Gloucester County Democrat., 1912-08-08

than that of conservation. We have
been spendthrift nation and must
now husband what we have left. We
must do more than that We must de-
velop as well as preserve our water
powers and must add great waterways
to the transportation facilities of the
nation to supplement the railways
within our borders as well as upon the
isthmus We must revive our mer-
chant marine, too, and fill the seas
again with our own fleets. We must
add to, our present postoffice service a
parcels post as complete as that of any
other nation. We must look to the
health Of our people upon every hand
as well as hearten them with justice
and opportunity. This is the construc-
tive work ef government This is the
policy that has a vision and hope and
that looks to serve mankind.
There are many sides to these great
matters. Conservation is easy to gen
eralize about, but hard to particularize
about wisely. Reservation is not the
whole of conservation. The develop
ment of great states must not be staE-
ed Indefinitely to await policy by
which our forests and water powers
can prudently be made use Of Use
and development must go hand in
hand. The policy we adopt must he
progressive negative merely, as if
we did not know what to do
improving Our Rivers.
With regard to the development of
greater and more numerous waterways
and the building up of merchant ma
rine, we must follow great constructive
lines and ne fall back upon the cheap
device of bounties and subsidies. In
the case of the Mississippi river, thai
great central artery of our trade, it is
plain that the federal government must
build and maintain the levees and keep
the great waters in harness for the
general use.
The question of a merchant marine
turns back to the tariff again, to which
all roads seem to lead, and to our reg
istry laws, which, if coupled with the
nave been intended to take the Ames-i-
can flag Off the seas. Bounties are not
necessary if you will but undo some
of the things that have been done.
Without a great merchant marine we
cannot take our rightful place in the
commerce of the world. Merchants
who must depend upon the carriers of
rival mercantile nations to carry their
goods to market are at disadvantage
in internatio trade too manifest tc
need to be pointed out, and our mer
chants will not long suffer themselves,
ought not to suffer themselves es-te
be placed at such a disadvantage. Oul
industries have expanded to- such q
point that they will burst their jackets
if they cannot find a free outlet to the
markets of the world, and they cannot
find such an outlet unless they be
given ships Of their own to carry theil
goods ships that win go the routes
they want them to go-and prefer the
interests of America in their sailing
orders and their equipment Our do
mestic markets no longer suffice. We
need foreign markets. That is an
other force that Is going to break the
tariff down The tariff was once
bulwarlS; now it is dam. For trade
is reciprocal; we cannot sell unless We
also buy.
The very fact that we have at last
taken the Panama canal seriously in
hand and are vigorously pushing it to.
ward completion is eloquent of our re
awakened interest in international
trade We are not building the canal
and pouring out million upon million OF
money upon it's construction merely to
establish water connection between
the two coasts of the continent, i'm
portant and desirable as that may be-
particularly from the point Of view
of naval defense. 1t is meant to be a
great international highway. 1t would
be a little ridiculous If we should build
1t and then have no ships to send
through ii. There have been years
when not single ton of freight pass
ed through the great Suez canal in an
American bottom, SO empty are the
seas Of our ships and seamen.