The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-07-26
Ralph FaxOn, in Topeka Today,
Tells of Nations Trade.
British and Japs Competing for
American Commerce.
THE MIDWEST is Indifferent
Former Kansan Speaks of
Necessity for Activity.
Kansas Should Favor Merchant
Marine Plan.

With British propaganda against its
{ restoration. with Japanese covetous
eye cast upon South American trade,
s with industrial warfare. impending
primary, hot weather, and dull indif-
ference in the Midwest" the move
ment to restore the American mer-
! chant ships to the seas seems to be
having a hard time.
5 But a man came along last night to
try to arouse some interest in the sub
Ject- He was an old Kansan, a former
newspaperman and reporter on The
State Journal. a former congressional
secretary, and now a commercial or
ganization secretary. He was r. H.
Faxon. secretary of the Mississippi
Valley association, a federation of
commercial organizations and interests
! with which Topeka is fairly familiar
because OF its work in attempting to
rectify certain economic maladjust-
J ments in this part of the country.
why shouldn't Kansas be for the
-merchant marine" asked Mr.. Faxon.
1t is the second premier agricultural
+ producing state of the country.> 1t is
an integral part of the Mississippi val
ley which has of recent years been
declaring certain economic indepen-
dence of eastern interests. 1t has TO
market this great agricultural pro-
4 duction. Marketing is no easy job.
: especially in recent years. Anything
I that helps it, even tho temporarily
and artificially, should be welcomed.
The merchant marine is the de-
5 livery-wagon of commerce. Foreign
trade is the disposal of the surplusage
Z of agricultural and industrial produc-
ton over domestic consumption.
/ Whether that disposal is profitable or
not means the prosperity of this Sec
! ton. Merchant marine helps stabilize
I the market. helps fix the prices,
T makes orderly and regular the mar
8 keting and trade processes. That's a
3 good reason in itself for the re-estab-
! lishment of an American merchant
marine
Our War Time Ships.
I'VE built during war four billion
. dollars worth of ships. More than
two and one-half billion dollars worth
of them are seaworthy- Some of them
are in use now, being allocated to ship
owners. Many are tied up at the
docks and will rot if they stay there
There were $500 of these ships in the
! first place. Six hundred of them are
: in use. The tonnage of those in use
is two million. But the rest are not
in use, and they should be.
The present ship subsidy bill pro- |
poses a fair and reasonable system of
requirement by ship operators of
100 per cent to the government on
what they cost. But it VIII be a pretty |
: fair sum of money after all, and that |
much more than if the ship rot at the |
Z docks as they threaten now to do.
Z The bill also provides for a sub
Z sidy of from one-half to two and six |
-tenths cents per ton per hundred miles |
Z based on speed and distance, this /
. amount being paid to ship operators
until they shall be reaching a certain |
percentage of profit on the business, |
: when the subsidy automatically |
ceases 1t isn't a graft; it is just a |
( little encoura cement to the men who |
have made it their business to know !
how to run ships-and who haven't |
had much of a chance lately. OF
course we have an indirect subsidy !
fifty millions for operating deficit The
direct subsidy will cost only thirty
millions
Pathways of Commerce.
There are certain trade routes al
ready established. Many of them pro-
.ceed from our Southern ports-the |
ports with which the upper Mississ-
ippi valley does business, like Calves
ston and New Orleans These trade
4routes are pathways of commerce. just
like improved highways out of Tope
ka. This system is preserved under
the bill.
= Great Britain seems to feel it has
"a God-given right to the seas 1t is
resisting very strenuously the effort of
american business and agriculture to
put our own ships back on the seas.
1t is starting propaganda in its big
Journals in its boards of trade, in it's
ship and political circles. 1t is call
ing on the 'prO-British party in the
United States whatever that is, to
come to the rescue and save Great
Britain and keep American ships out.
Japan got it's navy trimmed in the
recent Washington conference. 1T
went right home and began building a
zmerchant marine. A delegation is now
Jon the way to South America to grab
away from the United States the bust
mess we figured was ours after war.
Japan knows how to act.
THE question is timely. in spite of
sother and worthy distractions at the
7prssent time. 1t is not merely a pa
triotic proposal or merely a supple
ment to the navy in time of defense. |
1t is a big business proposal. and one
in which Kansas and every other agri-
cultural state is interested. The bill
will come up in congress Immediately
: following the reconyening of the
mouse on August ! 5. 1t is a pretty
good time for expressions to members
OF congress-