The Pascagoula Democrat Star

Instead of the extravagant waste of money in the conquest of the unwilling millions of inhabitants of the far off isles of the Philippines, how much better would it be for our country to contribute a share of its taxable great wealth toward the rebuilding of a commercial marine. It has long been a wonder to those, who are left, to recollect the forest of masts that forty years ago bristled in front of the port of New Orleans, mostly American, and to contemplate the disastrous effect of the disappearance of our flag in our own marine ports and its almost absence from the commercial harbors of the world.

American clipper ships were in those days the joy of our national pride. The plow hand of the man of the soil grasped that of the other of the sea in a most hearty shake. Instead of bounties that have been given by our country to foster sectional interests for the benefit of a comparative few, how much better it would be to lend a helping hand to float our American flag at the mast tops of American ships for the comprehensive good of all.