The Cairo bulletin., 1910-11-19
STATE AND NATION SHOULD
WORK TOGETHER TO SOLVE
COMMERCE PROBLEM.
AAGEL MAKES A SPEECH
Guest Of Kansas City Business Men
Believes Federal Government
Should Charter Cor
poration3.

Kansas City, Nov 1S.--Active and
rational cooperation aetween tie ma
tonal AMI state arthoiit,es, is a0so-
lutey essential to successful lu-
tion Of the common problems " tn
which they are both confronted
This was the opinion expressed TO-
night by Charles Nagel, secretary of
comerce and labor, in an address, .e
livered at the sixteenth annual ban
qnet Of the Kansas City Comne ciai
Club
He declared himself q believer in
both state and national authority,
saying that he read the constitution
to mean that the integrity Of bota
was guaranteed"
In the practical affairs of life, aow
ever re asserted. substantially no
one adheres to the old loct!ine" OF
restricted power OF the national gov
ernment.
The old restriction upon federal
authority and federal appropriat ons
have been swept away" he said.
Generally in all directions fle old
barrier has broken down and it is
admitted in practice, if rot in plat
form that rational aptnority is abso-
lutely essential to meet national prob
lens as they now present themselves.
If this Is true at home with respect
to domestic affairs ii is infinitely
more true with respect to foreign
affairs"
Mr. Nagel dealt in hls spec W IN
the question Of the re'atlon le etI
national and state authority pafticu
laaly as il pertaiued to commerce. As.
to foreign commerce he declared that
1t was absolutely safe to saw that
only one authority can be consulted
and that Is the national power" AS
20 domestic commerce he said:
80 far we nave practically no com
mercial operations that base their au-
thoHty uron anything brt state au-
thority. The iaconyenience of tnat
system, even in our intel state com
nerce, has been sufficiently demon
strated. am persuaded, for one,
that the conflicts, the Inconsistencies,
and the embarrassments with res
pect to interstate commerce alone are
enough to call for the organ zation
of corporations under federal char
ters.
II am not obliyious to the fact" he
added. that If the national govern
ment does authorize the organiza-
tion OF commercial compan es to be
employed iriN foreign business, these
same organizations may. and per
hap must. by degrees, engage in do
mestic comm cree as well. On the
contrary, | believe this to be an in
evitable result of the first step. But
tnere is no cause for alarm"
He said it would only be repeti-
tion of the story of the national bank,
'rheralded at one time as the enemy
of the state but which has become
a "bus ness mans bank. enjoying
the confidence OF every wage and
town." although in theory the nscal
agent OF the national government.
Commerce IN the United States,
he said, "is not measured by state
boundaries and cannot be success
fully controlled by state authority.
Interstate comerce and traffic have
outgrown the state in every respect.
and the ills from VIII ch we have suf
fored in the past, insofar as they
have been met were believed by the
interposition of national authority"
The secretary declared there ia
pressing necessity for the development
OF foreign conn cree and that I'VE are
proceeding, as it were. oblivious to
it,"
'We speak of the tariff" he con
tinued. ''as though 1t concerned only
the cost to the consumer at home;
and yet we have entered the interna-
tional arena we have entered it po-
ltically and we must mainsain it
commercially. Notwithstanding all
the campaign controversy the free
list has now been increased If that
be the policy we must, of necessity,
make corresponding inroads into for.
egn territory with our products"
This country, he said, was not put
ting forth anywhere near the energy
being expended by foreign countries
in their efforts to gain foreign trade
The one bureau in this country's
government which Is charged with
the promot on OF domestic and for
egn comerce, he added. employs a
force not as large as c.iat which is
employed by one foreign country in
one state Of the United States
There is need also, he said. for the
United States to have its own n.er-
chant marine. Furthermore this mer-
chant marine should be amenable
to the same authority which il en-