318 BANQUET. 



temples of the men who constituted the Senate Committee, who were shocked at the figures, 

 until finally one of the mid-western senators, whose name I shall not, on this occasion, ven- 

 ture to mention, said : — "Mr. Colby, I don't believe that." I may remark that this has some 

 bearing on what I shall say in just a word about the merchant marine. He said: — "Mr. 

 Colby, I don't believe that." I replied : — -"Senator, that is no concern of mine. I am respon- 

 sible only for the truthful relation of these facts to you, and not responsible for your mental 

 reaction upon them." (Applause.) 



So, my friends, in dealing with this complex and very scientific problem of our mer- 

 chant marine, one of the things that makes the problem complicated, one of the things that 

 hangs with heavy menace over the prospect of finding its solution, is the fact that scien- 

 tific thinking, looking to accurate, well-devised measures, must filter through dogmatic and 

 ignorant political media until we arrive at the problem with our thought and efforts maimed, 

 reduced, and almost neutralized by the necessary passage through that media. (Applause.) 



The problem is essentially a scientific one, and yet we approach the problem in the grip 

 of old obsessions, and old prejudices, and old party catch-words. The Republicans and Dem- 

 ocrats alike in Congress have a horror of the mention of ship subsidy, and yet we all know in 

 some form or other every nation that has preserved its place on the sea has had recourse, 

 direct or indirect, frank or furtive, to a definite subvention of its merchant fleet. There is 

 under discussion today, and there is an attempt to allay any opposition to the measure by the 

 very indirection with which it is proposed, a scheme of through bills of lading and interweav- 

 ing ocean freight rates with railroad charges, which is nothing more or less than an indirect 

 and covered, a masquerading ship subsidy. 



Another difficulty is that the subject is approached with the bias of some special inter- 

 est. I do not use "special interest" in the sense in which it is used by the yellow journals or 

 the reform press — I mean an honest and a natural bias. The shipping man is more or less 

 desirous of obtaining government tonnage at bargain-counter prices if he can. The ship op- 

 erator is naturally interested in an unfettered freedom in the manipulation of ocean freight 

 rates, thinking intently on operating profit. The shipper, on the other hand, is only inter- 

 ested in the reduction of freight rates, and is indifferent to the effect of low rates upon the 

 amount of available tonnage for public service. 



This problem is not susceptible of solution by any rough and ready theorem. It is a prob- 

 lem which must be confided tO' experts whom the public is willing to trust and support, and 

 the solution will be found in the day-to-day contact with and study of the problems which 

 are constantly shifting and are made of innumerable factors, essentially economic and finan- 

 cial. I thoroughly agree with the remark of the Secretary of the Navy that the problem of 

 the merchant marine is no longer a problem of construction; it is a problem of economics, it 

 is a problem of non-political and scientific study, a treatment of difficulties, of situations, of 

 factors, that call for the exercise of educated and unhampered brains. (Applause.) 



The solution will grow like a coral reef; it will grow from day to day as the day's 

 problems are solved with enlightenment, and solved without the harassment of preconceived 



