February I. 1911] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



163 



tion. The English freight rates today, he said, average the 

 highest in the world, and yet they do most of the business ; 

 they have control of the insurance, they have control of the 

 inspection, and so on. 



He would have conditions changed to the end that American 

 shijibuilding be encouraged. To the objection that ships cannot 

 be built as cheaply here as abroard, he pointed out that upon 

 the great lakes of the United States are to be seen ships, of 

 home make, that in character, in etViciency, adaptability to service, 

 in economy of operation, and in price, cannot be matched upon 

 the face of the earth. They have a demand for a particular kind 

 of ships which (ills various yards, and enables them to specialize. 

 The builders of the great British liners have their yards filled 

 with a particular line of product, working every day and always 

 turning out the same kind of thing, and when England turns 

 into the waters of the world 1.800.000 tons of shipping a year, 

 it uill lie seen what advantage she has when we attempt to 

 compete with her in the rot.iil way. while she goes wholesale at 

 the job. 



They say that the foreigner can run ships inore cheaply than 

 Americans. Time was when we ran ships in fair competition 

 with the wlinlc world, iiefnre the great combines on the ocean 

 had been brought about, and at a profit. 



.\i .1 it we c?n today carry a ton of merchandise per mile upon our 

 railvt-ails at a fraction of the cost that any other part of the world 

 can. and pay cur men four or five times as much, can you say that 

 the American, uniler his cwn flag, with a great national plant to do 

 it in the wholesale way. cannot uphold the freiglit conections with 

 the rest of the fteam?liip lines of the world — tliat we can't do the 

 same thing that we did in the past, when we had a national govern- 

 ment which stood for Americanism? 



Mr. Xixon <loes not favor a subsidy for shipping. First, be- 

 cause he does not regard it constitutional ; second, because the 

 government could never vote enough money out of the treasury 

 to establish a new merchant marine. Somebody else would 

 always be ready to put up more and take away the business. 

 He considers a postal subsidy proper, however, under the con- 

 stitution.'il grant to Congress of the power to establish post 

 oftices ."nd post roads. While this would not, alone, keep at 

 home the earning of the hundreds of millions now sent abroad 

 for freights, it would be an entering wedge. The great foreign 

 ships which carry ocean mails to and from the United States, 

 Mr. .\ixon spoke of <<s having been built "out of the profits of 

 the trade which we furnish, and which we are perfectly satisfied 

 to turn over to the rest of the world," 



Speaking of shipping facilities between the United States and 

 South Ainerica Mr. Nixon said : 



Vou geTitlemen in this room who are interested in rubber will find 

 that the ship of your own country is the better ship to pass along and 

 push your trade than the ship of some other country. The foreigner 

 is going to sell his own goods first every time. lie is insured at 

 home; all his various connections are made at home, and his whole 

 idea of how to be prosperous is to have the country l>ack of him 

 prosperous. I glory in that particular faculty of the foreigner; he 

 seems to have some idea that charity should begin at home and not 

 .ibroad. while the altruistic Americans seem to think that they must 

 help the rest of the world before they help tliemsclves. 



The keynote of the speaker's reinarks was that to be a great 

 nation it is necessary to be a self-contained nation. If we are 

 going to carry our flag upon the sea in merchant ships we need 

 a great cargo carrying itiarine to co-operate with the mail 

 steamers, and this can come only through some general policy of 

 governmental encouragement. The nations of the earth have 

 been on the alert always to take advantage of treaties into which 

 we have entered, and the speaker pointed out instances where 

 the government at Washington had freely given to foreigners 

 advantages which it was not bound to do, instead of reading the 

 constitution to mean that the power of Congress to regulate 

 trade means to bring about a preference for the American ships 

 — to try to drive trade into the Ainerican's hands. The rebuild- 

 ing of the irierchant marine is to be brought about through 

 the exercise of this constitutional right — by the sweeping aside of 

 privileges which have been given to foreigners at the expense 

 of our own people — by abrogating or terminating commercial 

 treaties, if need be. and insisting upon new terms. Every one 

 of the existing conventions has a clause providing that it can 

 be suspended upon the giving of notice, and shall we not have 

 the courage of Americans to assert ourselves when, in the course 

 of time, a bargain made in the shape of a convention is found to 

 be inequitable? 



THE RUBBER COITNTRY OF THE CONGO. 



The President said : 



I very much wish that 1 had time to comment upon the scholarly 

 ard jjatriotic ard comprehensive address that we have just listened to. 

 liut, after all, you don't wait to hear me talk; you want to hear the 

 rest of the speakers; ard. then fore. I will draw your attention to 

 the other side of tlie earth — to the Corgo. 



We htve. as a guest this evenirg. the Hon. James Guslavus Whiteley. 

 the representative of the lielfian government in its great Congo hold- 

 ings. Mr. Whiteley has corsertcd to f?y 'ometbirg about tlie future 

 develo|>ment rf lli'- Cnrpn. Mr. Wliitclcy. 



Prof. Henry H. Rushy. 



Hon. Lewis Xixon. 



Creswkli. M.\CI..\L'GHI.1X. 



