THE ECONOMIC DISTURBANCES SINCE 1873. 439 



three thousand (2,990 exactly). What caused this ? The introduction 

 of steam hoisting-machines and grain-elevators upon the wharves and 

 docks, and the employment of hydraulic appliances and steam-power 

 upon the vessels for steering, raising the sails and anchors, pumping, 

 and discharging the cargo ; or, in other words, the ability, through 

 the increased use of steam and improved machinery, to carry larger 

 cargoes in a shorter time, with no increase or, rather, an actual de- 

 crease of the number of men employed in sailing or managing the 

 vessels. 



Statistical investigations of a later date furnish even more striking 

 illustrations to the same effect from this industrial specialty. Thus, 

 for 1870, the number of hands actually employed for every 1,000 tons 

 capacity, entered or cleared, of the British steam mercantile marine, 

 is reported to have been 47, but in 1884 it was only 28 ; or seventy per 

 cent more manual labor was required in 1870 than in 1884 to do the 

 same work. In sailing-vessels the change, owing to a lesser degree of 

 improvement in the details of navigation, has been naturally smaller, 

 but nevertheless considerable ; 28 hands being required in 1884 as 

 against 33 in 1870 for the same tonnage entered or cleared ; to which 

 it may be added that if in these comparisons the tonnage of freight 

 actually transported had been taken, in place of tonnage entered and 

 cleared, whether light, partially, or fully loaded, the difference in the 

 labor required for maritime transportation in favor of 1884 would un- 

 doubtedly have been even greater. Another fact of interest is, that 

 the recent increase in the proportion of large vessels constructed has 

 so greatly increased the efficiency of shipping, and so cheapened the 

 cost of sea-carriage, to the advantage of both producers and consumers, 

 that much business that was before impossible has become quite pos- 

 sible. Of the total British tonnage constructed in 1870, only six per 

 cent was of vessels in excess of 2,000 tons burden ; but in 1884 fully 

 seventeen per cent was of vessels of that size, or larger. Meanwhile, 

 the cost of new iron ships has been reduced, in Great Britain, from $90 

 per ton in 1872-'74, to $65 in 1877, $60 in 1880, and less than $40 in 

 1885-'86. Prior to about the year 1875, ocean-steamships had not 

 been formidable as freight-carriers. The marine engine was too heavy, 

 occupied too much space, consumed too much coal. For transporta- 

 tion of passengers, and of freight having large value in small space, 

 they were satisfactory ; but for performing a general carrying trade 

 of the heavy and bulky articles of commerce, they were not satisfac- 

 tory. A steamer of the old kind, capable of carrying 3,000 tons, might 

 sail on a voyage so long that she would be compelled to carry 2,200 

 tons of coal, leaving room for only 800 tons of freight ; whereas, at 

 the present time, a steamer with the compound engines, and all other 

 modern improvements, can make the same voyage and practically 

 reverse the figures that is, carry 2,200 tons of freight with a consump- 

 tion of only 800 tons of coal. How, under such circumstances, the 



