The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-11-16
HUMMER ON WORLD TRADE.

,ress summary today in order to give mphasis and due space to the broad minded and Illuminating address of Vice Chairman E. c. Hummer of the United ,tates Shipping Board before the South m Commercial Congress at Atlanta on October 2. The purpose of the congress s the expansion of Pan-American trade relationships, and the address of MT. Hummer clearly discloses how intimately hat purpose is bound up with the success f the American merchant marine.
 A succinct view of the place the mer- hant marine should have in our national program is we'll presented by MT. Plum ner as follows:
 We build and maintain highways, not for any direct revenue which such high ways are expected to pay into the public treasuries, but for the purpose of facili- tating transportation. We maintain our great Coast Guard system at a vast ex- pense to the National Treasury, not with
 the idea of having it pay dividends into the National Treasury, but for the pro-
 lection of water-borne commerce. These
 aids to traffic are recognized as lmpera-
 tive and therefore are created and man. tained Our forefathers realized the ne- cessity of merchant ships, under our. own flag, as essential for the development
 of our own trade. Experience showed us
 in the old days that they were right.
 The experience of other nations engaged
 in international commerce has emphasized
 the same truth. We know now that
 ships under the American flag are abso-
 lutely essential to the development of our
 commercial enterprise-that their pres
 ence tends to maintain reasonable rates
 of transportation between the countries
 they serve, and that therefore they are a
 benefit to all the people and are now
 more than ever needed to insure the con-
 tinued business prosperity of the United
 States. It is only necessary to put
 American ships on parity with thelr
 competitors to recall to the sea service an
 individually owned merchant fleet that
 will insure our producers and consumers
 equal opportunities in all the great marts
 of the world
 How the government is using the war built vessels to prevent our commerce from falling under the dominance of for eign steamship lines and influences is thus described by MT. Hummer:
 The conditions which would make 1t
 possible for private capital to take over
 and operate American merchant ships in
 our international trade are not yet
 existent. More than two-thirds of the
 ships which the people of this country
 built at the command of the government are idle But fortunately Congress has
 seen to it, and will see to it, that a suf- ficient number of ships are kept in opera
 tion by the Shipping Board to prevent
 the foreign commerce of this country
 again becoming dependent upon the grace
 of our oou,potitors in world markets
 The manner in which the Shipping Board has interpreted it's public trust to serve the entire nation equitably witt ships is we'll shown by the fact of its al location of liberal quota of ships to South Atlantic and Gulf ports in order to break up the favoritism certain railroads and foreign steamship lines have sought to create in favor of North Atlantic ports to the great detriment of the na- ions commerce. In regard to this, Mr. Hummer says:
 Within three weeks the Shipping
 Board has added to it's fleet in the Gulf
 fourteen great steamships to take care Of
 the grain and cotton accomplishing there,
 to see to it that there is no abnormal ln-
 crease in freight rates, and to assure
 these products access to their foreign
 markets. lou may nave
 while there have been repeated calls for
 ships, the foreign fleets have not yet
 appeared in any great numbers upon the
 scene In my opinion, there are two ma
 jor reasons for this one, that since com
 petition had driven the freight rates to
 an abnormally low point, point at which
 we were carrying q hundred pounds of
 grain 4,500 miles for 16 cents, they are
 awaiting an improvement in the freight
 rates and second, as I believe, because
 those foreign merchants are hoping to
 produce such a congestion, in Gulf ports, that the railroads may be induced to de- clare an embargo against those shipping points-the natural result of which action would be break in the price of grain and an opportunity for them to purchase grain at their own figures.
 It would obviously be the height o1 folly for the manufacturers and export ers of the United States to deliver them selves tied hand and foot to the contro ,f foreign steamship lines which are 1T urn controlled by our foreign competl ors in foreign markets. Peculiar indeed S the attitude of those who can advocate . protective tariff for domestic markets md vet forfeit and ignore this far more ,6nSlDl6 DEOIGCLlOH t1l oASANASS AAAS~ feet would extend our goods in foreign markets where such protection IS urgent y needed. In this regard MT. Hummer 1uotes an authority whose wisdom al Americans, regardless of party, are will ng to concede:
 The proposition was emphatically laid down by Jefferson when he said, Tt is not to the moderation and justice of oth- CTS we are to trust for fair and equal ac- cess to market with our productions, or for our due share in the transportation
 of them; but to our means of independ- ence, and the firm will to use them" And it must be remembered that, in af- fording cheap international transporta- tion, we are benefitting the people Of the countries with which we are trading as well as our people at home.
 Although there are many who do not the sinister forces that are seeking to undermine the national pro gram of merchant marine development as an essential to our successful prosecu tion of foreign trade, there are interested enemies not so innocent of bad intent To these MT. Hummer pays his compll ments
 While undoubtedly many people, who