The Concordia sentinel. (Vidalia, Concordia Parish, La.) 1882-current, 1921-12-17

selves and Ii will improve conditions
among our debtors IL funding and the set
| Element Of defaulted interest may be ne
| gotIated.
Merchant Marine.
The previous congress, deeply concerned
| in behalf Of our merchant marine, in
1890 enacted the existing shipping laws,
| designed for the upbuildIng of the Amer
| lean merchant marine. Among other
/ things provided TO encourage our ship
/ ping on the worlds seas, the executive
was directed to give notice of the termi-
| nation OF all existing commercial treaties
in order to admit of feduced duties on
/ imports carried II American bottoms.
| During the life of the act no executive
has complied with this order of the con-
| gress. When the present administration
/ came into responsibility, il began an early
| inquiry into the failure TO execute the
| expressed purpose of the Jones act Only
| one conclusions has been possible. Frank
/ ly, members OF house and senate. eager
| as | am to join you in the making of an
/ American merchant marine commensurate
| with our commerce, the announcement of
| our commercial treaties would involve us
/ In chaos of trade relationships and add
| indescribably to the confusion of the al
| ready disordered commercial world.
| Our power to do so is not disputed but
| power and ships, without comfy of re-
| lationship will not give US the expanded
= trade which is inseparably linked with
| great merchant marine. Moreover, the
| applied reduction of duty, for which the
| y,
| couraged only the carrying of dutiable
| imports to our shores, while the tonnage
| which unfurls our flag on the seas is both
| free and dutiable, and the cargoes which
| make a nation eminent in trade are out
| going rather than incoming.
| 1t Is not my thought TO lay the problem
| in detail before you today. 1t is desiIad
| only to say to you that the executive
| branch of the government, uninluenced
| by the protest of any nation, for none
J has been made, is well convinced that
| your proposal, highly intended and heart
| lily supported here. is so fraught with diff
| ficulties and so marked by tendencies to
| discourage trade expansion that l invite
| your tolerance of noncompliance for a
very few weeks until plan may be pre-
| sented which contemplates no greater
/ draft upon the public treasury and which,
| though yet too crude to offer 1t today,
| gives such promise Of expanding our mer-
chant marine that II will argue its own
| approval. 1t is enough to say today that
| we are so possessed of ships and the
| American intention to establish a mer-
| chant marine is so unalterable, that a
| plan of reimbursement, at no other cost
| than is contemplated in the existing act,
| will appeal to the pride and encourage
the hope of all the American people
Need of Tariff Legislation.
There is before you the completion of
the enactment ofSwhat has been termed a
| permanent" tariff law, the word per
manent" being used to distinguish it from
| the emergency act which is the law to-
| day. l cannot too strongly urge an early
completion of this necessary legislation.
| 1t is needed to stabilize our industry at
| home; 1t is essential to make more definite
! our trade relations abroad. More, it is
| vital to the preservation of many of our
| own industries which contribute so nOta-
| bly, to the very life blood of our nation.
| There is now, and there always will be,
storm of conflicting opinion about any
tariff revision. We can not go far wrong
/ nh. hoe tariff he lou Of
preserving tie productive activities which
enhance employment and add to our ma
tional prosperity.
Must Be Exchange of Trade.
/ Again comes the reminder that we
must not be unmindful of world condi-
/ tions, that peoples are struggling for in
| dustral rehabilitation and that we can
| not dwell in industrial and commercial ex-
! elusion and at the same time do the just
thing in aiding world reconstruction anC
| readjustment. We do not seek a selfish
| aloofness, and we could not pront by II,
/ were it possible. We recognize the ne
| cessity of buying wherever we sell, and
| the permanency of trade lies in its accept
able exchanges We cannot sell to others
! who do not produce, nor can we buy I'M
| less we produce at home.
| Every contemplation magnifes the diff
| Guilty Of tariff legislation, but the neces-
| sity of the revision is magnified with It
| Doubtless we are justified In seeking a
more flexible policy than we have pro-
| vided heretofore. / hope way Will be
found to make for fiexibiity and elias
! ITCHY, so that rates may be adjusted to
| meet unusual and changing conditions
which cannot be accurately anticipated.
| | know of no manner in which to effect
this fexibility other than the extension
| of the powers of the tariff commission,
| so that it, can adapt itself to sctentifG
| and wholly lust administration of the
| law.
Early Determination Needed.
1 am sure about pubic opinion fayoring
the early determination of our tariff
signs of a business revival from the deep
slump which all the world has been ex-
| periencing. Our unemployment, which
| gave us grave concern only few weeks
ago. has grown encouragingly less, and
now assurances and renewed confidence
will attend the congressional declara ton
that american industry will be held Sc
| cure.
Something more than tariff protection
! Is required by American agriculture. To
J the farmer has come the earlier and the
| heavier burdens of REIMBURSEMENT. There is
actual depression in our agricultural in
dustry. while agricultural prosperity is
| absolutely essential to the general pros
perity Of the country.
The base of the pyramid of civilization.
which rests upon the soil, is shrinking
through the drift of population from farm
to city. For a generation we have been
expressing more or less concern about
tnlb tenuenCy. ECONOMISTS nave warned
and statesmen have deplored. We thought
for a time that modern convenienGes and
| the more intimate contact would halt the
movement, but 1t has gone steadily on.
Perhaps only grim necessity will correct
1t, but we ought to find a less drastic
remedy. -s-
Need for Freight HeadJustment.
The existing scheme of adjusting
freight rates has been favoARng the
basing points, until Industries are at
tracted to some centers and repealed
from others. A great volume of I'M
economic and wasteful transportation
has attended, and the cost Increased
accordingly. The grain milling and
meat-packing Industries offer ample
illustration, and the attending concen-
tration is readily apparent. The men,
aces in concentration are not limited
to the retarding influences on agricul-
ture. Manifestly the conditions and
terms of railway transportation ought
not to be permitted to increase this un-
! desirable tendency. We have a just
pride in our great cities. but we shall
find a greater pride in the nation
which has larger distribution of its
population intb the country; where
Comparatively self sufficient smaller
II communities may plant agricultural
and manufacturing Interests IN har-
monious helpfulness and enhanced
good fortune. Such a movement con-
| fam MA M destruction things