The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1910-05-26

D9cided head1av toward auniiorla
saIes Contract, and approval d the
movement for shipping subventlons,
are tne rTO mot notable items d
business traIsacted Ehicn TIC Amerl-
ran cotton Manufacturer AssOcia-
ton IeaTe= On record, The manu!ae-
tUrerz eho3 their pTogTezsive thought
In each instance. with regard 70
ship su5-idy they had gone Oh record
beslre. Now they TEafirTn their for
Loer action. unanimously and FL
dramatically.
To 10 other r0en = the ned ri
American ships in competition With
the s1bsidized and esta bll=Be1 marine
~ foreign nations quite ~ TiTidiy
apparent AZ u cotton manufacturers.
They ned foreign trade badly-at
present almost tElT-and get
they lack tie facilities without which
foreign trade cannot " conducted
ezceJt AZ al almost hopeless de
Advantage, TneF ask tEe govern
Tnent - put them upon something
Ike al equal footing with competing
nations. II there were no other il
tere-s concerned. the South should
stand iOr ship subsidy. A. il l., not
only the interests entwined with this
oue-xhich are all Southern interests,
more Or le=s-but practically every
important interest in the country
ha= something az stake. We cannot
export competitive articles Success
fully unless we qualify for the cCnpe-
tiriOn. Nations which send ships u
draw upon our great but decreasing
wealth u raw material send none n
draw upon products competing
with their own. At present several
countries which have us for their
heaviest buyer take from " hardly
anything. We get Brazil's coffee By
way of Liverpool and Hamburg, in,
cidentallv paying an increased price
but by way Of Liverpool and Ham.
burg our cotton goods cannot traveI
AT all.
There Is another and highly impOr
| tant aspect TO this matter. II wae
noted in the resolutions presented b.
| Mr. Taurus LOOMS that the Ameri
can battleship feet witch recently
| iOurneyed around the world never
Jaw an American merchant flag
This feet was cOaled and supplied b.
ships fying the flags Oiother nations
In var not one Of these vessels would
| be available. Neither could We get
! the ships necessary az transports in
/ q var with any strong power. VIZ
| spend some three hundred millions
| annually Oh our navy and army, not
/ including pensions, and yet for ZACH
J Of au1iliaries both are enOrTnOugly
weakened. Neither have We the sea
men whom a merchant marine would
make available For lack OF few
millions many millions serve their
purpose very imperiectly and the
country is exposed in danger.
But for misguided and usually reck
less and uniformed assertions that
the agitation for ship subsidy is {
| graft scheme the country would now
be entering anew upon competitive
! trade among the nations. As {
matter Of easily demOnstrable fact
! nothing could lend itself to graft les
than ship subsidy. The service anC
the compensation can be measured
| with entire eXactness. Where ar tn
ship subsidy scandals Of England
! Germany, France or Japan? We Dc
not believe that prejudice, misinfor
nation, inertia and the activity 0
foreign shipping interests, which nov
collect three hundred millions annallI
from Us while letting the business
which their subsidy-payers disap-
prove go undOne can much longe1
keep the American public's eye blind
ed TO its real interests.