The daily journal. (Salem, Or.) 1899-1903, 1901-12-03


The condition OF the American mer
chant marine Is such as to cali for i'm
mediate remedial action by the Con
gress. IL is discreditable to us as
Nation that our merchant marin,
should be utterly Insignificant in com.
parison to that of other nation.
which we overtop in other forms o
business. We should not longer sub.
init to conditions under which only q
tnflinB portion OF our great commerce
Is carried In our own ships. To REM
edy this state of things, would not
merely serve to build up our shipping
interests but IL would also result I'm
benefit to all who are interested In the
permanent establishment of wider
market for American products and
would provide an auxiliary force for
the navy Ships work for their own
countries just as railroads work for
their terminal points. Shipping lines,
IL established to the principal coun-
| tries with which we have dealings
would be OF political as well as COM
mercial benefit. From every standpoint
1t Is unwise for the United States to
rely on the ships of competing nations
for the distributing of our goods. II
should be made advantageous to carry
American goods I'm American built
ships.
At present American shipping Is un-
der certain disadvantage when nut I'm
competition with the shipping OF for
eign countries. Many of the fast for
eign steamships, at a speed OF IA knots
or above. are subsidized; and all our
ships, sailing vessels and steamers
alike, cargo carriers Of slow speed and
mail carriers OF high speed, have to
meet the fact that the original cost of
building American ships Is greater
than Is the case abroad: that the
wages paid American officers and sea-
men are very much higher than those
paid the officers and seamen OF foreign
competing countries; and that the
standard of living on our ships Is far
superior to the standard OF living on
the ships of our commercial rivals our
Government should take such action as
will remedy these inequalities. The
American merchant marine should be
restored to the ocean.
The Gold Standard.
The act of March IA. 1900. intended
unequlvocaily to establish gold as the
standard money and to maintain at a
parity Herewith all forms of money
medium In use with us, has been shown
to be timely and judlolous. The price
OF our Government bonds In the worlds
markets. when compared with the
price OF similar obligations issued by
other nations, is a flattering tribute to
our public credit. This condition Il IS
evidently desirable 20 maintain.
In many respects the national bank
Ing law furnishes sufficient liberty for
the proper exercise of the banking
function; but there seems TO be need
OF better safeguards against the de-
ranging influence OF commercial crisis
and financial panics Moreover the
currency OF the country should be made
responsive TO the demands OF our do
mestic trade and commerce.
The Revenues.
The collections from duties on Inn
ports and internal taxes continue TO |
exceed the ordinary expenditures OF
the Government, thanks mainly TO the |
reduced army expenditures. The ut
most care should be taken not TO re-
duce the revenues so that there will
be any possibility OF a deficit; but af-
ter providing against any such con-
tlngency means should be adopted |
which viii bring the revenues more |
nearly within the limit OF our actual |
needs In his report to the Congress
the Secretary OF the Treasury consid- |
ers all these questions at length and |
ask your attention TO the need OF strict !
economy i'm expenditures, The fact
that our national debt needs forbid us
60 be niggardly I'm providing whatever
is actually necessary TO our well being.
should make us doubly careful to hus-