The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-12-28
NEGLECTED MERCHANT MARINE.

MERCHANT MARINE.
The Merchant Marine committee OF
the national foreign trade committee,
in new pamphlet. aptly says:
"A sound national policy per-
hitting and encouraging the
steady development of American
shipping in the foreign trade OF
the United States, is rendered
difficult by the public's lack of
knowledge of the fundamentals Of
ocean transportation When all
the states touched upon the ocean,
or had easy access to it through
navtgable rivers, questions of
maritime navigation were readily
understood by the whole nation.
Later the gradual development of
the great inland regions offered
native capital possibilities far
greater than those of the maritime
trade and this, coupled with other
reasons, eventually led to the al
most complete withdrawal of this
nation from participation in the
pursuit OF ocean navigation. In
the meantime our foreign COM
merce increased enormously, but
the carriage of sea-borne traffic
was largely abandoned to the ship
ping Of Great Britain. Norway,
Germany, France and other coun-
tries"
Which causes the Los Angeles
Times to say: Since the outbreak Of
the European war the situation has
been complicated by the reduction OF
rs per cent of the worlds tonnage
through destruction wrought by sub
marines and by mobilization and inn
pressment of vessels for government
purposes. When the --ar ceases these
vessels will be restored to traffic and
lean capital to hesitate in embarking
in shipbuilding and ship-owning.
The sea has ever been the great
highway of the world at runneth the
earth's wide regions ronnd" 1t needs
no repairs; it levies no tolls on those
who travel upon it, and its free use
Is the natural right of all nations and
all men. ;.
This natural and indefensible right
has not come down into the twentieth
century without obstructi-ns and de-
malls. Since the days when the gall
leys Of Caesar claimed the possession
Of the seas and the monopoly of mari
time commerce nation after nation has
claimed the right to rule the waves"
Less than three hundred years ago
who was accorded the
position of being the greatest law
writer OF his day, held that a nation
may cede the sea to another in the
same manner as 1t has ceded land,
and while this absurd claim has not
for many years been formally assert
ed, nation after nation-especiaIly
Great Britain-has endeavored to i'm
pose restrictions on navigation by
means of artificial barriers designed
to impede the free prosecution of I'm
tercourse by sea. and the great war
now raging In Europe has been pro-
life OF British orders OF council" and
German DEGREES of state" directing
Of principles of international
law and disregard Of treaties the OBJ
pect of which was to secure command
Of the seas. The most marked of
these is the assumption of right to
blockade the open seas, to seize and
search neutral ship in midocean and
to create a war zone within which
all vessels of whatever nationality
we're liable to unconditional destruc-
ton
There was time when war vessels
in trade and merchant yes
sells were armed. After the destruc-
ton of the Spanish Armada these
functions began to be separated and,
with the advent OF steam. in the early
part of the nineteenth century, iron
vessels began to heat foaming paths
through the ocean. The discovery OF
gold in California for time stimulat-
ed the building and use of clipper
ships, but these ocean racers have long
since been rotting in New England
harbors. Naval architecture has also
changed, for where unrestricted
1raught of water was attainable, 1t
was found that large vessel could
carry her cargo more economically
than a small vessel and her owners
could therefore charge less freight.
Great Britain leads the world in her
ocean fleet having 49,
235.703 tons. Germany comes next
with i,419,1G7 tons, and the tonnage
Of any other nation is less than 2,000,-
which has 4,S54.47S tons. but the
greater part Of this is lake and river
tonnage On the Atlantic ocean our
shirs carry only a small portion Of our
own freight, and on the Pacific ocean
the operations of the LaFollette bill
have driven our trade with the orient
to Japanese bottoms. without going
back hundred years. when we were
a formidable rival of Britain as a sea
power but iimitinr cOmnarisous IN a