Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-03-01
TEXT OF NARDENG'S ADDRESS
TO CONGRESS ON GOVERNMENT
AID FCRT. S. MERCHANT ships
0By rHE ASSOCIATED pREss.)


/ the promotion OF sales as for the
ifacilitation Of our purchases. There
| Is not a record in all history of
long maintained eminence in ex-
! port trade, except as the exporting
nations developed their own carry
Ing capacity.
No story of national development
is more fascinating or so full of
romance as that OF developing
capacity for ~. exchanges Of COM
morce. Expanding civilization may
be traced over the avenues of ex-
changing cargoes, No matter how
materiali9tic 1t may sound, nations
rave developed fer themselves and
have influenced the world almost
precisely as they have promoted
their commerce. We need not re-
fer to the armed conflicts which
have been incident thereto. When
commerce has been destroyed, fad
ing glories have attended.
Aspiration Is Nation Wide.
1t will avail nothing to attempt
even the br:elt1. resume of our
own efforts to rc-establish that
American Importance in commerce
carrying on the high seas which
was recorded in the earlier days of
the republic. The aspiration is
nation wide. The conflict between
two schools of political thought
heretofore has defeated all efforts
to employ the governmental aid
which other nations found advan-
tageous, while we held aloof, and
the terms subsidy" and "subven-
ton" were made more OF less hate
full to the American public. But
the nation wide desire to restore
our merchant marine has out
lived all defeats and every costly
failure.
Eight years ago the aspiration
found expression in a movement TO
have the government sponsor an en-
tcrprise in which individual genius
seemingly had failed. 1t would be
difficult correctly to appraise the
policy, because the world war put an
end to all normal activities before We
ships, and we enlarged old yards
and established new ones without
counting the cost. We builded
madly, extravagantly, impractical
ly, and yet miraculously, but we
met pressing need and perform
ed great service.
A people Indifferent to the vital
necessity of a merchant marine to
the national defense ungrudgingly
at five times the Ccst of
normal construction and approprl-
lted billions where millions had
)een denied before we acquired vast
tonnage. Some of it. much of it,
IS suited to the peace service of eX-
banded commerce. Some of it, |
much of it, may be charged to the |
errors and eXtravagances Ct war |
line anxiety and haste. The war |
program and that completion OF |
contracts which followed gave us |
more than 12,00O,000 |
gross tonnage, not counting the |
oily of the wood construction at a
otal outlay of approximately three |
md one half billions of dollars.
We Have the Vessels.
We became possessed of the ves- |
iels of a great merchant marine; |
title of it was built for the speed |
which gives the coveted class to |
service. But here was |
'ast tonnage for cargo service, and |
he government, in the exceptional |
all of commerce which immedi- /
Itely followed the war, sought the /,
establishment of shipping lines in |
very direction calculated to en-
ance our foreign trade and further |
ement our friendly relations.
The movement lacked in most !
,ases that inherent essential to |
success which is found in individ- !
lal initiative. 1t was rather |
government experiment, where
ines were established In high hope
md little assurance, because the
public treasury was to bear the |
/ forebear the detailed |
ecital. The misadventure was so
that when the present
administration came into respon-
Utility the losses were approx
nately $16,000,0O0 n month. and
o the cost of failure was added
he humiliation of ships libeled in
oreign ports.
In spite of all the later losses
n operation, however, 1t Is quite
'eyond question that our abund-
nee of American tonnage was
mainly responsible for our ability
o share in the good fortunes of
World trade during the two years
following the war. In
II probability the losses we have
ustained in our shipping activities
ere fully compensated to the
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