country the fact that the handing over of the country’s marine foreign traffic to foreign bottoms was an economic blunder of the most stupid sort, a blunder made possible only by the limited vision of the dwellers on the prairies. From August 3, 1914, history will date the rebirth of the American mer- chant marine.
The West, however, was not in as serious a plight as the Atlantic seaboard. Less than half a dozen offshore steamers were left on the Atlantic under the American flag after the conflict began. On the Pacific the five great liners of the Pacific Mail, the fleet of the Matson Navigation Company and the Oceanic Company’s swift trio plying between San Francisco, Honolulu and Australia respectively, the twenty-six cargo carriers of the American-Hawaiian line, the Great Northern Railway’s giant “Minnesota” and the vessels of the Japanese lines succeeded in keeping trans-Pacific communication open when six of the Seven Seas were empty of traffic.
“See America First!”
WHAT effect will the war have upon the two great expositions of the Pacific Coast? Immediately upon the outbreak of hostilities the entire West, tremendously interested in the suc- cess of the fairs, asked itself this question. The answers ranged in tint from the deepest ultramarine blue to the rosiest pink, according to the temperament of the indi- vidual. What are the facts?
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Murphy, in San Francisco Call
“The Canal is Open!”
The most serious result will be the effect of the war on the foreign exhibits. England and Germany, however, had refused to participate altogether; they had planned no exhibits either for San Francisco or San Diego. France announced that, hostilities notwithstanding, the French pavilion would be constructed; even if Japan should be involved in the war, transportation across the Pacific would be reopened to vessels of all nationalities, except German and Aus- trian, long before the opening of the fairs. South and Central America, China, Spain, Portugal, Italy, all the countries usually supplying the most attractive and popular exhibits, would have no reason for altering their exposition plans and announced that they were ready to go ahead with their structures and exhibits.
San Diego has never relied upon extensive foreign participation; South and Central American countries predominated in the exotic section of the grounds, and from these countries no cancellations have come. Since both expositions had applications for more space than was available, gaps in the ranks of domestic exhibits can be filled on short notice.
Neither exposition ever made an estimate concerning the volume of paid admissions from foreign countries, nor was foreign at- tendance considered in determining the probable income from gate receipts. It is universally admitted that the distress of the hundred and fifty thousand American tourists surprised in Europe by the sudden upheaval will curtail European tourist travel for years to come. If the war is of short duration, Europe will not be a gay spot for pleasure seekers next year; if the war continues, tourist traffic across the Atlantic will be entirely suspended next spring and summer. Even if financial con- ditions should not improve, the added traffic created by the closing of the European door will compensate for hard-times losses; a moderate degree of prosperity in the Middle West and the North Atlantic Coast, coupled with the shunting of the usual European exodus to the West next year, should increase the gate receipts beyond the original estimates. Only absolute calamity can prevent the two expositions from making good now that European com- petition for the tourist traffic is removed.
