Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1934-09-26
MFR. WALLACE SPEAKS OUT OF TURN

The stand of Secretary7of Agriculture Wallace against
aid to the United States merchant marlne' as olscloseul
rocentlv in a letter to a congressional committee, seems
n no oettino nowhere verv rapidly. The storm OF protest
ia the secretary's inference that we ought TO De WlmmSI
to have our goods carried in foreign ships was so terrific
and 90 general. that it was intimated even III Official
circles at Washington that Mr.. Wallace may nave oeen
slightly mistaken in some of his argument
There was no question but that most of the statesmen
who expressed themselves on the subject thought IIa1
Mr.. Wallace was talking out OF turn. Among those WIZ
criticized the s~ecretary's stand was the veteran Senator
Duncan L. Fletcher of Florida, who IN a statement 10 the
Universal service, said in part: 81 regret to near thar
Secretary Wallace believes that the government shonld
discontinue aid to our struggling merchant marine. his
statement is in line with propaganda of our foreign com
r%etitors.
entitled to operate all the ships on the seas.
'sAnv self-respecting nation that accepts wallace ;
arcnment is making a most serious mistake. 1t would
mean that the United States would have to depend on It's
foreign competitors for delivery of goods produced here.
ssThat would mean we could dispose OF our surplus
products only with the consent OF our competitors Il
would carry them. 2
s.Controi of shipping, shipping rates and means Of
TRANSPORTATION overseas mean control OF markets ana Oh
trade possibilities.
tbe freight rate on a bushel of wheat from New York TO
Liverpool was 80 cents. The normal rate was three cents
a bushel. The freight rate on cotton from Galveston
Texas, to Liverpool, Jumped from $3.50 to sou a bale.
'sThe reason for this was that we did not have ships tc
move our products. British ships were Communicated
for war purposes. German ships were tied up.
sAs a naval auxiliary we are obliged to have supply
ships. They are as important as battles1ips.
s1No country can afford to be dependent upon foreign
countries for delivery of goods any more than a merchant
conducting an ordinary merchandising business can DC
dependent on his competitor to haul his goods.
EtThere is a real difference in cost OF operating ships
under orr flag. because our standard of living is higher
and we pay higher wages. There is a difference in cost
of construction between here and abroad. That differ
ence ought to be reasonably overcome by government ac
of some kind"
Other senators and congressman, and those interested
in American shipping made statements demanding thai
there be no s~cuttling of our merchant marine. For sew.
eral years now, in fact ever since we began to build oul
modern merchant marine, there have been efforts on the
part of British and other European shipping interests tC
check our efforts toward constructing an American mer
chant marine. They will not get any great comfort ou1
Of this latest incident in which Secretary Wallace, prob
ably without thinking carefully on the subject, wrote th'
letter which brought the question again to the forefront
iii the United States.