Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1908-04-09
NOR YET FOR COMMUNISM COL
LECTIVISM OR UNAMERI-
CANlSM.
SAYS SECRETARY STRAUS, DE-
Tending THE IMMIGRANTS
TO THIS COUNTRY.
BUT POSTAL SUBVENTlONS ARE
URGED FOR SEA CO.
ING SHIPS.

Savannah, Ca, April TN an ad-
dress last evening before the board
of trade Secretary Straus of the
| department of commerce and labor,
denounced un-American issues. 1t is
the vogue now, he said, to speak
against the immigrant and immigra-
! ton, forgetting what we are and
what we owe to the 25,000,000 will
| ing workers that have come 10 US il
the past hundred years to develop
the great possibilities of this country
and make Us the great nation that
we are. AN honor to the descend
ants of the Puritan and Pilgrim faith
ers, but in honoring them let us not
withhold our high appreciation and
need of praise for the immigrants
who have come to US in the succeed
| ing decades, to them and to their
children, who in peace and in war
have proved no less true and noble
Americans than those who preceded
them in time, but did not surpass
them in the love of our common cOun-
try. Yes, we welcome the imml-
grant to our country, the selfrespeCt-
ing and honest-minded alien, no
matter from what country he comes,
who is willing to share with US not
h7,+ oil n
! ties and responsibilities of our great
country; but they, as we'll as all OF
our people, must understand that IN
this land Of liberty, equality and JUS
| tice there is no room for socialism,
communism, cOIlectivism, or any
other form of ism than AmericaniSn,
which rests upon the ten command
ments, the declaration Of independ-
ence, and the constitution of the
United States"
But this was not the speakers
main thesis. Principally he was
arguing in behalf of ship subsidies.
He said:
! 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
! the construction of the Panama ca
nal-the benefits from them VII
never adequately flow to YOU unless
you control the means of transporta,
ton to carry your products and your
! mails in your own ships, under your
own flag, by the most direct route 10
the markets that you seek to Guilt
vate"
He added that ships that go to the
South and Central American markets
to carry the products that the Amer
lean manufacturers sell must return
with products which the people OF
those countries sell to US. AL 0t
the great maritime powers Of the
world" he said, whether their eco
nomfc policy is free trade or protec-
ton, create and maintain fast freight
and fast passenger lines to their for
eign markets by means Of liberal
postal payments. Sixty years ago
President Polk recommended, and
congress granted, subventions when
our commerce was insignificant
These subventions were, on a moder-
ate and limited scale, reestablished IN
the postal law of 1891, and Wha> S
demanded now is that that postal
law be extended so that your COM
merce and your passengers viii not
be compelled to go to the markets on
this continent by the way of Europe,
and by twice crossing the Atlantic.
There is a bill now before congress,
the purpose of which is to extend
this subvention so as to make it eff
fective in reaching the markets on
this continent and along the Pacific,
namely. to give the same postal sub
ventien that is provided for under
the law of 1891 and adapt it to ships
that ply in those water, or, in other
words, to give 81 a ton per mile to
vessels of the second class on routes
1000 miles or more in length, out
ward voyage, to South America, to
the Philippines, to Japan, to China,
and to Australia. To accomplish this
VIII require at the outside no more
than the profit that the government
is now making on its foreign mail
contracts In other words. the actu
al cost to the government last year
of the ocean-maiF service to foreign
countries, other than Canada and
Me@sico. was in round numbers 3,000,-
900 dollars, while the proceeds real
izea By the government from postage
between the United States and for
eign countries, other than Canada
and 2Iexico, was a little in excess OF
$4,000. 600, leaving a profit to the
United States Of a little in excess Of
$1,000, 900 per annum.
Commissioner Straus urged the
need of auxiliary vessels in time Of
war for military service and declared
that not many mouths ago it became
necessary to dispatch a small force
of American troops to Cuba They
were sent under the British flag. The
peaceful and magnificent voyage that
our powerful feet of warships is now
making from the Atlantic to the Pa
cifc would have been impeded, If not
made prohibitive. unless we hal Sc !
cured the shelter Of foreign flags to
carry the necessary coal, he said. !