Evening star., 1915-01-22
Speakers at National Conven-
ton on Foreign Trade Con-
denim Proposed Law.
AN UNWlSE EXPERIMENT,
JAMES ]. HILL DECLARES
Predicts the Total Destruction Of
Private Shipping Interests
Under Its Operation.

ST. LOUIS, Mo-, January 22.-Two
subjects practically monopoliZed the
attention of the national convention on
foreign trade at its session today-the
American Merchant Marine" and
Commercial Education for Foreign
Trade"
The delegates awaited with interest
the address Of James ]. Hill of st. Paul,
who opposed the shipping bill now
pending In Congress. The bill also was
opposed by Welding Ring of New YORK.
The matter of education for foreign
trade was presented by Prof. Edwin T.
Say. dean of the graduate school OF
business administration of Harvard
University. Among those who took
part in the discussion on this topic
we're Prof. J. W. jerks of Cornell Uni
versity. Prof. G. L. Swiggett of the
University of Tennessee and w. D.
Simmons of st. Louis and Philadel-
phia.
Adjournment was expected this aft
ernoon.
Freedom of Foreign Trade.
James ]. Hill in a paper on Freedom
for Our Foreign Trade" said the in
dispensable" condition for such freedom
was adequate ocean carriage in Amer
lean ships. To buy service by big sub
sides was, he declared, a losing game.
The need of merchant ships in Amer
ica was almost as great as that OF 9TH
er nations for munitions of war.
Mr.. Hill did not attend the convention
and his paper was read by j. Louis
Schaefer of New York.
in the month of November" he said.
fhan f~n ttaV H<~fn ~ ay orlF
were s12.0O0.000 more than the year
before. There was an increase of about
800 per cent in the exports Of food
products The foreign demand must
increase in direct ratio with the ex-
haustion of supplies in warning ma
tions. How are these goods. which we
desire to sell and others are anxious to
buy. to be carried to the oversee mar
kets?
Such a slight relief as was afforded
by the wise removal of the prohibition
Of registry for foreign-built vessels has
been given. 1t is hardly drop in the
bucket. Up to the week ending De-
cember 2S. 1914, American registry has
been granted to 105 vessels heretofore
operated under foreign control. aggre-
eating 373.S40 gross tons. This Is not
enough to prevent present congestion
and holds out little hope for the sup
ply Of further needs.
Higher Cost of Construction.
American cost of ship-construction
is from SO to 100 per cent higher than
that abroad. and according to a re-
ported statement of Capt Robert Dol
lar, who operated ships in both do
mestic and foreign trade. it costs about
s17.23S more a year to operate ship
of 5000 tons under the American than
under the British flag. These are the
disadvantages under which our foreign
trade labors.
There are but two resources-one a
merchant marine owned and operated
by the government; the other a mer-
chant marine provided by and for the
people.
The former. just now urgently ad-
Vocated, Is an unwise-and would be
certainly disastrous-experime
Aside from the complications almost
certain to drag us sooner or later into
the European conflict owing to the un-
certain and conflicting claims of ma
tional neutrality, this policy would be
followed by the total destruction of the
private shipping interest. Private en-
terprise cannot possibly compete with
a government which pays no interest
on the cost Of its ships and throws
aside considerations of profit and loss.
What is the prospect, in this case,
of economical management, and of
those lower rates which the advocates
Of the plan hold out as a bait for it's
adoption? We have an exact measure
of the fact In some comparative rail-
road statistics. The Panama railway
is entirely owned and operated by the
United States. Like most affairs on
the isthmus 1t has been handled by
honest and competent men in their
several lines. We have its official re-
port for the year ended June 80, 1913,
to be compared with the statistics of
all the railways of the United States
for the same period. The rate on the
Panama line was 3.4S cents per ton
mile. as against .726s of a cent for all
the railways of the United States
That is. the government rate was al
most five times the rate made by
private enterprise over the entire
country.
Request for Maritime Legislation.
"At the international trade confer
ence of the Mississippi valley and CEN
trail west. which met at Memphis last
November, the following resolution
was reported:
Resolved, That Congress be urged
TO enact maritime legislation looking
toward placing the American shippers
and shipowners upon basis more
nearl~ equal with those of competing
nations. thereby enabling American ex-
porters and shipowners to meet the
competition Of other nations in the
ocean carrying trade.
Not more nearly equal but 'abso-
lutely equal should be the require
Inent of American ability and American
pride-an equality secured neither by
such protection as is accorded to the
weak or by gift money in the form of
Il subsidy. but q privilege offered to
the strong that he may conquer what
is his by right. That is the key to an
ample provision of American ships.
There is the necessary condition of that
expansion in our foreign commerce
which we all know to be possible and
which will be lost or won according
10 our wisdom or our folly"
Nation Is Determined.
one week Of the European war did more
than ten years of academic discussi or