Champ Clark speech: "The Aftermath" - n.d.
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[page 1] THE AFTERMATH. Everybody is making speeches about the war. That’s dead easy. Every true American native born or naturalized expects us to win. That’s all right and shows the proper spirit. The war will end sometime. That’s absolutely certain. If the gait at which our army in France in conjunction with our associates is traveling the end is not far off; but whether this year or next year or even after that, it must end. The Old Caliph who, as a constant reminder of the evanescence of all things earthly had inscribed on his signet ring this legend: “Even this shall pass away” had a
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[page 2] way. What then? The world to a very large extent must be reconstructed in many ways and in many things. So far as I have been able to observe we are so intent on the one object of carrying the war to a successful conclusion--a most laudable intent--few persons give any thought as to the aftermath of the war, or as we say out farther west, to the “After Clap”. Nevertheless it is worthy of our profoundest and most prayerful consideration right now, for it is of the utmost importance. If so happened that on the 9th day of this month I made a speech to a vast concourse of people at the New York International Exposition--an institution permanent in character and maintained for
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[page 3] the praiseworthy purpose of fostering and increasing our international trade. Commenting on my remarks in a brief, terse editorial, the St. Louis Republic began with these words: “Speaker Clark’s remarks in New York about the wisdom of cultivating South American trade and, in general, about the use to be made of the New Merchant Marine after the war, suggests a problem that will require a good deal of hard thinking on the part of Congress and the business interests”--which is the precise fact stated without waste of words and without exaggeration. In very truth it will require a good deal of hard thinking. When Peace comes we will be confronted with stupendous problems the solution of which will
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[page 4] influence favorably or adversely the prosperity and happiness of every man, woman and child betwixt the two seas. We will be surrounded by new circumstances. To begin with we will own an immense Merchant Marine, a thing we have not had since the first year of the Civil War and we fervently hope to maintain it forever and forever. How we do so? That’s the rub. In my judgment the only way to do it is to modernize our navigation laws, make our seamen the most efficient and above all things increase our foreign trade. There’s no use blinking the truth. We are the greates producing nation on the globe, and in order to augment our prosperity or
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[page 5] even to maintain it as it was before we joined the present hostilities we must increase our foreign trade, otherwise our great fleet of Merchant ships will be idle to a large extent and therefore useless to the same extent, for ships without cargoes both going and coming are not very valuable possessions. The history of the American Merchant Marine is a story of mingled glory and shame--the first half glory, the last half shame. In 1857 and 1858 we had the largest Merchant Marine in the world. Our ships sailed the seven seas and floated in every harbor on the face of the earth. In 1858 it began to dwindle and during the Civil War was almost
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[page 6] completely swept from the ocean. One year about a decade ago of all the ships which went through the suez canal no vessel except a war ship went through floating the American flag at its masthead-- a fact which made every genuine American bow his head in humiliation. Some twenty years ago there was a great famine in India. Men, women and children were dying by the thousand and tens of thousands. Congress, reflecting the generosity of the American people, appropriated a million dollars to buy American foodstuffs to send to the starving East Indians. The American foodstuffs were bought and then to our unspeakable shame we discovered that we could secure no American
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[page 7] ship in which to send that precious, life-saving cargo to the starving people of India and marvelous to tell we were compelled to hire a British ship in which to send a million of American food-stuffs to feed hungry British subjects in the Far East. That was enough to make a wooden Indian sick. It is a melancholy tale. Yes, we will come out of this war with a great Merchant Marine, but I press home the question “What are we going to do with it?” It is rumored that when the war ends German will be shut out from the Raw Materials Markets. Whether that is ture, I do not know, but that rumor constantly recurs in the public press. Before the
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[page 8] war Great Britain was our best customer and Germany second. Most of our productions which she took were raw materials or materials only partly manufactured. So, if the rumor referred to turns out to be the truth when the war ends we will have less foreign trade than when it began and somehow, somewhere we must find new and enlarged fields for our products of farms, factories, forests and mines. Where may these new and larger fields be found? My answer is that our best hunting grounds for trade will be Central and South America--right at our doors. If we had acted the part of wisdom in the last half century instead of having only thirteen per cent of the foreign trade of Latin America, we would have
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[page 9] the lion’s share. These amazingly rich countries are our neighbors and friends. They now contain somewhere about fifty millions of population and illimitable resources. They are growing by leaps and bounds. How are we to increase our trade with that marvelously rich land? By establishing abundant steamship lines between their ports and ours; by establishing better banking facilities in those countries; by packing our goods and merchandize in manners and styles to please their tast; and above all by having a course of Spanish in all of our Universiteis, Colleges and business colleges so that our merchants and traveling men can write and speak the language of their customers and clients. That
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[page 10] would help amazingly. Of all modern languages Spanish is most mellifluous and the easiest to learn. Somewhere about one hundred millions of people in various parts of the earth speak Spanish. A person who understands Latin can learn it farily well in a few months. Surely this experiment is well worth trying. The necessity for seeking larger foreign trade is found in this fact. Vast employing hundreds of thousands, perhaps the number runs into the millions, of men and women are now engaged in making munitions of war. When peace comes the war munition business will drop suddenly from the maximum to the minimum. Then one of the two things will
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[page 11] happen; 1.-These tremendous factories will be dismantled and a vast multitude of laborers will be thrown out of employment; or 2nd.- These factories of War munitions must be converted into factories for munitions of Peace. Therefore we must be up and doing to find markets for this greatly increased out-put of articles necessary in times of peace. As certain as a gun is made of iron we have no time to lose in preparation for the trade war which will come simultaneously with peace. [Great Britain] and France have been busily and scientifically preparing for it even within sound of the roar of the great guns now shaking the earth. Let us hope that America will be prepared for the impending struggle
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[page 12] for the international trade of the world.
Details
Title | Champ Clark speech: "The Aftermath" - n.d. |
Creator | Clark, Champ |
Source | Clark, Champ. Speech: "The Aftermath". n.d. Clark, Champ (1850-1921) and Bennett Champ (1890-1954), Papers, 1853-1973. C0666. The State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia, MO. |
Description | In this speech titled "The Aftermath", Champ Clark discussed American employment and trade relations in the aftermath of World War I. Champ Clark, a long-time resident of Bowling Green, Missouri, was a politician in the Democratic Party. He served as a representative of Missouri from 1893 to 1895 and from 1897 to 1921. From 1911 to 1919 he served as the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. |
Subject LCSH | Clark, Champ, 1850-1921; World War, 1914-1918--Economic & industrial aspects |
Subject Local | WWI; World War I; Trade |
Site Accession Number | C0666 |
Contributing Institution | The State Historical Society of Missouri |
Copy Request | Transmission or reproduction of items on these pages beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the State Historical Society of Missouri: 1020 Lowry Street, Columbia, Missouri, 65201-7298. (573) 882-7083. |
Rights | The text and images contained in this collection are intended for research and educational use only. Duplication of any of these images for commercial use without express written consent is expressly prohibited. |
Language | English |