Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-20

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tribute. It is important for us to follow
the experience Of older maritime nations,
who, in time of war, found 1t necessary to
800 goo to gointo the pockets OF foreign
ship owners, when, at least, part OF that
| should be retained at homef
Greatest Work Ever Undertaken.
"The Panamal Canal the greatest work
ever undertaken In the world. has fallen to
the United States to do. Is It for military
purposes? For the people along the shore?
It will be Of little use unless we have
merchant marine. With our great natural
resources. great endowments. our great
cosmop olitan people. full of enterprise time 4,
will not wait. Progress is the word. Shall
we be satisfied until we regain the suprem-
acy we had in the days of wooden ship
building? 1t Is not the American spirit
think not.
Gentlemen, we hold the ace. I don't
know whether you know what that means
I'VE stand on the firing line; we must not
get behind any trees. Don't be swerved oy
sarcastic mention Of the subsidy. 1t Is but
the difference in the price of labor In this
country and that of our competitors, ana
without some remuneration not dollar VIII
be invested by our cOuntrymen. In this
matter we must educate; let US improve
every opportunity to argue, ana II need De
to plead, that every state, irrespective OF
party. shall clamor for merchant marine.
Bears Greetings Of the President.
A brief sketch of what the Department
Of Commerce and Labor has done occupied
the time of Secretary Cortelyou. He con-
veyed to the Board of Trade the greetings
of President Roosevelt, and then spoke
clearly and emphatically of the work now
in hand and what is yet to do He de-
scribed the organization in detail, and re-
ferred to the statements and recommended
items in his annual report.
THAT, gentlemen" he said, "is the spirit
In which your representatives In the ad-
ministration have approached the prob
lens committed to their care. You can
help US. first by finding out what we are
doing, and then, If you discover sub
stant1al measure of achievement by hearty
cooperation and support in the work to
which we mutually devoted. This new
executive establishment is great depart
ment OF peace. Its conquests are to be
made along the lines of commerce and in
dustry. Its mission is to foster. promote
and develop and we have construed this
broad language to mean, not the injection
or the department into fields where 1t does
not belong, but rather that, adhering
strictly to the lines of federal jurisdiction,
1t Shall put information and suggestion into
the hands of the business man: information
and suggestion into the hands of the
toiler, whether he be employer en-
ploye; and that. in addition. it shall seek
to enforce fairly and impartially and with
sanity and conservatism the various laws
under which 1t operates. For, gentlemen,
our allegiance to the principles of law and
order l know of no sentiment more worthy
OF place over the portals of this new
executive department than the immortal
words OF Abraham Lincoln, recently and
most aptly applied by Jacob Riis to another
American President:
Let reverence of law be taught in
schools and colleges, be written in primers
ana spelling books. be published from pull
pits and proclaimed in legislative houses
and enforced in the courts of justice-in
short, let 1t become the political religion of
the nation Ht
Good markets good wages-aye and
good feeling|f these and kindred results
snail come In some degree from the depart
ment's development, those who have tried
earnestly to build for its future will feel
That their work has not been In vain"
Mr.. Speaker Cannon.
The last speaker was Mr. Cannon He
addressed himself to brief summary of
the commercial history of the United States
for the past forty years. He spoke with
pride OF the increases that have been made.
The country, he said has grown from
100000 to so,OOO,oOO. and It's products
have more than kept pace with the ad-
vance OF its people: He said he deplored
the fact that SO little of the produce of
the United States Is carried to other coun-
tres IN ships that fly American flags Some
reason for this may be found in the excess
OF the cost of labor in this country over
that of other countries. While iron and
steel may be brought to that perfection
necessary for ship building in this country
as cheaply, or even more cheaply than in
other countries. 1t is true that 1t costs more
to put these materials into shape and float
them the water.
But in considering this matter the oues-
ton as to who owns the great merchant
marine may be factor. 1t is true he said
that great block OF the stock in the
ocean-carrying lines flying the flag of other
nations Is controlled nv nit H..
lists. We have seven-tenths, or such frac-
ton, of all the railroads of the world in the
United States, but 1t Is nevertheless true
that blocks Of this stock are carried by
citizens of foreign nations, and 1t is to be
found in the markets of London. Paris and
Berlin.
In the fullness of time, however this
country, he said, will gradually gain con-
troll of all these stocks. in all these trans
portation lines. both the railroads and the
steamships 1t is not dream to foretell
the ultimate ownership of such great COM
mercial attributes being vested in the
American people.
The Closing Features.
Toastmaster Patterson then dismissed the
assemblage, apologizing for the lateness of
the hour. but excusing himself with the
statement that all would be willing to re-
main If the same sort of a program could
be presented over again. On behalf of the
National Board Of Trade he thanked the
guests of the evening for their courtesy and
expressed his thanks for the honor done
him in selecting him to preside over dis
tinguished an assemblage.
Those present during the evening We're:
POSTMASTER Patterson, President Ran
dahl, H. B. Thurber, H. K. Porter, Charles
B. Murray. C. s. Hamlin. G. Waldo Smith,
H. g. Grimes w. R. Tucker. Charles M.
Biddle, DIR. s. w. Weir Mitchell, J. T. Nc
Hugh, Philip Stilden c. W. Chase, H. j.
Grimes, ]. L. Vincent, Frank Barry, George
s. Bridges, c. w. Clothier, John L. Dexter,
A. A. Lawrence, w. H. Chadwick ]. J.
Sullivan. John w. Snyder. DR.. A. p Far
don, C. G Kolff. Philip Gidley. w H. Cas-
tie, r. B Keyser, =. H. Jackson. Clinton
White, E. F. BeaIe; Albert Mccullough Ed
Wiley, M. N. Kline. Henry w. Peabody,
David Hutzler. c: J. Cohen. A. M. Read, F.
A. Scott w. T. Robinson, W. P. Van Vic
ke, ]. ]. D. Trenor. w. A. Burpee, George
H. Maxwell, George H. Anderson. W. w.
Supplee E. L. Rogers, A. 8. Reed, NJ B.
Kelly, Finley Acker F. w. Maxwell. Jo-
seph Manel. A. T. Anderson. w. p Wilson,
B. A. Fowler, W. J. Holland. H. B. Slaugh-
ter, H. G. Morgan, r. s Lyon, Gen. George
h Harries, w. M. Bell G. H. d. johnson,
N uarpar N Wise T. Hitchcock