The daily progressive-miner. [volume] (Ketchikan, Alaska) 1915-1919, 1918-08-29
CHAIRMAN EDWARD N. HURLEY OF US.
SHIPPING BOARD WRITES PERSONAL LETTER
INVITING NEWSPAPERMEN SUGGESTIONS

we were seaboard nation, with no
great inland industrial centers, and
the West was a wilderness. Today,
these new ships carry even greater
possibilities for inland states and in
dustries than for those on our coasts.
Ships are as important to the Kansas
grain farmer, the Iowa hog raiser, the
Wisconsin dairyman and the Arkan-
land cotton manufactures. or the Pa
cific coast lumberman. They will not
only carry our goods to foreign Gus
toners, but will bring back yaw ma
teriais for our inustries, and commod-
tiles for the consumer. We shall have
not only freight ships, but passenger
liners, to bring customers from other
coun ries to cur markets and-even
mere important, in my opinion-car-
ry alert Americans sightseeing and
Understanding in other lands. The
sea will once more call American
youth, for we shall need thousands of
navigators and hundreds of thousands
of seamen.
l think it especially important to
once more put the sea into the mag
nation of the American boy, Our lit
eIature is rich in the sea adventure of
yesterday. Many an American boy
would go to sea if he knew that there
are new opportunities. Our new mer-
chant marine affords those opportun-
tiles.
, Our navy has, for generation, been
q thoroughly national institution,
drawing many of it's officers and sail
ors from inland states. Our fresh
water sailors on the Great Lakes are
second to none in abili,y, and the
Great Lakes merchant marine, like
American railroads, surpasses those
OF other nations in efficiency and reas-
enable carrying rates.
/ | want to see our new merchant ma
rine occupying the same place in ma
| tional thought and the every day az
fans of all Americans that our Navy
now occupies. | want the whole AM
erican people to think about it as often
and with the same pride. No amount
| CT money or tonnage will maintain
mercantile marine unless we can
back it with American public opinion.
l am a business man, and so this
looks tic me like straight selling
proposition. It is not enough to build
and operate a big merchant marine.
We have got to SELL it to the great
American public and particularly the
farmer and workmen who make up
| the backbone OF this country, and the
boys who must again be brought un-
der the spell of the sea. Selling is
nothing more than making people see
our merchant fleet must be brought
home to Americans everywhere in
terms Of direct benefit
/ Now, you gentlemen direc; the pub
tic opinion of this country Out of the
mass of news which comes to you
daily, local, national and international
i-you discern the dominant issues,
hear your readers silent questions,
marshal the vital facts, and present
them in ways that tell people what
they want to know, and give them the
material for opinion and action.
| believe it will be helpful to you
N your work tc understand what we
are trying to accomplish here through
intelligent public opinion, and that if
you can see the possibilities in our
merchant marine for service, both to
this and other nations. as we see them
here. It will aid you in rendering SER
vice to your public. For this reason,
have ventured to write you, and If
there is any way in which may be
helpful to you, it will be a decided
pleasure to hear from you personally,
for ! am keenly appreciative~o the
service you render to the nation and
the Government.
With personal good wishes, am,
Yours very sincerely,
EDWARD NJ HURLEY
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