The Holbrook news., 1922-12-01
PLEA IS MADE
 BY PRESIDENT
PLAN MEANS SAVING OF MIL. LIONS YEARLY, PRESIDENT
 TELLS CONGRESS.
URGES SHIP SUBSIDY
GOVERNMENT AID FOR SHIPPING WILL CUT BURDEN, HARD
 ING INSISTS.

Washington, Nov. 21-Enactment of
 the administration merchant marine
 bill was urged upon Congress by Pres
 ident Harding as necessary to relieve
 the government of present staggering
 losses" in operation of war-built mer-
 chant fleet, and to establish a program
 of assured shipping to serve the na-
 tiOn in war and give a guaranty of
 commercial independence in time of
 peace.
 | Personally addressing joint session
 of the House and Senate. the execu- tive declared an actual monetary sav- | ing to the government would result from the proposed law. He challenged | every insinuation of favored interests and the enriching of the special few at the expense of the public treasury. The legislation, he asserted, automat- ically guarded against enrichment or perpetual bestowal.
 If success attend, as we hope it AAC a00CQr lliC Oul- lay is returned, the inspiration of op- portunity to earn remains and Ameri- can transportation by sea is main tained."
 The President said concern about the American merchant marine policy was not limited ito our own domain" adding that the maritime nations of the world 'were in complete accord with the opposition here to the pend- ing measure" He declared those na- tions had q perfect right to sucn an attitude, but that he wished to stress the American viewpoint, which, he said, should be the viewpoint from which one sees American carriers at sea, the dependence of American con- merce and American vessels for Amer ican reliance in the event of war"
 Mir. Harding declared it would be most discouraging if a measure of "such transcending national impor- tance" must have it's fate depend on geographical, occupational, profession al or partisan objection. A commer- cial eminence on the seas and ample agencies for the promotion in carrying of American commerce, he asserted, were of no less importance to the peO- pie of the Mississippi and the Mis- souri valley, the great Northwest and the Rocky Mountain states than to the seaboard states and industrial commu- mites inland.
 Tt is a common cause, with it's ben efits commonly shared" said he.
 If government aid is a fair term to apply to authorizations aggregating S75,O00000 to promote good roads for market highways, the President added, it is equally fit to be applied to the establishment and maintenance of American market highways on the "salted seas."
 AS to present government operation of the Shipping Board fleet Mir. Hard ing said there was the unavoidable task of wiping out a S50,0O0,OO0 an- uual loss, and losses aggregating many hundreds of millions in worn- out, sacrificed or scrapped shipping. He called attention that the govern ment ships were being worn out with out any provision for replacement and that a program of surrender and sacrifice and the liquidation which he declared would be inevitable unless the legislation were enacted would cost scores of billions. The cost of the proposed legislation giving direct aid, he said. with ocean-carrying maintained at the present average | would not reach S2OO00,O year and | the maximum direct aid if American shipping were so promoted that it car ried one-half the nations deep-sea commerce would not exceed S30,OOO,- | 900 annually.
 The President devoted practically | all his message to the subsidy, men, tioning only one other national prob- relief for agriculture. | This and other questions will be dealt | with in his message to the regular ses- Sion which will meet Dec 4