Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume], August 28, 1915, Image 1

About Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1902-1919

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University of Utah. H
Vol. 25 SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, AUGUST 28, 1915 Noll
An Independent Paper Published Under
:: the Management of J. T. Goodwin ::
EDITORIALS BY JUDGE C. C. GOODWIN
The South American Opportunity
AMONG the rights reserved to the federal gov
ernment are "to coin money and declare the
value thereof," to "make treaties," "to declare
war," etc. But there is nothing to inhibit any
state from furthering trade with foreign states.
South America is halting Just now in her prog
ress because her people cannot sell her products,
cannot purchase what they need because there
are no ships to carry away her products or carry
to her what she needs.
The state of New York is an empire by her
self, with vastly more people and wealth than the?
whole republic possessed when the war of the
Revolution was fought through. Why does not that
state take the necessary steps to make a peaceful
conquest of South America?
Not to interfere with their governments, but to
capture their trade. Why does it not by law agree
to back any ship company that will put on the
needed ships, provided her merchants, manufac
turers and financiers will first agree to provide
and equip the needed trade stations in the respec
tive states?
The mere matter of international trade is
not the most important consideration, great as
that is. There is yet a vast field for work in our
country, but educated young men will soon want
opportunities for full scope in accumulating for
tunes and high names. All Spanish-America is
waiting for them and no other countries are.
There a continent is yet to be subdued and its
fields brought under cultivation; the rivers are to
be bridged; new cities are to be built and old
ones are to be restored and lighted; railroads are
to be constructed and mines opened there must
be a transformation in the coming fifty years and
young United States should have full share in
t directing and carrying on the work.
With the close of the Euiopean war thousands
" ' j of impoverished immigrants will seek our shores.
f- - A part of that host should be turned south, and
must be or we shall have serious labor troubles
, here at homo.
I To accomplish this a great new merchant fleet
will be needed. Despite what we have seen in the
past thirty years, and especially in the past year,
the party in power will refuse to take any steps
to insure the building and continued sailing of
those ships. It may agree to put on a few government-owned
and navigated ships until the old Eu
ropean lines can be restored. That will not even
begin to accomplish what is needed.
Why cannot the Empire state for her own
i trade's sake show what is needed?
Once started, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts
and Connecticut would quickly follow. They have
the money; they dp re not use it in the ordinary
trade channels for fear that with the coming of
peace will come a collapse and panic on our side
of the Atlantic. Why not make the needed diversion?
Galveston
THE people of Galveston are certainly to be
pitied; not only for the losses they have suf
fered, but for the hopes that the storm must have
broken. .Fifteen years ago, after having been
smitten by the great storm, they gathered up
their courage and their energies and said: "We
must defend ourselves against any future repeti
tion of such a disaster. They built a seawall
which engineers believed would be impregnable
against any future assaults of seas angered under
the lashings of the hurricane.
But this last storm carried away a thousand
feet of that wall and leaping over the portion that
still held, played smash in the inner harbor and
city. They had grown to feel secure behind their
defenses. Will they ever again feel quite safe?
In Spanish-American towns at the first shud
der of an earthquake the inhabitants rush from
their houses and flock to the public square. The
fear of the monster which they are sure is sleep
ing near, and which, when it really awakens and
starts on its march, churns cities to dust and
crushes the lives out of all in its path; is always
upon them.
Will the people of Galveston learn to sleep on
a like uneasy pillow? That insidious, constant
fear is not good, for a race. It breaks down the
nerves of a people, causes them to become easily
excited and affects their steady judgment.
This fear of the next storm will have its effect
on Galveston, worse in the end than the preser-t
losses, for it will keep men from investing and
settling there. v
At least we fear it will have that effect and
for that there Is a deeper pity than for the losses
already sustained.
The calamity ought to draw new attention to
Arensas pass, two hundred miles southwest of
Galveston, on the coast.
It is said that a safe harbor can be made there.
In commerce two hundred miles is a long way,
but the world is made and man must adjust him
self to it. At the beginning, had Houston been
selected for the permanent city and work upon a
ship canal been started, that would have been the
chief port today. It may be necessary to adopt
that plan after all, but to build the thirty miles
of canal and make a basin for ships will be a gi
gantic work. We believe the general government
would bear half the expense were it to be decided
to construct it, for Texas is one of the greatest of
states and her future commerce cannot be estimated.
The Shame Of It
WHEN the war broke out in Europe, all the
world saw that the storm awakened would
involve all Europe, and that international commer
cial relations would at once become most compli
cated. The United States was helpless on the sea
so far as merchant ships were concerned; we had
for fifty years watched supinely and seen Ger
many build a great merchant marine and by it,
and by her factories and an enlightened protective H
tariff not only grew rich, but so rich that she was M
ready to engage all Europe in a war through H
which to extend her empire north and south until H
her ships would control the North sea, a part of JM
the Baltic, the Adriatic and be a compelling force H
in the Mediterranean. H
But even the war and the danger that menaced M
our commerce and our peace could not awaken
those in control of our government to attention.
The constitution of the Southern Confederacy was
still in force in Washington. H
President Wilson did propose to buy and for a
short time run some foreign ships under our flag, M
but he would not promise that they should run for M
a day after the war closed and the old rule
should be restored to carry our commerce in for- H
eign ships, and England and France protested M
against our purchase of German ships interned in M
our harbors, as it would give aid and comfort to M
a power with which they were at war. And con- M
gress adjourned without doing a thing, and now M
our people are being killed in foreign ships and M
another harvest waits to be moved and not one M
new ship is ready, or has been ordered to All the M
need. The only thing that has been done by the M
government regarding our foreign commerce has M
been to impose tolls upon American coast ship- M
ping that seeks to pass through the Panama M
canal. M
Had the order been made by congress for the M
immediate construction of fifteen first-class mer- M
chant steamers, they would have been ready two M
months ago and there would have been no Ameri- M
cans on the Arabic, and we would have been un- M
loading our wheat and flour and salted meats M
upon Brazil and receiving from her the sugar M
and coffee and rubber which she has, and upon M
which her prosperity rests. And Argentine wants H
American agricultural implements, automobiles
and pianos, and threshing machines and electri- H
cal devices and a thousand other American artl- H
cles and has ample means to pay for them. But H
we have no ships, no prospect of any ships for H
those in power have ceased to comprehend that iH
a great nation that must sell her products to for- H
eigners in order to make any profit from them, H
must also have the express wagons to deliver the ;H
goods. H
A Lesson From The Lawyers H
ONE of the best things about the meeting of ;H
the great lawyers hero last week was the en- H
couragement it gave or ought to have given the H
young men in the profession here and to young jH
men generally. They saw represented here the H
highest in the land, and the truth must have H
flashed upon them that all that they saw above
the average must have come from persistent I
study and experience, the first of whlqh is within I
the grasp of all who reach for it faithfully and H
the last which the former makes possible. So far
as we could discern, there was not a real genius jjl
In the bunch. Described in army parlance, J. Ham II
Lewis represented the cavalry, lots of flags, no SI
end of trumpet calls, and the noise of innumer- l
able hoof-beats splendid to cut communications; l
to raid for pi1 'or and not lacking in a real fight l
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