attaches to n merchant marine as n
means of extending our commerce and
of competing with commercial rivals is
not in the least exaggerated. Next 10
being able TO offer our products as
cheaply ms our competitors and to guar
antee their quality, there is nothing so
essential to our commercial expansion as
to be able TO carry those products in our
own ships, under our own flag. The
slow growth of our trade with South
America is largely due to our not hav-
ing steamship lines to the various south
ern ports and WI shall be ut the same
disadvantage in the contest for Oriental
trade. In order to secure such share
of that trade as we should have we
must have steamship lines running from
our Pacific ports to all the ports of the
Orient.
Senator Frye regards the far east as
the most promising field for our foreign
commerce.. He said of the Philippines
that they would be more valuable COM
mercially than the acquisition of many
such islands as Porto Rico. Give the
islands a good government" he said,
protection to life and property, an adj
~yancing civilization, increasing intelli-
gence, fair wages, honest collection of
revenues, railroads and highways, i'm
proved agricultural implements, cable
telegraphic lines between them, and who