The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1914-12-10

up a great traQel II we nave not the
certain and constant means of trans
p~ortation upon which all profitable
and useful commerce depends? And
how are we. to get the ships if we
wait for the trade to develop with
out them?
Would Aid Merchant Marine.
1.-The case is not unlike that which
confronted us when our own contin-
ent was to be opened up to settle
ment and industry, and we neeced
long lines of railway, extended mean
of transportation prepared before
hand, if development was not to lag
intolerably and wait interminably.
We lavishly subsidized the building
of transcontinental railroads. We
look back upon that with regret
now, because the subsidies led to
many scandals of which we are
ashmed; but we know that the rail-
roads had to be built, and If we had
it to do over again we should of
course build them, but in another
way. Therefore I propose another
way of providing the means of trans
%portation, which must precede, not
tardily follow, the development of
our trade with III neighbor states of
America. 1t may seem a reversal
of the natural order of things, but
it is true, that the routes of trade
must be actually ~opened-by many
ships and regular sailings and mod
crate charges-before streams of
merchandise will flow freely and
p%rofitably through them.
"Hence the pending shipping bill,
| discussed Oft tho 1oCt Cacoi0r HIT oc
iyet passed by neithear House. in my
atively needed and can not wisely be
postponed. The Government must
open these gates of trade. and open
them wide; open them before it is
altogether profitable to open them,
or altogether reasonable to ask
private capital to open them at a
venture. 1t is not a question of the
Government monopolizing the field.
1t should take action to make it Ger
tain that transportation at reason
able rates will be promptly provided,
even where the carriage is not at
first profitable; and then, when the
carriage has become sufficiently
profitable to attract and engage
private capital, and engage it in
abundance, the Government ought to
withdraw. / very earnestly hope
that the Congress will be of this opin-
ion, and that both Houses will adopt
this exceedingly important bill.
A Word for Economy.
"The duty of economy is not de-
.batable. 1t is manifest and impera-
tive. In the appropriations we pass
we are spending the money of the
great people whose servants we are,
not our own. We are trustees and
responsible stewards in the spend
ing The only thing debatable and
upon which We should be careful to
make our thought and purpose clear
is the kind of economy demanded of
us. l assert with the greatest con-
ffdence that the people of the Unit
ed States not jealous of the amount
their government costs if they are
ure hat they get what they need
and desire for the outlay, that the
money is being spent for objects of
which they approve, and that it is
being applied with good business
sense and management.
Governments grow, pfecemeal,
both in their tasks and in the, means
by which those tasks are to be per-
formed, and very few governments
organized, I venture to say, as wise
and experienced business men would
organize them if they had a clean
sheet of paper to write upon. Ger
tainly the government of the United
States is not. | think that it is gen
orally agreed that there should be
a systematic reorganization and as
sembling of it's parts SO as to Sc
cure greater efficiency and effect
considerable savings in expense. But
the amount of money saved in that
way would, l believe, though no
doubt considerable in itself, running,
it may be, into the millions, be re-
latively small-small, 1 mean, in
proportion to the total necessary out
lays of the government. 1t would
be thoroughly worth effecting, as
every saving would, great Or small.
Our duty is not altered by the scale
of the saving. But my point is that
the people of the United States do
not wish to curtail the activities of
this government; they wish, rather,
to enlarge them; and with every en-
largement, with the mere growth, in
>deed, of the country itself, there
increase of expense. The sort of
economy we ought to practice may
be erected, and ought to be effected,
by a careful study and assessment of
the tasks to be performed; and the
money spent ought to be made to
yield the best possible returns in eff
f~iciency and achievement. And, like
good stewards, we should so account
for every dollar of our a%ppropria-
tions as to make it perfectly evident
What it was spent for and in what
way it was spent"