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May, 1910 "TAE MarRINE REVIEW 187 In Behalf of Our Merchant Marine N. BAKER, president of the Shipping League of Baltimore, @ delivered an address at the Navy League Convention at the Bellevue-Stratford hotel, Philadel- phia, on April 8, on the necessity of upbuilding the American merchant ma- rine. Mr. Baker was formerly president of the Atlantic Transport Line and no man in the country is better qualified to speak on the merchant marine. He related a number of important events in connection with the Spanish-Amer- ican war, He 'said: I thank you for the privilege of ad- dressing this distinguished audience. The honor would be overwhelming did I not realize that you desire the experi- ence of a practical worker brought into the discussion of a question that must be solved along practical lines and that means so much to the welfare of our nation. Personally I wish an _ orator stood in my place to deliver a message that would kindle your zeal and send you forth to stir our people to an un- derstanding of what it means for a goy- ernment to dream great dreams without providing the means for future safety. If history teaches one thing, it is that what has happened may happen again. And the extraordinary fact in our coun- try is that a lesson of only yesterday seems to have been forgotten by the men who are directing our national af- fairs. Events have launched America in the turbulent sea of world politics. As it develops we can not escape this destiny, and we shall have only our- selves to blame if at any point in the game we are not prepared to back up with men and ships the diplomacy and ambitions of our statesmen. It is all very well to plant the flag thousands of miles from our coast line; but beautiful as it undoubtedly is, the Star Spangled Banner will be rather lonesome on an island unless it also floats on good boats along the ocean highways. I fear. we forget that a dozen years ago, when we went to war with Spain, we were ridiculously unprepared, and I fear that our people do not understand that if we were to have trouble today with a first class power we should be _ relatively worse off than we were in those uncer- tain days of 1898. So, as throwing a strong side light on a great national duty, I am invited to put before you not the eloquence of the orator, but the plain narrative of an old steamship man who was called in at a critical juncture of the nation's his- tory to aid the national authorities in providing ships for both the army and the navy. Naturally, I must quote largely from memory, but most of the data is in official form and I shall ae well within the facts. The Getting of Transports. At the beginning of the Spanish-Am- erican war, Senator Gorman, one of our senators from Maryland, sent for me and said that he was acting on behalf of President McKinley, who wished me to. call at once. 1 did so, and had a long interview with the President. In this talk, President McKinley outlined fully the difficulties under which the War Department had to contend in pro- viding necessary transport facilities for use in the conflict then pending with Spain. He asked me to co-operate and to do all I could to help the govern- ment. His. request was a command. It came so suddenly that the answer puzzled me greatly. But I gave up all other connections and engagements and devoted myself to the problem as best © I could. At that time I was president of the Atlantic Transport Line. We had a very large number of ships, and some of them were particularly suited for government transports. Thesé ships while owned by American interests were under the British flag. They were reg- istered at Somerset House, London. The difficult point was to get control of them so that I 'could transfer them to the United States. It was necessary to have an Englishman as Ship's Husband. The senior of our London firm, A. S. Wil- liams, held that position. You can easily understand that to transfer these ships from the English to the American flag for use by our government was a seri- ous matter. I sought the best. legal advice and these gentlemen decided it was impossible to accomplish what I wished. However, the suggestion was finally made by me that if Alfred S. Williams as the Ship's Husband in Eng- land would consent to the transfer of these ships to me personally, I might transfer them to the United States gov- ernment. There was a great deal of consultation and in the end Mr. Wil- liams agreed to assume his share of the responsibility, although if difficulties had arisen, he would have been subject to British laws. What the penalties were at the time, he did not stop to consider. Transferring Seven Ships. Our plans were laid before Mr. Griggs, the attorney-general in Pres- ident McKinley's cabinet. He decided that if Mr. Williams and I agreed to take the risk, he thought it might be done. Then we went to the Secretary of War and an agreement was duly made for the transfer of seven large ships to the United States government upon this plan. I am particularly proud of that transaction. The contract for these seven ships covered just nine lines, written by me on the Arlington hotel company note paper and accepted across the face of the Secretary of War. It required the immediate transfer of the seven ships for the sum of $4,000,- 000. No transaction ever made by the United States government was more profitable to it. Nor do I believe that the same results can be shown in any government. contract ever made. For, after the use of these seven ships for an entire year by the government, the War Department was offered $100,000 more than the purchase price, thus being able after the free use of the ship for 12 months to turn them over at a profit. 'It has been a pleasure to preserve all the documents of this transaction. The Hospital Ship Missouri. You may be interested in one or two instances that happened in connection with the transfer of these ships, and the conditions existing at the time of the Spanish-American war. Having many occasions to visit the War Department, I was requested by Surgeon-General Sternburg 'to see if the. Secretary of War would not arrange to make some provision for bringing the sick and wounded men from Cuba. He said he felt sure there would be a great deal of sickness especially on account of the troops not being acclimated. I recall how deeply his argument impressed me. I put it before the Secretary of War and said I thought he should provide a hospital ship. He replied that it would be time enough to consider that after he had secured the means for transport- ing the troops to Cuba. I returned to the Surgeon-General's office and "in- formed him of the position taken by the Secretary of War. The Surgeon-Gen- eral remarked that he was afraid the country would criticise him for not tak- ing steps to provide for the return of the sick and wounded from Cuba. He expressed his disappointment so_ elo- quently and I was so much impressed by his earnestness and his consideration for the care of the men that I told him I would give him a ship and would let him have the choice of four steam- ers. He accepted the Missouri, and the record of this ship is one in which our country may take real pride, for it saved lives and helped accomplish untold good in alleviating human suffering. The Blockade of Santiago. Another incident may interest you as showing the necessity of being prepared for emergency. When Cervera's fleet