The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-03-02
SHIP SUBSIDY DOPE.
1he k1nd OF Stuff That Shipe Owners
Are Sending Out i'm Interest of Pro-
posed Grab.

erybody's business is nobodv's busi-
ness, and everybody's business is the
government of the United States.
Most men have enough to do with the
government of their families, some
times assisted by recalcitrant wives
and children, but if they are public
spirited, they may turn their atten-
ton to village or county affairs, and
even know something about the af-
fairs of their State, whether it be
Iexas or Rhode Island. But when it
comes to national and international
aHalrs, not one voter in ten is or tries
10 De we'll informed. Nevertheless, this
voter has his say in the most delicate.
multifarious and momentous of ma
tonal and international affairs. IT is
wonderful system, without having
much system about it, and one WON
ders how long it will last. or what
Will be the result of the evolution in
popuar government.
There is continuous discussion i'm
congress with reference to shin sub
sides. The American carving trade
sixty years ago covered all seas. and
the Stars and Stripes could be seen i'm
every port in the warld. The flag at
present is confined exclusively to our
interior and coast trade. Two years
ago when our gattleships circumnavi-
gated the globe. they were supplied
with provisions and coal by foreign
vessels Ex-Secretary of the Treasury
Leslie Shaw has recently made the
startling announcement that Japan is
determined to rule the Pacific or tinge
lts waves with blood, and he has ad-
ded to this statement details as to
now Japan can do it. He says that
we hired twenty-seven foreign ships
to carry supplies for our around the
world battleships, and that one hos
tile shot from any country that owns
cannon would under international
law have sent every one of these
twenty-seven ships home, for no
country can afford to have it's flag in
volved in our quarrels. He further
stated that n 1909 the war DEPART
ment hired over forty foreign ships to
do its work. and that we are sendins
food to the soldiers in the Philippine
Islands in japanese ships. He stated
rurther that japan can put two hum
dred thousand soldiers in Hawaii in
thirty days without firing a shot, and
that 1T would take us two years TO
put one hundred thousand there. The
ex-secretary of the treasury has a
happy faculty of graphic statement
and illustration, and his combination
of arithmetic and rhetoric produce a
vivid impressive and true picture. For
better Or worse, we have become a
nrst-class power and a part of the
international system. This has been
brought about through our Hawaii
and our Philippines. The secure in
sularity once afforded us by the two
great oceans is no longer ours. We
must be able to defend our frontiers.
Hawaii in mid-Pacific and the Philip
pines in Asiastic waters. We cannot
do this without soldiers and ships.
not only warships, but colliers and
commissary ships. How are we to
get sailors and ships when. owing to
our tariff, other nations can build
ships and employ sailors for half the
price that we must pay or in the case
Of Japan, for less than one-fith the
price We must pay AS Mr.. Shaw
says Ihese are not State secrets
Everybody knows them except our
voters. We are building battleships.
and this is we'll, but battleships with
out colliers and transports are abso-
lutely worthless. In case of war we
could not get our Atlantic flee, to
San Francisco. No vessel in the fleet
can carry enough coal to take it,
there. We have no colliers, and could
then hire none" Ex-Secretary Shaw
L.
mill in the United States was to make
powder twenty-four hours per day for )
thirty days, the product would last
our present navy only two hours.
President Taft is advocating a naval
programme calling for the building
of two immense battleships of the rs
thousand ton class each year until
the Panama Canal shall be finished.
This means ten battleships of the
heaviest tonnage and guns. He de.
sires to carry out the Roosevelt big
Stick" policy under the impression
mat the best safeguard againsr war.
Is to be fully armed for it. The Pan.
anna Canal, it is calculated. will he
an IN