8 SPECIAL MAY MEETING. 
We have got the question of insurance, the question of banking, the question of bills 
of lading, the question of the sailors’ end of the laws, the question of this shipping business, 
the question of the subsidy—a thousand and one questions that arise out of this business, 
which is so peculiar in itself. 
And yet with it all the committee hopes, and I think Congress hopes, that we shall see 
a return to our country of the prosperous condition of the merchant marine that we had in 
1850, 1840, 1830, and that American ships shall be the best ships in the world, as they were 
in that day; that American sailors shall be the best in the world, as they were in that day; 
and that we will get our fair share of the carrying trade that we are entitled to. I do not 
believe that the Englishman, down at the bottom of his heart, objects to our having our fair 
share of the carrying trade. I do not believe that any nation objects to it. But I do know 
that they are doing exactly what I would do—they are endeavoring to stop us if they possibly 
can, because they would like to have all of our carrying trade themselves. 
Yet is it not silly for the farmer to place himself in the hands of a foreign carrying 
corporation? Would it not be silly for Gimbel Brothers down here, or Wanamaker, or some 
other of your big department stores, to ask the American Express Company or some rival 
concern to carry their goods? It would be queer if Wanamaker should ask Gimbel to deliver 
his goods, because Wanamaker’s goods would never be delivered as long as Gimbel’s were to 
be delivered. 
I think you will find, if you investigate, that the general policy of a foreign country is 
to utilize its own products first. I think you will find that Canadian wheat is used up before 
American wheat is used up; I think you will find that Argentine wheat is used up before 
American wheat is used up. In other words, if these countries can get all the wheat they 
want from Argentine and from Canada, your wheat stays in the storage houses. Unless you 
are prepared with your utensils, with your own wagons, to deliver it to the door and com- 
pete, you are not going to do the business, because whenever they wish to shove you on one 
side and carry the other fellow’s goods they can do so. 
The farmer is foolish in standing in his own light. If he could only realize that he must 
have his market and his market has to be cared for. These things come before us continu- 
ously, shown to us in different lights, and different people talk about them in different 
manners. 
But above it all we want an American merchant marine. Why, it would make any 
man’s heart proud to see the American flag on the sea like it was in 1850 and 1840, when 
we had the best ships, the best crews, the best men, the best merchants in the world; when 
for a short time we were the maritime nation, and we let it slip away from us without any 
care as to what we were losing. Now our opportunity is here; we have the ships, we can 
get more ships if we want them, and a great many men have been trained in shipping lines. 
There is no reason why, with a little assistance from the Government, we ought not to be able 
to put it over; and I do hope that every ship man and every merchant and every farmer and 
everybody in this country will just put his shoulder to the wheel and let us put it over, and 
let us see whether we cannot again regain the prestige that we had in the fifties. I thank 
you. (Applause. ) 
THE PrEsIDENT:—Gentlemen, your applause shows that you appreciate very thoroughly 
what Congressman Edmonds has told us, and I am sure that you must all feel a renewed sense 
of hopefulness when we realize that a man with this grasp of the subject is one of the most 
