The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1911-01-19
NEWS NOTES OF
NATIONS CAPITAL
Especial to the Silver State.)
(By L. j. DYER.)

3
the time has come when an effort
should be put forth to restore the
American flag to the high seas. Sena-
tor Gallinger, who has given this
question exhaustive study, and whose
bill for the encouragement of the mer
chant marine has received very wide
approval, has recently introduced an
amended bill for tie granting of pay
to mail steamships flying the Ameri-
can flag and plying to South American
ports, and to the Isthmus of Panama
from home ports on the Atlantic and
Pacific coasts. cit is pretty generally
conceded, said Senator Gallinger to
your correspondent, "that the most
desirable way to encourage the estab
lishment of new steamship lines is to
pay a reasonable sum for carrying the
mails in fast modern ships, which shall
be available for the use of the govern
ment in time of war. With very
moderate expenditure of money, not
more than $4000,000 a year, some 80
or 40 large steamships, costing from
81 800 900 to $2,000,000 each, would
probably be built and put on routes to
countries such as Argentine, Brazil
and Chile with which we now have
considerable exchange of business, and
with which our trade could be very
largely increased if reasonably good
facilities in the way of mails and
transportation were provided. Thus
far there has been but little opposition
to this plan except in some of the in
land farming communities, where it
has seemd to the people that they
could not derive any interest from
breaking down the foreign shipping
| trust. which naturally enough is
working TO extend the interests of
/ foreign commerce at the expense of
/ this country
The Farmer Would Benefit.
Farmers will benft both directly
and indirectly by the extension of
foreign commerce carried in American
/ bottoms, continued Senator Gallia-
ger "In a general way, anything that
/ benefits one benefits all The east may
possibly benefit more than some other
sections. but on the other hand east
| ern senators did not refuse to give
/ their support to irrigation and con
servation enterprises because they
seemed to be of benefit mainly to the
west We realize that we have to be
broader than that. This country, with
its diversified interests, could not get
/ Legislation at all if we took the ground
/ that only such legislation should be
enacted as would benefit all classes.
But our foreign trade really does bene-
4 fit all If we can increase that trade
we open new markets for the products
of our mills, our shops and our farms.
If some sections seem to benefit direct
ly less than others, thev will benefit
Indirectly. Buster factories mean a
larger consumption of farm produce
and better as well as more stable
prices Moreover, as we adopt better
methods of agriculture our surplus pro-
duets are likely to increase. If we
have good transportation facilities it
will become easier to find a profitable
market to absorb such surplus. That
the farming interests realize this is
indicated, I think, by the decreasing
opposition shown to the extension of
cur foreign trade by Giving reasonable
pay for carrying ocean malls.'
This question was live issue as far
back as 1915 when members of con
gress from southern states urged gov,
eminent appropriations, to pay for car
rying mails, to encourage foreign
trade. As a result three American
steamship lines were established to
Europe, several to the West Indies and
the Isthmus, and from the lsthmus to
California and Oregon. The competi-
tion of these steamships reduced the
freight rate to Europe from about $35
to $50, and the United States had 81
800 tons of ocean steamers as com
pared with Great Britain s 65,92l tons,
the Amerncan steamers being newer,
Il q lly
designed for war purposes. This pros
porous condition of the American
merchant marine continued until the
Civil war when the mail subdivisions
wer discontinued
Courtesy Pays Big Dividends.
Because immigration officials at the
port of Boston injured the dignity and
pride of a Chinese official, boycott
was started in China against American
goods, with the result that American
exports to that country have fallen off
from $50, ,000,0 900 in 1905, to less than
$l5,000,0 900 year at the present time.
The Chinese exclusion law provides
for the admission to this country of
certain privileged classes. namely;
merchants, travellers and students.
People of these classes have expert
enCeu very great annoyance III bSihS
detained at ports of entry because of
defects which are frequently found in
their papers. 1t is reported that an
other boycott is now being put into
effect in China because of complaints
Of Chinese who feel that they have
been humiliated when seeking to enter
this country, OF course there is nc
reason why a Chinese gentleman
should not be treated with as much
courtesy and respect as any other
gentleman, and the secretary of com
merce and labor, after a consultation
with the president, secretary of state
and Congressman Mckinley, of Cali
fornia, has decided that in eases where
members of the privileged classes whe
apply for admission to this country
: have defective papers, they may be
admitted without delay upon filing &
satisfactory bond with the United
States district attorney or District
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