Evening star., 1914-08-22
The National Government.

This IS from The Stars news columns
of Friday
The program of the administration re-
garding the ocean traffic. which has been
interfered with by the European war. is
shaping itself very clearly. with the eS-
ception that the naval affairs committee
of the House seems to have found 4
snarl that may prevent the House from
voting heavy majority in favor of the
merchant marine bill.
THE bill to allow foreign vessels to en-
ter American registry and become Ameri-
can ships was the first step; the war
risk insurance bureau in the Treasury
Department was the second STEP If
those measures do not tempt American
shipbuilders and capitalists to regain
American supremacy on the seas, then
the governments ship-buyfng plan may
have to be put in operation.
"Isn't that a radical move? an old
time democrat was asked today.
Yes; but we've had to swallow a lot
of things lately that we always said were
bad for u.s. said he
Here is a man with the courage OF
his condition. Asked to choose between
theories he has been cherishing and ad-
vocating for years. and necessities sud
denly produced by the great war, he sur
renders his theories. Any port in storm.
4 storm Is raging. and may increase in
violence and continue for long time.
We are not as yet directly in its track.
but most uncomfortably near. If the
wind shifts, who may say what the effect
on US may be?
Truly have some political leaders been
swallowing lot Of things lately. Their
gullets are greatly enlarged. Nearly any
thing could go down now.
The performance did not begin with the
war. For nearly eighteen months it has
been going on. Tariff theories and prom
ises have disappeared-have gone down
about protection and the high cost of
living? What rhetorical extravagances
were committed in that name!
Where. too. the gibes now about big
business? Whose views are more i'm
portant or more welcome today at the
seat of government than those of our
captains Of industry-bankers. manufac-
turers. and general investors? Who Is
proposing to put them in stripes. with
or without a trial?
Who stands on the housetops splitting
the air with vociferations that "the best
government Is that which governs least? !?
Who Is not advocating measures which
call for the unprecedented exercise of all
the strength the national government pos
sesses? Who does not want that strength
increased if necessary to protect Ameri-
can interests in the present emergency?
Who doubts that If our difficulties grow
the means to meet them will be pro-
vided?
Hamiltonians and Jeffersonians are
working together today on a Hamiltonian
basis. All recognize the inestimable value
of strong-the strongest-central gov
ernment-a government which stands for
something both at home and abroad Ask
the cotton planter, the tobacco grower,
the corn or wheat producer Ask the
friends of a merchant marine, suddenly
increased in numbers beyond calculation.
If that gifted man of Scotch extraction
one Alexander Hamilton-is taking the
same interest as shade in the Elysian
Fields in American affairs that he took
while on earth active in the flesh. he is In
a very comfortable frame of mind today
He did not foresee this particular strair
on US. but he did foresee, and foretold
that the larger we grew the greater woulG
be our need of central power and Its
exercise.