Evening star., 1934-06-14
America Needs Merchant Marine
Manned by Able American Seamen

cheney of our means Of reaching those
markets, and instead of building up
a desirable market we will have to
take what we can get and pay for
our lack of good business Judgment.
On the other hand, when we con-
slider the merchant marine from the
point of national defense, we must
consider it as we do an insurance pol
icy. an investment, and one which
we hope we will not have to cash in on.
but should the need arise where we
should be called upon to have to use
our merchant marine as an auxiliary
to our Navy, then is the time when
a Second-rate merchant marine would
be a very costly proposition. That
lesson certainly was brought home to
us in 1917. and we paid plenty for
our lack Of foresight.
I believe voice the sentiment of
all Of the ex-service men who crossed
the pond during the World War when
/ state that we surely had brought
home to us the true value Of the old
slogan, "In time Of peace. prepare for
war" because In time Of peace we
paid but little heed to those who ad-
vocated preparedness. and our made
quate merchant marine was taxed so
heavily that many OF the soldiers had
to ride in foreign ships.
In speaking of an American Mer-
chant Marine we must consider an
other factor besides the ships. We
must not forget that ships without
men are Of but little value as means
of transporting merchandise or troops.
Manpower Is very essential both in
time of peace as well as in time Of
war, if we are to have a modern
merchant marine. II our merchant
marine Is to be as the name implies,
an American merchant marine" We
must have American seamen.
When we speak Of manpower or
seamen, we must keep before lis the
thought that it must be trained man
power. and training is o factor OF
great Importance, because II we were
to have merchant marine which
would be modern to the nth degree
and our manpower were not trained
to a high point of efficiency, then our
merchant marine would be like the
chain. It would have only the
strength of its weakest link. Conse-
quently, in building our merchant
marine we must have the two main
factors up to par, modern vessels and
highly trained American" seamen.
We must not get the idea that our
seamen all come from sea coast towns.
Such is not the case. II you were to
muster the crews on any Of our naval
vessels and call the roll and have
the "gohs" name their home towns
and States, you'd be surprised. Towns
would be mentioned which you or the
average American citizen never heard
of, inland towns, far from the sea
coast, or for that matter, miles from
any seaport. That brings out the
point that we need lose no sleep over
our material for manning our mer-
chant marine or naval vessels, and It
further brings out the point that in
order to have our modern merchant
marine we must look ahead to the
manpower and recruit it from all
walks Of life and from all sections
of the United States, and must train
this manpower and keep on training
it until We have enough trained
American" seamen to serve our
needs not only in time Of peace. but
also IN time of war, should such q
time arrive. 1t is my prayer that we
may never have to call out our
American" manpower for war, but
7 want to add to my prayer, II we do
have to call them out for war. let's
be ready. j. II. McVAY.