Milford chronicle., 1929-11-15
LABOR AND THE
MERCHANT MARINE

In a recent statement, Secretary of
Labor Davis set forth the reasons
why labor in America endorses the
idea of big American merchant ma
r1ne. First, Secretary Davis says, the
typical American working man is
for the merchant marine because he
is patriotic American and likes the
idea of the American flags flying on
the high seas. Secondly the Ameri-
can worker favors the merchant ma
rine, Secretary Davis declares, be-
-duse "he knows that America has
| placed before the world a wholly
new standard of payment and condi-
tlons of labor for service at sea-"
Continuing the Secretary declares:
while other countries have clung
to old usages toward their seamen,
our country stood up and passed a
law that brought the mariner in the
American service up to the levels of
American labor in other crafts. Our
country knew that in so doing it
placed the better-paid American
merchant marine into competition
with the less generous shipping poll
cies of some other nations. In so
doing it insured to itself the loyalty
of every American citizen whose lot
is cast on the sea, and the good will
of their fellow workers on land.
For still other reasons American
labor desires to see Americas mer-
chant navy succeed. The worker in
this country is an intelligent man.
He keeps himself informed on eco
nomic trends, not only here at home
but abroad. He knows that with Am
erica successfully engaged in foreign
trade, production at home will be ex-
panded. With our factories humming
to supply not only the home market
but the growing markets in other
lands, steady employment is guar
anteed to our wage earners. In a
word, enlarged markets for Ameri-
can goods mean good business, and
the American worker is enough the
business man to see that"
There can be little doubt that the
entire American idea on shipping
has changed since 1914. Then we had
little interest as nation in shipping
as an industry. The principal inter-
est in our theoretical merchant ma
rine was centered along our sea
coasts where the people knew some
thing about shipping first hand. But
the war changed all of this. By the
time the armistice was signed the
people had become pretty well con-
vinced of the value of a merchant
marine and had learned how expen-
sive it was to be without one.
Now, nine out of ten Americans
you meet will express an interest in
the merchant marine If you will take
the trouble to question them. The
shippers, the manufacturers and the
farmers are beginning to realize the
necessity of having the means to
transport Americas products across
the seas in case of an international
shipping shortage resulting from
European war or some other crisis.
They realize also that without effec-
tive American competition on the
high seas it would be easy for Eu-
ropean shipping trust to raise the
rates for carrying Americas pro-
ducts across the ocean to the point |
where every producer in the coun-
try who exported his products, and |
this includes our farmers, would be
paying tribute to the foreign ship |
ping bloc.
Nothing would be more against |
our national prosperity and our ma
tiona1 progress than such a condi-
ton of affairs. There need be no
wonder then that the far-seeing and !:
patriotic workers have Joined that
overwhelming American group which
believes in an active and prosper
ous American merchant marine.
Side issues should not be permitted
to distract attention from this vital
necessity, and if the American news
papers, and the American public are
awake this will not be possible.