Evening star., 1927-10-23

for an adequate Navy, Navy comparable
with that Of Great Britain, are not to be dis.
regarded. America has huge coast line to
defend 1t has tremendous coastwise ship
ping trade which must be protected This
ocean-going coastwise trade is equal in size
and value to the entire ocean-borne commerce
Of the country in ordinary years. Much OF
this coastwise trade travels long distances.
Over H. 900 tons last year passed through
the Panama Canal. which means minimum
distance for this tonnage Of 1000 miles. Lum
ber from Alaska and Washington travels 5000
or 5000 miles in ships to Eastern centers. Oil
goes from California and the Gulf States to the
Atlantic Seaboard cities Texas and California
cotton is sent to New England mills and West
Virginia coal to California and New England
ports. An adequate Navy for the protection
of this ocean going coastwise trade, which the
railroads could not handle or il they did would
increase costs greatly to the consumers. Is
''cheap insurance"
The United States, moreover. in 1926 was
the greatest exporting Nation in the world
It bids fair also to become the greatest i'm
porting Nation. Americas foreign trade in
value last year was 50 ZOO, 900 ,000 almost equal
to the huge debts owed this country by the
nations which borrowed from America during
the World War. Britains total trade, the trade
of the empire, was only $6O0,000,O 900 in excess
of this total. This American trade goes to all
parts of the world, some Of it in American
bottoms, though not as large share as should
be carried so. The importance of this trade
leads naturally to a demand that the United
States have a. Navy as strong as that of any
other country.
X X X X
How important this foreign trade is to the
American people is told in reports of the De-
partmerF of Commerce. Approximately one
sixth on the total value of American agricul-
tural products have been shipped overseas in
recent years. The American oil industry ex.
ports S5 per cent of it's kerosene, 90 per cent
of its lubricatng oils, IA per cent of it's gaso
line and naphtha. Forty-one per cent of the
American copper production is sold abroad
and so is 30 per cent of the locomotive produc-
ton, % per cent Of the sewing machines pro-
duced, 80 per cent of the typewriters produced
per cent of the automobile production and
90 per cent of the motor cycle production. In.
deed, the average Of all manufactures and me-
chanical production Of the United States sold
abroad Is per cent of the total.
1t Is not only the export trade of the United
States that requires the protection Of the Navy
and the assistance given by the American flag
merchant marine The import trade is vitality
important to American life today Fertilizers
come from Chile binder twine from Yucatan
and cotton bags and grain sacks, needed by the
farmer from India, rubber from Malaga, shell
lac from China and India, silk from Japan,
manganese from Brazil, tin from the East In.
dies and Bolivia, hemp from the Philippines
and scores of other materials which America
cannot produce in sufficient quantity to meet
it's needs.
The United States has population in ex.
cess OF 11O.0000O0. OF this number approx
mately 42OO0,OOO are gainfully employed
Divided into great employment groups, they
size up about as follows: Agriculture forestry
and animal industry, 10,s5o,ooo; mining, includ.
(Continued on Third poCo