Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-21

in order to make up the difference they
had gone out along the line or the
canal and picked up 500 tons of old iron,
parts of the machinery left there by
the French when they tried to cut a
canal If we had a government-oWned
line of steamers on the Paclnc coast
the cargoes discharged at Panama
could have been shipped to New York
and the vessel gone back laden with
proper cargo.
Pacific End Paralyzed
"It is this end of the system that is
paralyzed. This line should be driven from
the field and n government line put on. 1t
would be economy for the transcontinental
railroads to keep this line of steamers ply
ing up and down this coast IL they never
carried a pound of freight, just to keep out
competition.
IVY trip to Panama had been n great les
son to me, and just soon as I could in
troduced a bill into congress for line of
ten steamers. THESE STEAMERS CAN
THAN $4,000, 900. ONE DREADNAUGHr
COSTS THAT MUCH. AND AFTER IT Is
CONSTRUCTED 1T COSTS HUNDREDS OF
THOUSANDS EVERY YEAR TO KEEP 1T
GOING.
1--WE are putting millions upon mil
lions into the construction of a great
navy, and yet it should be source Of
humiliation to us to reflect that in time
of war we could not move it as we
moved our fleet aronud the world last
year To move our fleet we had to
charter English vessels to carry the
coal. In time Of war international law
would prohibit our chartering the yes
sells of foreign nation to be used for
this purpose.
Public Sentiment Appealed To
eIn asking for 10000 900 for a Pacific
line of steamships I am only asking the
government to build one less Dread
naught and give us the money to de-
velop our commercial interests. 1t took
100 years to get to the point where we
could make the cut through Panama,
and it never was done until public sem
timent was aroused and was SO insist
ent that the national congress dared
not do otherwise. I am here to appeal
to the business interests of Los An
geles to help create the public senti-
ment that will give us this steamship
line.
when I introduced this bill in CON
gress I was deluged with telegrams and
resolutions Of civic bodies commencing
the action from every point on the Pa
cifc coast except San Francisco. San
Francisco IS not showing any particu
lar interest in the establishment of tho
government steamers because the only
point on the Pacific coast where the
Pacific Mail Steamship company
TOUGHEST SIS San Francisco.
"When goods are shipped by water
from New York to Los Angeles they
are taken by the Pacific Mail steamers
to San Francisco. and it costs more to
get them to Los Angeles from San
Francisco than it did to get them from
New York to San Francisco. But the
steamers will touch at San
Pedro and every other port on the
Pacific.
"No one small man like McLachlan
san bring this about without strong
public sentiment behind him. The canal
will be completed long before 1915, the
time fixed for its completion, and ii
behooves us to be ready for it. We are
getting our harbOr at San Pedro ready
for this great day. There are seven
teen men on the rivers and harbors
and It is these seventeen
men who apportion the money for the
Improvement of the national water
ways. Los Angeles has a man on this
committee when this money is app'o-
priated, and the fact that the city has
promised to expend $4,000 600 for mu
nicipal wharves and warehouses at san
Pedro will be the strongest argument
I can make when appropriations are toI
be made again. We are sure to get
our share of this money for the devel-
opment of San Pedro harbOr."