The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1922-04-20

cumstances were grudgingly paid by
us because We could do nothing else.
We were not independent; we were
in a vassalage of our own supine crea,
ton.
This ~vassalage, continuing through
a full century Of time, has cost our
people ar unimaginable sum Of money,
which has been paid out of our own
pockets into the pockets Of others
for doing for us what we might well
have done for ourselves. During this
period we have paid to foreign ocean
carriers for taking our goods to mar
ket a sum equivalent to more than
$2S for every minute that has elapsed
since the beginning Of the Christian
era. 1t is money that we might well
have kept within the national family
to be used for the development of ma
tional family prosperity and welfare.
Paid to others, it has been tribute
that we have permitted to be levied
upon ourselves because of our negli-
gence and shortsightedness. The full
realization of this did not come to
u people until the harsh alarm Of
wal Smote upon our ears, and the
spectacle Of a world in arms opened
our eyes to the fact that We could not
live in a splendid isolation and still
enjoy the benefits of trade with the
world.
In addition to this awakening, added
to this new knowledge that has come
to us, President Harding's great ambi-
ton will be furthered by the fact that
as a previous president once said
lit is a condition and not a theory
that confronts u.s." Hastily and with
characteristic and feverish energy, at
a great and excessive cost owing to
the dire nature Of the emergency, we
brought a great fleet of merchant ships
into existence. The total cost of that
fleet was in the neighborhood of three
and one-half billions of dollars. Today
a portion Of that fleet is in operation
at a loss-either by the United
oIotOo oAipPih6 DOdlu VI uIloCl pr
vate ownership or operation. The
rest is lying idle, earning nothing,
growing older and ~deteriorating, while
we continue to pay this vast tribute
to foreign ships for performing the
service our WI ships were built to
perform. The monthly loss on Oper-
alton of that part of our fleet that is
in use, and for upkeep of that larger
lion dollars a month, or M hundred
and ninety-two millions Of dollars an
nually.
BY no legislative legerdemain can
we ever recover the wal cost Of this
fleet, but it's total loss is not a nee
essity nor is it's continued idleness
inevitable. Under the pending legis-
lation that embodies President Hard
ing's idea of the realization Of his
great ambition, a salvage of about 20
per cent-or seven hundred millions
Of dollars-will be made possible
through the sale Of these ships to pri-
vate owners at prices that will place
them upon a parity as to the first cost
with the foreign competitors. By so
doing, and by taking these ships from
idleness and placing them in useful
and profitable service, the monthly
loss Of sixteen million dollars will be
wiped out. In place of which it is
proposed to grant direct aids to these
ships engaged in defending our COM
merce on the trade routes Of the world
that may amount to as much as thirty
four million dollars a year in subven-
tions. The total cost per year for all
aids is estimated at from thirty to
fifty million dollars, and cannot ex-
coed the latter amount. This in place
of a present annual loss Of n hun
dred and ninety-two million and a
frozen credit" of seven hundred mil
lion. The indirect aids will have their
reflex directly upon every farm and
industry in the United States.