Free trader-journal and Ottawa fair dealer. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1920-1927, 1922-03-01
MERCHANT MARINE
MUST Be GIVEN j. s.
AID, SAYS HARDING
PRESIDENT IN MESSAGE TO CON.
GREss ARGUES FOR SHIP SUB
d slDY AND RECOMMENDS GREAT
LAkEs-sT. LAWRENCE RIVER
WATERWAY PROJECT.

Washington, d. c., March 1.-tBy
A. PD-President Harding Tuesday
made an elaborate appeal to congress
on the necessity for government ale
TO the American merchant marine
He began by reviewing changnl
conditions affecting internationa
shipping laws and reviewed gradu
al decline of American shipping com
pared with the shipping of other ma
tons
1t was the war, he then said, which
suddenly, from an abnormal cause
stimulated the United States to the
building of ships on vast scale
1--WE became possessed" he said
"of great merchant marine. not al
Of ii practical for use in the trans
ocean trades; little of it was built foI
the speed which gives the coveted
class to outstanding service. But
here was vast tonnage for cargo serv
ice; and the government in the eN
ceptional call of commerce which i'm.
mediately followed the war. sought
the establishment of shipping lines
in every direction calculated TO en-
nance our foreign trade and further
cement our freddy relations
The movement lacked in most
cases that inherent essential TO sue.
cess which is found in individual in
itatYe. 1t was rather a government
experiment, where lines were estab.
lished in high hope and little assur.
ance, because the public treasury was
to bear the burden.
There was the mere suggestion Of
private enterprise, inasmuch as allO-
cations and charters were made I'M
der which private management was
to share in profits and private inter
ests were paid to make the expert
ments, though the government was to
bear the losses | forebear the de-
tailed recital The msadventure was
so unfortunate that when the pres
ent administration came into respon-
sibility, the losses were approximate
ly S16,000,000 a month, and to the
cost of failure was added the humili-
alton of ships libeled in foreign ports.
In spite of all the latter losses in
operation, however. it is quite be
yond question that our abundance Gf
American tonnage was mainly re-
sponsible for our ability to share in
the good fortunes of world trade dur
ing the two years Immediately follow
ing the war. In all probability the
losses we have sustained in our ship
ping activities were fully Compensat-
ed to the American people in the say
ing of ocean freights in that period.
To-day we are possessed of vast
tonnage, large and very costly eyper-
lence and the conviction Of failure, 1t
is fair to say that a mistaken policy
was made more difficult by the un-
paralleled slump in shipping which
came late in 1920 and prevailed
throughout the year so recently clos
ed 1t was the inevitable reflex of
the readjustments which follow a
great war, and there We're heavy loss
es in operations which had to be met
by long established and heretofore
successful shipping lines and ships
built at top war costs took the slump
in prices below the normal levels of
peace.
But we have our ships, the sec
Ond largest tonnage in the world, and
we have the aspiration let me say, the
determination to establish mer- |
chant marine commensurate with our
commercial importance.
Our problem is TO turn the ships !
and our experience and aspirations .
into the effective development of an
ocean going shipping service without |
which there can be no assurance OF .
maintained commercial eminence.
without which any future conflict at
arms will send us building again,
wildly and extraVagantly.
"Out Of the story of the making of
great merchant marines and out OF
our own experience we ought to find
the practical solution Happily we
are less provincial than we once were,
happily We have come to know how +
inseparable are our varied interests.
Nobody pretends any longer that
shipping is matter of concern only
to the ports involved. Commerce on
the seas is quite as vital to the great
interior as it is to our coast terri
tory, east, south or west. Shipping
is no more a sectional interest than II
- 30 4S"iNNi = vi. lul lilS. .Nt
one OF them can be prospered alone.
we have had a new manifested
ton of this broadened vision in the II
enthusiasm OF the great middle westfa
for the proposed great lakes-St. Laws
renee waterway, by which it Is in
tended to connect the great lakes
ports with the marts of the world.
There Is far seeing vision in the pro.
posal and this great and ccmmenda.
bic enterprise. deserving your favor ii
able consideration, is inseparable from
great merchant marine.
What, then. is our problem? TN
bring to you the suggestions which
have resulted from comprehensive II
study recommended to me by every
member of the United States shin
ping board. 1t is a program of di- iii
rect and indirect aid to shipping. to
be conducted by private, enterprise
1t is proposed to apply generally the
benefits which it was designed to del
rive from discriminating duties to all \
ships engaged in foreign commerce.
with such limitation on remuneration
as viii challenge every charge of pro.
noting special interests at public}H
cost .-.4
Merchant Marine Fund.
In lieu of discriminating duties on
g,N4fr. l.