Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-21

farmer people with home tastes and
home trade The child has outgrown
the jacket and the knickerbockers and
must now be dressed in the garments
of man. The little shop has become
the department store, the garden patch
has yielded place to vast ranches, the
pony post has been superseded by the
fast mail, and the marconigram is be-
coming a necessity rather than lux
ury.
Ships of Steel Rule
The packet ship, the frigate, the
wooden ship, all did faithful service in
the earlier days, but today the country
needs ships of steel that can sail in
all seas and float our flag in every
wind that blows.
California, as you have learned. has a
climate of which it is justly proud. The
Lord has blessed it with sunshine ana
flowers and with soil capable of pro-
ducing fruit for the world. 1t has also
it's great oil fields so that today much
of their product is shipped to South
Al erica, to China and to Japan. Our
Pacific states have a long coast line
in dangerous proximity to any eastern
foe. 1t has become important to reach
the Pacific coast by water in the short
est time, and thus the crossing of the
isthmus of Panama became to us an
absolute necessity. The Panama canal
so far as trade interests are concerned
is the greatest enterprise which the
western continent has ever undertaken
and will be to us what the Suez canal
has been to the world. 1t will open to
our manufacturers larger possibilities
of trade with the South American re-
publics with which we are naturally
and politically closely associated.
The building of the Panama canal
means a tremendous possibility of
trada both to the east and to the west
of our country. from the South Ameri-
can republic, as well as from the far
off east; 1t means everything to the
Pacific coast both for trade and for
defense.
Must Protect Trade
This bright outlook for our trade is
not without its dangers and it needs
protection, for we have to be prepared
not only against the jealousies of trade
but against the jealousies of nations.
The right of way through the isthmus
of Panama must be maintained and
this requires the presence of a naval
force in close proximity to possible
dangers. Hawaii and Alaska are both
centers of tremendous commercial in
terGST TO us. WI SOIllt nave bCOi
bold enough to say that the center OF
the worlds trade is shifting from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, 1t certainly Is
not extravagant to assert that the
greatest opportunity for trade improve
ment centers itself now in the Paciflc
Our growth and prosperity have as
tonished the world yet while develop
ment has been made in nearly every
line, 1t is not to our credit to have to
chronicle that on the seas we have lost
control of the carrying trade. The
time has come for us to give serious
thought to the merchant marine which,
after all, is really an essential ele-
ment in our world trade ambitions, as
we'll as, in certain circumstances, es-
sential to our protection. Time was
when our merchant marine was
mighty factor in trade. Unfortunately,
1t seems now to belong to ancient his
tory; 1t is largely found in picture
books and museums. Sixteen steam
ships with total of 100000 tonnage,
nine on the Atlantic and seven on the
Pacific, form today our ocean mer-
chant marine, while little Japan has
tonnage of two millions and England
has sixteen millions. A very few of
the GOLFERS that supply our battle
ships with coal belong to us-they are
nearly all Norwegian and English,
and in case of q foreign war we might
be easily crippled in that respect.
Mails In Foreign Ships
Foreign ships with large subsidy
from our government carry our mail
to all sections of the globe; our Ameri-
| can ships carry mail from Europe to
us without any subsidy whatever. For
eign ships carry our people to all parts
of the world and foreign syndicates
reap rich dividends from the pleasure
seeking tendencies of Americans. Less
than 10 per cent of all the freight and
carrying trade on the seas comes in
ships that bear the American nag Our
harbors are dredged that the foreign
merchant marine may carry the goods
| OF foreign nations to us and carry
back our goods to foreign markets. 1t
Is said that we furnish IA per cent Of