Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1939-11-07
Conna||y Emissions
New Commerce for
j. ). Vessels
Rise in Trade With
Other American Motions
Expected by Senator
Continued From Page B-12.)

corn, wheat, lumber and naval store
In the amount of $3.50, 100000. Fo
1887 our imports amounted to ST.
3l4,735, 900 from nations now at war
Our total imports for that veal
amounted to 100000, 900. Exports
to countries now at war amounted
in 1887 to 81 ,673 ,204 900 out Of tota
trade of 100000.
Thus it will be seen that the large
volume of both our exports anc
imports with nations now at wal
and the discontinuance of all Amer.
lean shipping services to such ma
lions will vitality affect our COM
merce with them. While belligeren1
and neutral ships are free to carry
both our exports to and our imports
from nations at war, it cannot be
accurately estimated how great viii
be the shrinkage in that commerce
by reason of the removal of Ameri-
can ships therefrom. The lack Of
merchant ships at the outbreak OF
the World War caused enormous
losses to American business and
agriculture. Our people suffered as
a result. Foreign nations then at
war Communicated large numbers
of their merchant vessels for wal
purposes and the United States was
left with inadequate means for
shipping our products to foreign
markets and securing from such
W. rlyotc occortiol ;p,rortc 7 oft O l.
most entirely to our own resources,
our products accumulated in ware
houses and elevators, in freight
yards and in the docks, with few
ships to transport them. During
that emergency the cost of trans
porting a bale of cotton from the
gulf to Liverpool rose tremendously
1t has been estimated that for the
crop of 1914 it cost the United States
S750,0O0,000 more to produce the
cotton crop of that year than was
received for it. That loss was largely
due to Inadequate shipping facilities
and the submarine warfare of that
period. The cost of transporting
wheat from the United States to
Liverpool rose from s cents per
bushel in 1914 to q cents per bushel
in 1915 and during a later period
it increased greatly above that
figure.
Our experience during the World
War as to tremendous losses to the
American people and to American
business, commerce and agriculture
because of inadequate shipping IA
cilities, stimulated the United States
toward building up an efficient and
capable marchant marine. The pol
icy of the United States with respect
to its merchant marine has been a
positive one since 1916 That pol
icy has been designed to furnish
shipping services for maintaining the
flow of American water-borne for
eign commerce and also capable of
serving as naval and military aux
Hilary in time of national emergency.
It is an American policy. 1t pro-
vides that the American merchant
marine should be owned and OPP
Grated under the American flag by
American citizens. The Government
has encouraged private investment
In shipping. 1t has gone so far as
to subsidize American shipping so
that American labor, American in
dustry and American commerce
would benefit from its uninterrupted
services in world markets. American
citizens are trained to be it's officers
and seamen. The Governments
dream was to have an American
merchant marine in time of peace
adequate to carry on our commerce
and IN time of war to serve as an
armed branch of our fighting
forces, to supply and provision our
fleet and our Army, and to carry
on our commerce so that it would
not be swept from the sea by every
foreign disturbance not of our max
ing, not of our responsibility and
not of our wish.
Better off Than in 1914.
At the beginning of the World
War in 1914 we had scarcely any
merchant marine in foreign trade.
We were dependent upon the serv-
ices of foreign flag ships. We were
at the mercy of freight rate struc-
ture over which we had no control
and shipping over which we had no
command. Today we are better off
than in 1914 in the ratio of about
three to one. We possess a mag
nificent merchant marine fleet. We
must preserve it for our necessities
In the future.
There Is strong reason to believe
that our foreign trade may increase
substantially in areas other than
that of nations at war. The mer-
chant ships of warning nations are
being pressed into services of a
military nature. Sailing schedules
have been interrupted and in some
cases routes have been virtually
abandoned. This is in areas re-
mote from the actual scene of con-
fict. 1t is our hope that in all of
the Pacific Ocean area and in the
Orient and in Central and South
America and in West African ports
American shipping and American
commerce may be able to increase
their services and business by rea-
son of the withdrawal therefrom of
neutral and belligerent shipping re-
sulting from the existence of
state of war.
During the first half of this year
our export trade amounted to
little less than $1,00O500,OOO and
our imports for the same time to
something slightly in excess of a
billion dollars. These figures indi-
cate that our foreign trade is above
the preceding five-year average and
on a quantity basis about So per
cent of our various export items