H Free Trade And No Ships; What Then? B npHE Democrats have control of the House B- of Representatives, and a distinguished Re- 1 publican senator say the Republicans no B longer control the senate, meaning that on cru- B cial questions, the insurgent Republicans will B vote with the Democrats. Now the Demo- 1 cratic party is at heart a free trade party. Its B representatives in congress are coquetting a l.t- Hj tie with the" tariff now, but were the party to ob- 1 tain the presidency and control of both houses of B congress, another Wilson bill would be framed B and passed within a year. B But at the same time there would be no M chance of restoring the Merchant Marine of the M country. The Democratic party believes in the fl English idea of raising revenue, but it rejects the B English theory of ocean commerce, and in effect m says, "if American ships cannot hold their own B against foreign ships, why it is better for us to B hire our freighting done by foreigners. They B look with indifference upon what Germany has B done by keeping her merchant ships going dur- M lng the past thirty years, and seem altogether H oblivious of the effect of the drain of $250,000,000 B per annum which this country pays annually to H foreign ship owners and which reduces the cash H reserves of this country just that much, and wh ch H added to what has to go abroad to pay inter- est and dividends keeps this country without a H surplus and in such a condition that the failure of H one crop would utterly prostrate the business of Hl the country. H There is yet another feature. The ship owners Hr of two or three foreign countries fix the rates H to be charged for passengers and freights. Now H with the tariff eliminated and the freighting left H to the foreigners, what possible chance would H there be for American merchants and manufac- H turers to extend American trade? If anything H were to be sent abroad those ship owners would H ( know what it was. They would fix the rates and H would at the same time notify their countrymen H of the shipment and the freight charged. Would H not the natural result be that their own coun- H tries would at once forestall the shipment and Hk when the American goods reached their destina- H tion, would not foreign goods of the same kind H and style be there and for sale at prices which H would close the market to the American goods? H With such a prospect ahead, what was really B the object of constructing the Panama canal? H! And when statesmen and wise journals tell HU us what the canal is bound to do for American V commerce, what do they really mean? The south HKi may send out some cotton through It, but it will H 1 have to go in foreign ships. We are not sure of WM I even that until we know what the tolls are to Hj be on the canal H A penny a pound on cotton is on an average BBj 10 per cent of its value, and the difference r Bfl month or two in delivering it does not ir sr. H l One cent a pound would mean, on a ship like the Mf Olympia, $700,000; a tenth of that would mean $70,000 toll, so that really only ships loaded with costly freight can afford to patronize the canal, for $70,000 would buy coal to run the Olympia probably twenty six days and that would be enough to drive the ship from England around through the straits of Magellan and up to Panama But this is a diversion. The question we desire to a"sk the country is, with free trade and no shipping, how long would it take foreign shipowners ship-owners and manufacturers to so drain the United States of money, and so prostrate all its skilled industries that the Great Republic would not become the pity of the whole world?