Albuquerque citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1907-1909, 1908-04-04
NEED OF AUXILIARY
VESSELS IN WAR
Our Products viii Never Bring
Benefit They Should Unless
We Have Transportation
Facilities TO Market
Them. He Says.

savannah. Ca. April Oscar :.
Straus, secretary Of commerce and
LABOR was the guest OF honor at the
savannah Board of Trade anniver-
Sary celebration last nsEnt. ana made
the principal speech of the evening.
He drew attention to the advance of
he south in commercial development
during the past few wears, showing
the value of manufactures of the
south to have grown from 27S mill
lions to 1926 millions since 1870, and
followed this by advocating a postai
subsidy measure which would put the
United states in position to compete
with any country. He said la part:
There is another Important matter
in this connection that Is deserving OF
your immediate attention.
You may have the products of the
farm and the factory in abundance;
you may spend millions upon your
waterways and upon your harbors.
and millions again upon what Will
prove to be the greatest and most far
reaching commercial enterprise that
any nation has ever undertaken-thc
construction of the Panama canal
the benefits from them will never
adequately flow to you unless you
control the means OF transportation
to carrS your products and your mails
in you" own shilS, ,11ler your own
flag, br the most onSs6t route to the
markets that you soTk to cultivate.
Commerce is reciprocal. and the
ships that go to the South and Central
American markets to carry the prod
ucts that you sell must return with
the products which the people Of
those countries sell to us. All of the
great maritime powers of the world,
whether their economic policy Is free
trade or protection, create and main
tain fast freight and fast passenger
lines to their foreign markets by
means of liberal postal payments.
Sixty years ago President Polk rec
commended, and Congress granted,
subventions when our commerce was
insignificant.
These subventlons were. on a mod
crate and limited scale, re-established
| In the postal law of 1891, and what is
demanded now is that that postal law
be extended so that your commerce
and your passengers will not be com
| PEELED to go to the markets on this
continent by the way of Europe, and
| by twice crossing the Atlantic ocean.
| There is a oil now before Congress,
| the purpose of which Is to extend this
subyention so as to make it effective
| in reaching the markets on this con-
| tinrnt and along the Pacific ocean,
namely, to give the same postal sub
vontion that is provided for under the
| law of 1891 and adapt it to ships that
! ply in those waters, or. in other
| words. to give 81 a ton per mile td
! vessels of the second class on routes
! 1000 miles or NOR, IN length, out
/ ward voyage to South America, u
! the Philippines to Japan, to China
| and to Australasia. To accomplish
! this viii require at the outside no
more than the profit that the gov
eTnm,ut is now making ON its foreign
mail contracts In other words, the
actual cost to the government last
/ year of tho ocean mail service to for
I eign countries, other than Canada and
! Mexico was in round numbers So
/ oOO, 600, while the proceeds realized
! by the government from postage be-
/ tween the United states and foreign
! countries, other than Canada and
/ Mexico, was a little in excess of So
100000, leaving a profit To the United
states of a little in excess of $1,000
/ 900 per anuum.
.u other words, the commerce OF
the country yields To- the government
/ this $3.OO0,OOO iu postage alone, and
/ all that is asked is that this S3,OOU,OOC
| be- devoted To extending the c0mmpr0.
/ of the country in American bottom;
under the American flag. This is the
commercial end Of it.
| Tho need Of auxiliary vessels ir
time Of war for military service is in
| dispcnsable, both for the army ano
/ the navy Not many months ago Il
| became necessary to dispatch a smal
! force of American troops to Cuba
/ They were sent under the Brust
! flag The peaceful and maguificen
voyage that our powerful fleet of wal
ships is now making from the Allan
tic to the Pacific would have been i'm
p,dod If not made prohibitlve, unles!
We had secured the shelter of fore. gr
flags 10 carry the necessary coal
This, my friends, is not party
question i'm any sense Of the word ]
Is a question affecting the commerce
of the entire country, its mail ser
vice and the necessities of the ma
ton, and To insure adequate naya
protection iu time OF war