The Cordova daily times., 1922-07-06
INTERIOR STATES FAVOR MERCHANT
 MARINE

That Middle West politicians are in error ln assuming that the people of the Middle West are opposed to a ship subsidy was the be- lief of Warren G. Harding when he was a senator from Ohio. He cited some personal observations in support of that belief in an ad- dress to the Senate on August II, 1916 Op- posing the Democratic makeshift for the pur- chase of slips by the government, and favor ing a subsidy plan for the encouragement Of the construction and operation of ships by prl- vate enterprise, Senator Harding said, among other things:
 ''In 1903, some two years after the death of the late William Mckinley, l was inter ested in a campaign in Ohio wherein MT. Hanna, the fate senator from my State, was the most prominent candidate in the cam paion. He had been the personal friend and the associate of William Mckinley, and 1t was perfectly natural to my mind that this great man, in going before the people, interested in the policies that Mckinley had so Iong es- poused, should have made frequent and eN- tended allusion to Mckinley. To my political instincts, however, that was a mistake; and inasnuch as l was travelling with the dlstln- gnished candidate at that time, 1 said to him. Two years after the death of William Me Kin7ev ought to relieve him from being a part of this campaign, and I think you are makino a mistake to use his name so ire ouontlv.' With characteristic franl1ness MT Hanna said, Well, what are you going to talk about if you can not talk abou the tarl11 question and this great apostle whom we all loved so much?" I said, Senator, want you to trp an experiment in Ohio. You are ia miliar with the merchant marine question. I think he was joint sponsor for the Hanna Frye bill. am not sure about that. 1 knew however. that he was familiar with the ques tion. I said, Our people in Ohio are just as much interested in ocean shipping as the peo ple on the seacoast. You discuss this question that has been interesting American states men for so many years, and tell the people of Ohio the plain truth about it, and you will find a responsive interest,"
 'rThe next engagement of our speaking az gregation was in a country district where mainly farmers were assembled on the county fairoround, and Mr. Hanna, with characterls tic energy and that marked understanding which he possessed in relation to any subject in which he was interested, started out anc made a speech of 45 minutes devoted eXclus
  I never saw an audience whose attention was more riveted, an audience that made more willing response. So keen and wise and dls eliminating politician as MT. Hanna never omitted in a subsequent speech in that cam paign a discussion of the American merchant marine; and I have the conviction that Il that great man had lived, he would have len1 his energies and his influence to the establish ment, through legislative action, of measure upbuilding our American merchant marine
 "I have only alluded to this to show the popular interest in this question:; and yet 1t is true that statesmen from the Middle West frightened by the cry of subsidy, which has been shouted from the other side of this cham Der from the time when memory runneth moi to the contrary, have yielded, lest their people imagine that they were doing something fol the promotion of special and favored in terests.''