BANQUET. 365 



with the New England and North Atlantic states. Since water hauls are cheaper than rail 

 hauls, shipping will attempt to get as close as possible to the source of manufacture in the case 

 of exports and to the center of consumption in the case of imports. Trade of the central region 

 seeks its outlet by the line of least resistance; western grain through Portland, Seattle, Van- 

 couver, Kansas and Nebraska, wheat by way of Galveston, northern grains by Canadian rail- 

 ways, by the lakes, the St. Lawrence, or the canals and railways to the Atlantic. Other raw 

 materials have fairly definite points of export, generally so located as to give the shortest rail 

 haul. Our Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts have offered unequaled opportunities for coastwise 

 shipping, with the result that before the war our sea-going merchant marine was largely 

 limited to vessels in this trade. With the outlying possessions assumed to be included under 

 coastwise laws, the ship that runs from Hawaii to New York, or from the Philippines to 

 San. Francisco, is not the kind of ship that in other countries is known as a coasting vessel. 

 Should the President include the Philippines under our coastwise laws, as contemplated by 

 section 21 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, there will be developed under our flag 

 a truly ocean-going traffic of no mean proportions. 



Of the traffic of our great fresh-water lakes, and of the bulk oil carriers between Mexico 

 and the United States, little need here be said. The bulk of both of these traffics is in 

 special ships which form almost as much a part of the business of the manufacturer as do 

 the hammer and chisel of the mason. They can be more nearly considered as tools of the trade 

 than the ordinary floating carrier. Tankers are almost exclusively limited to the bulk oil trade. 



Leaving these specialized businesses, we come to that trade which is of most vital import- 

 ance to the United States. The islands of the Caribbean offer what is today almost the only 

 voyage permitting full cargoes in both directions, although, even here trade is to a large 

 extent seasonal. Our exports to these coimtries are made up approximately of 50 per cent 

 coal; 10 per cent foods; 10 per cent lumber; 7 per cent steel; 5 per cent cement; and the bal- 

 ance general merchandise. Our import tonnage, which over the year practically balances 

 our exports, includes sugar, 55 per cent; bananas, 14 per cent; oil, 15 per cent; and the bal- 

 ance general importation. American capital is heavily interested in the West Indies and, 

 therefore, controls products exported from the islands, together with the ships which carry 

 them, as in the case of the United Fruit Company, the primary purpose of whose vessels is to 

 transport bananas to the United States, and the ore-carrying vessels of the Bethlehem Steel 

 Corporation, whose business is to transport the Cuban ores to Sparrows Point. 



There is little or no excuse today for our letting any third party share with us any part 

 of the West Indian trade. To the South, the entire continent of South America requires 

 coal, and this market should largely belong to us. This coal, added to the balance of our ex- 

 ports for the first eight months of the present year, has closely approximated by tonnage the 

 importation from South America, comprising such materials as tannery products, linseed and 

 nitrates. 



Our trade with the South Pacific, Australasia, Dutch East Indies and India is varied to a 

 considerable extent, in the transition period; practically 70 per cent of our exports were 

 petroleum products, a trade that has been well maintained since the war. In return for 

 these products, one-half of our inbound cargoes is jute, but all of our business with these 

 Pacific countries is negligible in comparison with the Central American and South American 

 business previously mentioned. South. Africa has been little developed as a trade possibility 

 for the United States, but to the Orient we have exported large quantities of oil products, 

 manufactured articles, cotton cloth, automobiles, and steel. In return for these, silks, grasses, 



