The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-06-02
The Country Needs Ships.
(By John Erskine of the Vigilants
The country needs ships.

The country needs ships.
How great the need is at the pres
ent moment, most citizens are begin
ming to realize. Unless vessels can be
provided Immediately, in a space of
time almost miraculously short.
whether or not the war lasts we shall
feel the pinch Of hunger and the ut
most inconvenience in other directions.
The average man in all countries is
now awake to the fact that there are
not enough ships for the world !,
needs.
| 1t is not so clear to all of US. how
ever, that we have needed ships for
some time, and that after the imme-
diate danger is past we shall still need
steady encouragement of shipping
interest.
The fact that it costs more for the
United States to undertake its own
shipping than to employ the vessels of
other nations ought not to count in
any thoughtful consideration of this
problem. If the commerce between
nations is only n matter Of the ledger,
then no doubt it would be cheaper for
us to let any nation that can carry our
goods for us; but commerce., whether
we wish it or not, is more than dol
lars and cents
The ships that go to foreign ports
are in some sense ambassadors of the
nome country, conveying inevitable
impressions as to the character of
the people who sent them forth, and
bringing back certain inevitable I'M
pressions of the nations which they
visit. If the United States is to de-
velop relations with South America,
we can hardly hope to impress the
great republics in that part of the
world with our imaginative vision or
with any sense Of our enterprise so
| long as our goods reach them IN
ships carrying q flag not ours. 1t
might we'll be argued without fear
! of too great subtlety that a large part
of the Indifference on the part of Eu-
| rope toward the United States, one
| might even say large part Of the
| contempt in which many Europeans
hold us, has been induced by the alb
sence Of our shipping from European
waters. Germany and England have
done our work for us in this field, and
| the conviction which they must have
| that they are more enterprising than
we, is at least in this one respect
entirely justified.
| Whatever subsidy on the part of the
| national government is necessary to
enable the United States to do it's share
of the shipping of the world, should
be regarded as an investment to pro-
mote international understanding and
to secure for us a fair representation
in that international public opinion
which in the end passes judgment up
|
our own. We must spend the money;
we must put to sea as many vessels as
our utmost enterprise can build.
| These considerations apply only to
the merchant marine; yet when the
nation is about to build warships as
/ we'll as common carriers, it would be
wise to make even the warships bear
their part in promoting the mutual
understanding of nations in time of
peace.
Why should not the fast cruisers
which the government will probab-
ly build be so designated as to serve
as mail carriers in time of peace?
Why should we not have eventual
ly an express service Of mail ships
leaving the New York harbor daily
for London, for France, for Germany? {?
| These ships, sailing at frequent in
| tcrvalS would automatically guard the
great sea lanes; they would give the
personnel Of the navy constant prac-
tice in actual service; they would he
a witness Of our desire for internat-
ional sympathy and understanding;
and in time of war they would be i'm
mediately available as effective bat
tleships. They would help to dignity
and elevate the ideal of commerce.
TO exchange commodities between
nations, to exchange information, TO
exchange courtesies, may we'll consti-
tute the prime business of the mer-
chant who regards himself in his prop
er light as private ambassador to
the stranger, and as a purveyor of in
! formation as we'll as Of comforts to
his neighbOrs at home.