Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-02-04
PACIFIC ORIENT
TRANSPORTATION
SEATTLE JURIsT TELLS OF COM.
MERCIAL RELATIONS WITH
THE FAR EAST.
FREE HAND NEEDED
Congress Should Not Interfere With
Development-Japan and China
Regard America
Highly.
FREE HAND NEEDED

In a speech recently made before
the Chicago Association of Commerce,
Judge Thomas Burke, OF Seattle.
told Of the great commercial highway
of the west, the Paclfic-Orient steam
ship lines carrying commerce between
America and the Orient To those
unfamiliar with the situation the re.
marks of the noted jurist will be re-
ceived with considerable interest He
recommends free hand in the con-
duct of the trans-Pacific commerce and
suggests that congress and the inte"-
state commerce commission keep
hands Off and lay no stumbling
blocks in the way of the development
of the Pacific-Orient business.
James j. Hill is lauded by the iurist
as the man who was first to begin the
development of the trans Pacific bust
ness In connection with his lines of
railroads
Following are excerpts from the adj
dress of Judge Burke:
An Immense Growth.
Naturally, from it's situation upon
the sea coast, the Pacific Northwest,
inhabited as it is by a commercial peo-
pie, is brought into close commercial
relations with the people Of the Orien..
The Pacific Ocean, which alone sepa-
rates us, is our common frontier. Moth
ing could be more natural than that
commerce should spring up between
the countries served by that great
highway. Owing to conditions that
Wlll-readily occur to you, such as the
sparseness Of population in the Pacific
ND l. IL,
foreign commerce in the countries of
the Orient, 1t was not until the last
ten or twelve years that this trade
rose to international Importance.
1t happened about this time that
there appeared upon the scene most
remarkable man, the most commanding
figure in the business transportation of
this Or any other country, in this or
any other age. l refer, of course, to
James j. Hill. 1t was to his interest,
in connection with the great transcon-
tinental railway which he had then
completed to promote and develop
the commerce between this country
and the Orient
Such has been the growth of our
trade in the last ten years that the
foreign commerce of Puget Sound for
1907 amounted to S69,012,6S1, of which
SAB ,659,30S represented exports and
$25,353, 1877 represented imports. The
total ocean commerce of Seattle alone
for the three calendar years ending
with the close of 1907 was as follows:
For 1905, $114,349,524; 1906, s129,325,
619; 1907, S140,472,357.
Free Hand is Needed.
What is needed at this time is that
the agencies which, with foresight,
persistent effort and many sacrifices
have built up and sustained our COM
merce on the Pacific should be given
a free hand to continue the important
work so well begun. If the govern
ment cannot aid us, it should not need
lesSly get in our way or hamper us:
if congress cannot help us in an i'm
portant and far-reaching commercial
movement like this, not local in its
character but of broad national inter
est, at least it should leave us free to
help ourselves
Our Standing in the Orient.
There never was more opportune
time than this for building up a great
commerce across the Pacific No ma
| ton today stands as we'll with Japan
and China as the United States. In
Japan the feeling of the people in
every walk of life towards America is
that of friendship mingled with affec-
ton and gratitude. Japan looks upon
America as her teacher, and one of
the highest tributes of respect that n
Japanese can pay another is to speak
of him as his teacher. The talk Of
war between Japan and the United
States that we heard year ago was
the cruelest, as we'll as the most
! groundless, report that was ever cir.