El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-09-02

A Chat With Secretary Nagel
FRANK q. CARPENTERS LETTER.

for every such working day. These
figures are so great as to be beyond
comprehension but they give one some
idea of our foreign commerce which
is still at its beginning and which is
bound to increase from year to year"
The Marine Business.
your department has much to do
with navigation has it not?"
Yes indeed, we are the friend OF
the mariner. and of all those who travel
by sea. We have number of marine
bureaus. which have come to US from
other departments. We have bureau
of navigation, one Of steamboat in
spection. one OF lighthouses and also
the coast and geodetic survey. You
might not call the latter creative, but
still it gives information as to the ex-
act nature of our coasts for ships all
surveyed even than the land. We know
United States are much more carefully
over the world. The waters of the
the depth and character of every bit
Of sea which washes our shores, and
have made surveys of the rivers to the
head of tide water for ship navigation.
We furnish such maps to sailors. We
also give information as to the tides
and by a recent invention. the coast
is at any port Of the world and at any
hour of the day. For instance, IL you
want to know just how high the tide
will rise this afternoon in the bay of
Chemulpo, on the west coast Of Korea,
this machine will tell you"
How about your lighthouses, are
you putting up new ones?"
Yes, replied the secretary. I'VE are
adding hundreds Of lights and light
houses to the service every year. The
main lights along the Atlantic and Pa
cific were erected long ago, but we
are establishing new lightc and sig
nails between them. We have put up
about SO new lights, is fog signals
and Isl buoys. We are greatly ex-
tending the lighthouse service of Alas
ka, and are building lighthouses there.
We are also putting lights upon the
Yukon and other rivers. We are i'm
proving the lighthouses of Porto Rico
and Hawaii, and we have officers of
the engineer corps of the army who
are inspecting the lights on the Missis-
sippi river and its tributaries.
Our Merchant Marine.
"And then as to the bureau of navi-
CATION continued the secretary 1--WE
are doing what we can to make our
merchant vessels better and to take
care Of the sailors We are inspecting
the steamboats, and insisting that they
be properly equipped with life>saving
appliances.
81 should like to see measures un-
dertaken to increase our merchant
marine. AS it is we have something
like $4,000 vessels with q gross ton
mage of more than 1900 900, but near
ly all this is devoted to our domestic
trade. large part of our shipping be-
ing on the great lakes.
The most of our imports and ex-
ports now come and go in European
bottoms. Last year we carried less than
8 percent of them, and we paid many
millions of dollars in freight to other
nations. Our great European competi-
tors for the commerce Of the world
find that 1t pays them to aid ti.eir
merchant shipping, and I believe that
we should do the same. Theee is a
good deal Of sentiment in commerce.
Notwithstanding all the proverbs to
the contrary. Trade does follow the
flag and the American flag In a for
eign harbor is great advertiser. If
the United States is to hold its own
in the trade of the world IL must have
equal advantages with other nations as
to that trade"
Cheap Fish for the Nation.
Here the secretary spoke of the bu-
reau of fisheries. saying: 81
Another feature OF this department,
connected with the marine,
is the raising of cheap fish for food
for the nation. A few years ago It
was almost impossible to get fresh lob /
sters, or shad, but owing to the pro-
lection afforded and the paintings of
the bureau Of fisheries. they are now
to be found In every large market We
are propagating fish Of many kinds all
over the union. We raise the spawn
and send 1t out to the states, and in
addition do great deal Of planting
ourselves. Our total output of fish
and eggs last year was more than three
billions; and this will be greatly ex-
tended. The commercial fisheries of
the country are now bringing in
product of something like $4,000. 900
a year. and from oysters alone We are
annually getting something like SIG,
ooo, 900. The salmon Of Alaska bring
in $4,000. 900 or 10000, 600, and the
fish which come from the forest waters
furnish a supply Of food which annually
sells for something like 100000.
We are doing great deal for the sal
mon both along the Columbia river