New Britain herald., 1914-08-14
COMMUNICATED.
World Ocean Postal Transport
 Service.

World Ocean Postal Transport Editor Herald:-
 In what a plight we find ourselves today-with $40O,0OO,OOO ship canal on our hands and with scarce a shi Q of our own to use it; with thousands of our citizens stranded in warning Europe and hardly a single vessel available to bring them home or for the transport of our foreign mails; with millions of bushels of foodstuffs in our granaries and yet dependent upon private transport spectators for home distribution, and while the for eign shipping upon which we have depended for our ocean service is shut out of use by the war, without practically any machinery-private O.. public-for sending our surplus to starving Europe. Verify, this condi- tion of things is unendurable.
 The world needs system of ocean postal transports, secure from attack under all conditions and the Unite }! States of America now has an oppor- tunity to inaugurate such a world ocean peace service by purchasing the best of the worlds ocean transports now turned out of commission by the war. Yes, and we may we'll invite our sister states. of both the Americas and all other neutral nations to join with us in this great enterprise. ~
 The United States senate has just passed the Weeks bill, "a bill to establish one or more U. S. naval mail lines between the United Sta tes, South America and Europe,' looking to this end, but we submit that this bill, con- fining the new service to a few of ou- existing naval vessels-the secretary of the navy proposes seven war cruisers of an average capacity of twenty male passengers and 150 tons of mail matter, four passenger and freight steamers of an average ca pacity of seventy-five first class and thirty-two steerage passengers of both sexes and Il 1000 cons of freight anu six colliers carrying no passengers and only 5000 tons, the average ship we submit that this proposed service altogether fails to meet the demands of the situation.
 We want a government ocean trans port service that shall cover the com mercial and mail service of all the world and We want the aid of every peace loving nation on this earth in it's extension and development
 We have therefore presented for the consideration of our friends a substitute for~the Weeks bill, pro- viding for the appropriation of money enough to purchase the best of the ex- isting merchant ships that can be se- cured and to construct as many others as in the judgmen- of the secretary of the navy may be needed to meet the present situation and for the SUD- port of this service we have provided that the tolls levied shall be deter mined strictly on the principle of the cost of the service iendered the, tolls freight to be determined by the weight and the space occupied, re- gard1ess of the character of the mat ter transported, and Tor all traffic, regardless of differences of distance traversed within the runs of the var ious vessels.
 The management of this business at Washington is in the hands of Con- gressmen Thomas l.. Reilly of Con- necticut and William J. Mcdonald of Michigan, and we pray our friends to assure these gentlemen of their cordial approval of this proposed les islation. E
 JAMES l.. COWLES, President,
 The World Postal League, 81O Col orado Building, Washington. D. c.