Evening star., 1922-11-21
The Presidents Address.

II will be exceedingly difficult for
the opponents of government aid to
american shipping to get away from
the logic and hardheaded business
sense of President Harding's address
today before the Jointly assembled
houses of Congress. He punctured ef-
fectivcly the "hogey man. Cry that
the Treasury is to be raided, and
showed SO conclusively that the meas
ure he advocates is designed to lessen
the present Treasury drain that 1t
would be Il bold and reckless opponent
xno would drag out that argument
again.
The President did well to cOniine
hts.self to the practical, the dollars
and cents. side of the discussion. The
sentimental side. the patriotic and in
spirational side, is one to stir mems
blood and make them dream dreams
and sea visions. But opposition to
the upbuildinS of an American mer-
chant marine does not direct its at
tack at this side of the undertaking.
Its stock argument is that a time
when the greatest need is for reduc-
ton of taxation is no time to think
Of paying out the peoples money as
subsidy to shipping. 1t is this form
Of attack which the President meets
ana puts to rout. 1t is costing the gov
ernment $50. 0.OOO. 900 year to main
tain the merchant marine on its pres
cnt basis and that basis is neither an
efficient nor d constructive one. He
proposes to put it on basis which
will be both efficient and constructive.
and to do it for about half what the
present method costs. If that consti-
tutes raid on the Treasury" it is
pity the Treasury is not more often
raided in the same way.
Three courses, the President told
Congress. are open. and choice must
he made among them. The first is
constructive, to enact the pending bill
and under it build up a privately
owned merchant marine, to serve the
people in peace and be available to the
government in time of war. The sec
md is obstructive, to continue gov
ernment operation, with its enormous
losses and disbursement to private
enterprise, until the time of colossal
failure comes inevitably. The third
plan would be destructive, to scrap our
three-bllion dollar fleet and admit our
inability to compete with the other
maritime nations of the world
With these alternatives driven home
to them, it does not seem possible that
the American people could hesitate in
making choice. The one thing needed
Is understanding, and the President
has opened the way to understanding.
If the word Subsidy" could be elimi-
sition to the governments program,
hut upon the theory that payments
under any other name would be as OBJ
;ectionable, the President does not at
reminds Congress that the payment
of subsidies is nothing new in our his
tory. We have paid them for river
and harbor improvements, for public
mental railways which made possible
building up the great agricultural
west. whence comes the strongest op-
position to the proposed aid to Ameri-
can shipping. In other ways special
interests. and particularly agricultural
interests, are being helped through
the expenditure of money collected
from all the people; and all the people
approve of these expenditures because
they know that. directly or indirectly,
all the people will benefit from them.
And thus is emphasize the illogic of
inland opposition to upbuilding of the
merchant marine. which just as surely
will benefit all the people as all the
people have been benefited by elimina-
ton of wheat rust, the stamping out
of foot and mouth disease among cat
tie or suppression of the cotton boil
Weevil
The seaport cities helped to pay for
these things without protest, because
they We're national-minded and knew
the agricultural sections could not be
benefited without benefit coming to
them. The President suggested that
the agricultural sections. if equally
national-minded today. will recognize
that the maintenance Of our flag on
the high seas Is as much to their con-
Germ as it is to the concern of the sea-
board states.