And State Papers 553 



The natural line of development for a policy of 

 reciprocity will be in connection with those of our 

 productions which no longer require all of the sup- 

 port once needed to establish them upon a sound 

 basis, and with those others where either because 

 of natural or of economic causes we are beyond the 

 reach of successful competition. 



I ask the attention of the Senate to the reciprocity 

 treaties laid before it by my predecessor. 



The condition of the American merchant marine 

 is such as to call for immediate remedial action by 

 the Congress. It is discreditable to us as a nation 

 that our merchant marine should be utterly insig- 

 nificant in comparison to that of other nations which 

 we overtop in other forms of business. We should 

 not longer submit to conditions under which only a 

 trifling portion of our great commerce is carried in 

 our own ships. To remedy this state of things 

 would not merely serve to build up our shipping in- 

 terests, but it would also result in benefit to all who 

 are interested in the permanent establishment of a 

 wider market for American products, and would 

 provide an auxiliary force for the navy. Ships 

 work for their own countries just as railroads work 

 for their terminal points. Shipping lines, if estab- 

 lished to the principal countries with which we have 

 dealings, would be of political as well as commercial 

 benefit. From every standpoint it is unwise for the 

 United States to continue to rely upon the ships of 

 competing nations for the distribution of our goods. 



