Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-04-28
MUST RULE The SEAS
Secretary Shaw Says Columbia
Not Brittania Shall Rule
the Waves"
In a Speech at Pittsbure He Ad.
vocates the Isthmian
Canal.
Favors the Upbuilding of the
American Merchant Marine
and Shipping Interests.

Pittsburg, Pa, April 2s.-That the
United States must rule the seas anS
the stars and stripes supplant thu
union jack over the merchant vessels o.
| the world was insisted upon by Leslie
! NJ. Shaw, secretary of the treasury, il
an address before the Americas Club o.
this city Saturday night
| To secure this end Mr.. Shaw advo-
Gated the cutting of an isthmian canal
end the building up of a great mer-
chant fleet that will be truly American
On this subject the secretary said:
| LAS after the civil war the nation en-
tered upon an extensive policy of in
| ternal improvements, substituting sc
long els necessary transcontinentall lines
Of railway and permanently continuing
the s,lbsidizing of rivers and harbors.so
after this later war we appear to be
entering upon an equally progressive
policy Of external Improvement
Not as the crow flies, but as ships
sail. 1t is nearer from Liverpool to San
New York to the same port via the
southern extremity. Start two ships OF
equal speed from Liverpool, going to
our Pacific coast, one thru the Suez
canal and the other by Cape Horn, and
two vessels of the same speed from
New York, one going westward and the
ether eastward. and both English YES
sells will reach their destination before
either of ours. Cut the isthmian canal
and it is nearer from New York = to
Hong Kong via Nicaragua than from
Liverpool to the same point via the
Suez.
I'VE must have the largest merchant
fleet ever kissed by ocean breezes, and
these carriers of international COM
MERGE must be built of American ma
terial, in American yards, by American
labor They are to be manned by
American sailors, fired by American
coal, or more probably oil, and they
are to float the stars and stripes.
whether this will be accomplished
thru direct aid or by American patriot
ism and by American energy can not
say. Whether this contamination shall
be contributed to by statesmen or
achieved by financiers is immaterial
compared with the importance of the
thing itself. American wealth, American
energy, plus Hawaii, which is ours, plus
the Philippine islands. which are ours,
plus the isthmian canal, which we will
surely construct plus merchant ma
rine, which we surely Will build, trans
fers the sovereignty of the Pacific
ocean from the union jack to the stars
and stripes"
Secretary Shaw traced the develops
ment of the country from scattered
colonies, each Independent of the other.
and not infreduently antagonistic to it's
present commanding position as uni
fed s,isterhood of states. He noted the
dangers common to all the colonies
which arose in the continental con-
gress, and joint enterprise OF resist
ance to Great Britain, followed by a
declaration of independence, then arti-
cles Of confederation, and finally con-
stitution.
..The trend of thought" he said, has
been ever towards a central govern
ment.''
The civil war was discussed briefly,
the secretary saying that while he did
rot Justify the south, even the greatest
statesmen of the past had differed re-
garding the rights of states to with
draw from the union at will. This ques-
ton was decided for all time. and since
the conflict the united nation has
forged It's way to the forefront in the
worlds commerce.
Touching on the. Spanish war and It's
causes, Secretary Shaw said:
Just across the boarder Spain for a
hundred years had heaped cruelties up
on a. weak and defenseless people.
Without pleading personal grievance
the United States, by the unanimous
vote of both houses of congress, volun-
tarily interviewed in behalf Of the OPP
pressed.
why did we rot do this 100 years
before? The corruscles of American
blood were Away, red, and the Anglo
Saxons and their 'Teutonic hnfolls were
always humane. Our altruism had been
appealed to again and again, but it had
been appealed to in vain.
disguise 1t as we will; deny 1t as
we may, the element of self-interest
was factor in the equation in 1885,
We We're MASTERS of our own markets
and were reaching out for new ones.
Yes, commercialisim, If you please, had
touched us; and so it was that our self
interest, as well as our unselflshness
were appealed to. Then we gave notice
to the world that we proposed to police
the street on which we lived, and we
challenged him who doubted our right
t0 rbo into tho oman
re the door set ajar in the spring of
1898 by the unanimous vote of both
houses of congress everswings wider on
It's hinges. the United States will police
not only the street on which it lives.
but the entire western hemisphere and
with 1T all countries and all islands
washed by the Pacific"
The recent action of the government
against the railway merger and the
popular reception of 1t We're taken to
show the sentiment in favor of national
regulation of railways, of express COM
pantes. Of telegraph companies, of in
surence and of trusts.
SEVEN MEN INDICTED.