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Show I p , H . , I I More Public Interest Vital to Our Merchant Marine . yJ I America's Great Opportunity in Interna,--'! tional Trade to Be Visualized at i National Marine Exposition I "T T 7" HAT do you really know about the nation's merchant fleet? Yes, of course, you are more or less famll- j 1 iar with the number of cargo carrying bot toms built here In the course of the last few years. But how much do you know about 1 the problem, the possibilities, of using these craft effectively In the widening of foreign markets for our manifold products? This momentous subject has been discussed dis-cussed fully and treated at length In tho news columns of the press, yet It is reasonably reason-ably certain our citizenry generally has only a hazy notion of the laslc that confronts us n task that must be tackled robustly If wo are to gain the position which the industry of our scores of shipyards has placed within our roach. The best of the situation Is that . the outlook is exceedingly promising, pro- 1 vided the American people as a whole be come bent upon making fulfilment a fact. Exposition to Promote Interest. To the end that every one of us should be better nble to visualize the splendid prospect. New York is to have during the week of j April 12 a National Marine Exposition. It will be the first maritime show hero in two decades; and the object Is that the casual mood of the entertainment seeker shall bo transformed into a determination to do his q . bcs toward making us lastingly strong and j self-sufficient in tho realm of International trade. ' Tho exposition will be the visible climax or years of elTort on the part of the National Marine Ma-rine League of the United Suites of America, two of whose inspiring slogans are: "Keep tho I Flog Flying" and "World Trade in American Ships." The league was organized nine years ago, and owes Its Inception to the forceful activities of P. II. W. Hops, whoso previous "experience in maritime fields amused him to start a systematic campaign in behalf of a ' j commensurate merchant marine. The need i of maklnc us Independent upon the sea was brought convincingly home to him during i The Boer war. At thai lime Mr. Itoss was in the banking business In the State of l Washington and was advancing money upon receipts for wheat raised by the nclghbor-I nclghbor-I in., farmers. All went alone prosperously and smoothly T"r a while, steamships carrying the "red r-nslgn" salllDg regularly laden with tho crain despatched to ready foreign markets. ! Tnen suddenly Great Britain declared war upon the Government of Omn Paul, and 1 immediately thereafter the Admiralty com- f mandeered the nation's far llunc merchant 1 shipping, focusing a vast ageregation of those craft upon the const ot South Africa The wheat crowers of our Pacific States found themselves overnicht without means J Pi ocean transportation, and their grain oe- came little short of a drug upon the market. I Nc wonder, then, that a man ot Mr Ross's j 2'nrce should become voca! in behalf of a I 1-efittIng native merchant marine, nor need j vc marvel that men Ilk t- late J. P. Mor gan. August Relmont. Alexander Hemphill, ; 15. J. Berwlnd and other, of prominence should join with Mr. Rni In bringing Into being a non-partisan, non-political Institu-I Institu-I Ion Intent upon encouraging the creation 1 r.nd maintenance of an nmplc American fleet V, ot trade. As Mr. Ross has expressed It: "Until the year ot 101-1 our country was mainly a -producer: nearly all of its Income was de-r'ved de-r'ved from growing or creating things. We either farmed, mined or by the process of manufacture changed raw material Into usablo articles. Then wo sat at our various ocean gates and let the pcoplo of other na-t-ons distribute 90 per cent, of our exports to whomsoever might purchaso them. But In that fateful year of the world war we s.woko to the fact that those wh0 control ihe transportation of our goods also control tho price we would eventually receive for those commodities. The shock was a wholesome whole-some one. but tho present nc?d IB to guard r.rainst a self-deceiving recovery. Wo have got to strike back, we have got to fight hard IT wo do not Intend to pay henceforth heavy tribute to other peoples who may be strong upon tho sea. Hereafter, for our own good, we must drive an economic span wo must harness Production with its proper team mate. Distribution. "It is being dinned Into us that the need of the hour, the solution of much or our unrest and the lowering of the cost of living depends upon stimulated production, but that is only half of the story. True, it will bo to our benefit if. for a time, we Increoso largely our output and, taking advantage of the present rates of exchange. Import an augmented hulk of foreign commodities. But it is vitally necessary that we see to It ihat ivo are finding steadily enlarged markets for our surplus goods; and we can achlevo this only provided we have unhampered access ac-cess to .those markets through the medium of ships carrying tho Stars and Stripes. If we don't offset our imports by an outgoing tide of our own products, our factories will have to slow down, close perhaps, and American labor will become Idle. Our newly fashioned fleets give us ono of the means by which we ca.ii avoid so grave a contretemps. Must Reexport to Succeed. "We shall not succeed In our revived foreign for-eign trade If we rely alone upen what might bo called direct commerce, i. p.. buying only what we nopd from alien source? and ship-pine ship-pine to the foreigner nothing hut our r.wn commodities. We must develop In America the business of transshipping or reexport-inc reexport-inc upon a scale heretofore ontlrely unfamiliar un-familiar in our commercial practices. For Instance, we must use our ships lo sell In tho Far East coods hrouuhi lo -ur shores In American bottoms and for which no demand exists amontr us. And let ds suppose rhat the commodities In question will find a readv market in Java. How. you will ask. will the Javanese be able in make prompt settlement? settle-ment? They'll do It in coffoo. sucar. leak wood. tea. Indigo and rubber And In regard re-gard to the latter just this word of emphasis: em-phasis: "Here in the United State wo use eighty per cent, of the world's lotal production of rubber, nnd yet we control less than five per cent, of the original sources of supply of that material. Do .vju realize ihat seventy per cent, of the raw rubber of the world is directly under the control of the British? Consequently, every tire on every automobile here, every fountain pen. everv typewriter, every air brake on every train, every porous plaster on every achintr back In the United States pays toll to British c..- P H W ROSs! 'uHDE'wHOSE DIQ.ECTION MOTIONAL MARINE week: APR.IL Jfc-IT, WILL BE CELEBRATED to arouse. PUBLIC INTEREST IN Tffe MERCHANT MARINE torprise which Is founded upon forethought and bolstered up by the ships that fly the British ensign. "We might lust as well visualize America! Ameri-ca! Industry In Its entirety as one vast department de-partment store, '-low long would n business bouse of that sort survive In a bustling city, with rival shops of the same kind. If the department de-partment store turned over the dcllverv of its sales to the vehicles of a competitor? it would bo merely 'a question of time before that shortsightedness would compel 4he closing clos-ing of ihe emporium's doors. I know ihat It will be asserted that wo got along pretty well for quite half n hundred years without moro than a handful of ships in foreign tiude. but we must not forget ihat conditions have changed. "The real basic reason why our merchant marine declined from about IS60 on to 191-1 waj because the maintenance of an American Ameri-can fleet of trade. In proportion lo other things that our people had to do during that interval, was of secondary importance, T:-day T:-day the situation Is all to the contrary, nnd without ships of our own to protect and to regulate the distribution of our products An.crican mills, farms and manufactories will suffer tremendous loss. Our position is further menaced by the fact that we shall be obliged to nccept untold quantities of foreign made goods in payment of foreign Indebtedness lo us; and unless we have our own ships In which to reexport these commodities natlvo producers will bo swamped by European competitors "The wot k ahead of us Is clearly defined, livery citizen should realize that it is his duty to help to keep our vessels busy on tho Seven Seas nnd to be equally determined no to allow the legislators of any other country to dictate how long we are to remain In the exercise of our maritime privileges. "I know that It lias been urged thai we .rnnot compete with the low paid personnel person-nel of foreign craft. But let me remind Shipping Authorities Declare the. Nation I Must Distribute as Well as Produce I or Forfeit Prosperity H you that the problem is not merely a question ques-tion of wages of the seamen and officers: tho crux of tho situation is the quantity rand ho character of the work done. As a matter mat-ter of fact, thero is but little prceent differ-once differ-once betweon the scale of wages paid on American and European s'.dps: and I am satisfied If wo mako the merchant marine service comparable as a source of livelihood with Industrial activities ashore, and offer evrry reasonable Inducement to the seafarer 'o look' to tho calling as a field of steady employment, presenting wide opportunities for advancement, wo shall have no Iroublo ir. recruiting to the mercantile, fleet youths nnd men of the right sort, "To accomplish this nnd the Marino Lcaguo urges national legislation In several (fireclions. One measure would require that 'every man who enters the merchant service of the United States on voyages In foreign waters must enlist as n seaman of the United States.' That Is to say, every man cn a merchant ship operating beyond the three mile limit shall be pledged by his oath and obligated to his country and flag Just as arc h!s brothers who enter the army or ravy. Again, because the circumstances of Mfe afloat havo changed with our dependence depend-ence upon mechanical propulsion. It Is desirable de-sirable that a person be able to obtain his able seaman's papers after nine months' deck service jit sea or on tho great lakes, provided he can pass a suitable cxamlna-t'on cxamlna-t'on which shall be proscribed by the Department De-partment of Commerce. Urges Wage Amendment. "As another means or promoting America's Ameri-ca's merchant marine personnel, the leaguo Is convinced that Section -1 of the Seamen's bill, which now permits a sailor to draw five per cent, of his wages every five days and fifty percent, on reaching any port, should be amended. Objection to the present law is based on the fact that the foregoing provision encourages en-courages a sorjous lack of discipline and leads to frequent desertions. The 'league believes that something must be done toward safeguarding safe-guarding seamen against nautical hazards so that they will be placed upon a parity, as far as possible, with workers ashore. This, of course, cannot be done through the medium of added pay. Major August Belmont, chairman chair-man of the board of trustees of the National Na-tional Marine League, has given this particular par-ticular matter a great deal of study. Let me quote somo of his conclusions and recommendations: recom-mendations: "'It would appear that no Increase of wage is .necessary or advisable if American shipping ship-ping ,1s to compete with foreign bottoms. The alternative Is a form of old age pension or Government Insurance, or a combination of these two Ideas. There Is no provision under any net of Congress or of the various States for either pension, compensation or Insurance for American seamen on coastwise coast-wise or ocean going vessels. ""The compensation laws of the various States usually either expressly exclude masters and seamen on vessels engaged In Interstate or foreign commerce, or limit compensation com-pensation coverage to seamen injured while actually within tho territorial watcra of the State. Nor do the various seamen's unions or institutions provide adequate old age pensions or Insurance.' "Major Eclmont's analysis of this ques- fl i!on makc3 It manifest that much might, IJ Ic gained toward promoting morale and oprlt among our deep sea workers if some form of national Insuranco be guaranteed r.r.d protection extended lo tho man afloat, no matter where he may he the world over,. o long as he serves under tho Stars and Stripes. Further. It seems to bo very do- tirable that the merchant sailor be given H a regular uniform, thus dignifying his ser- -' y -- JR vice, as in the navy or army. ' "It was the uniform that sufficed as a Kg 'pass' during the war to the numerous clubs . jH :nstltutcd for the men of our military or- ganizations. The sailors of our merchant Jip marine were thus unintentionally dlscrlm- Vi 'nated against. T II Suggests More Schoolships. p" "Finally, the league has drawn up a model . - k nautical training act, which It Is seeking . to have adopted by all '.hose States in which ' ' schoolships do not at present exlat, Tho ret contains suggestions whereby those Ftatea which have no sea front might still njoy the advantage of nautical schools by combining with States which have n sea-board. sea-board. For example, the man in Arkansas irjght send his boy to the Florida training T School, or the man In Vermont might send Ma lad to New York, or the father in West Virginia might choose to have his son trained jH al-oard New Jersey's schoolshlp. The States laving schoolships nt present are: New York. Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and 'fejl Washington. Due to the efforts of tho . Hl league, a strong movement Is now under f IH way in California for a State training ship. Jl The league desires Congress to demand that IH the fifteen ports of the United States now entitled to tho benefit of Federal assistance t inder the Federal schoolshlp act shall estab- .jl li.h nautical schools within a definite time IH cv forfeit their rights under that act so that , tho privilege? may be given to other ports ' tHI vllling to undertake this training. 1BI "To-day the league numbers about 10.000 IH members and it is significant that the ma- lH Virlty of the enrolments are among our citl- !H zens In the middle West. These wide awake 'H Americans are keenly alive to the fact that jBI their continued prosperity hinges upon un- li failing carriers for their commodities des- tined to ports overseas, and they realize they ll cannot do business profitably with foreign il competitors unless they be able to send their fll wares broadcast in bottoms carrying their, ilS own flag. This attitude is spreading rapidly Hfl back in tho national hinterland and right i Hl among the great agricultural fraternity. HH Only tho other day. here in New York State. 'B tlie dairy farmer suddenly found his export I 19 market closed, and In the main because he iH could not have the necessary oceangoing llflfl transportation. From now on be and his jlHB kind arc going lo Insist that we havo native JB ships in numbers enough to insuro contact mHSI with the consumers abroad. "There is not the slightest question about uEp ou- being able to hold our own In foreign '9El trade, but It In Imperative that we as a nco- -HH pie become 'ship minded.' and look upon a " iNI s!ii; mortgage, maritime bonds. In much the r 'IB same light that we view other loans and : jjKff securities. Ships and shipping must be IKhL maintained, because without them American lH industry will be ruined." H |