590 



NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



cial intercourse was established between them 

 and the people of the United States. 



The city of Para has a population of about 

 30,000 inhabitants, and bears the same relation 

 to the Amazon River that New Orleans does 

 to the Mississippi. Its trade will continue to 

 increase as the interior of the country is de- 

 veloped, which, under the liberal policy of the 

 Emperor of Brazil, is now assured. The mouth 

 of the Madeira River is 980 miles above the 

 city of Para, and from there to the falls this 

 river is navigable for steamers of 10 feet 

 draught a distance of 1,000 miles. The falls 

 are about 300 miles in length, and when the 

 railroad is completed and the difficulty of pass- 

 ing them removed, easy access to the large riv- 

 ers which flow through Bolivia will be had. 

 The Amazon is a river of extraordinary dimen- 

 sions, and a line-of-battle ship can easily as- 

 cend it for 1,500 miles from the sea. At a dis- 

 tance of 900 miles from its mouth it has a 

 depth of 50 fathoms. As there is no difficulty 

 about the navigation of this great river, this 

 survey will serve to show its dimensions, and 

 the maps of the Madeira will enable steamers 

 to ascend it at the periods of safe navigation, 

 without relying upon local pilots. It is confi- 

 dently expected that the most beneficial results 

 will follow this expedition and report. 



The number of navy invalids on the pension 

 roll is 1,781 ; the number of navy widows and 

 others is 1,705; the amount of their annual 

 pensions is $502,970. The number of pension- 

 ers increased during the year by 47. 



The question is still before the country re- 

 specting the relations of the navy to its com- 

 merce. The exports of the country have de- 

 monstrated that it must become the greatest 

 producing country of the world. The Secre- 

 tary asks who is to carry these exports, and 

 presents a brief summary of the commercial 

 marine, and the disadvantages under which it 

 labors. For the period of forty years from 

 1820 to 1860 American ships carried the 

 average of 81-2 per cent, of the ocean-borne 

 commerce between our own and foreign ports. 

 It was during this period that the vast and 

 unprecedented increase of our shipping took 

 place, rising from 1,280,167 tons in 1820 to 

 5,353,860 tons in 1860. The decrease in our 

 tonnage and ocean-carrying trade began with 

 the commencement of the war in 1861, and 

 has continued until, during the present year, 

 this large percentage in our favor has been 

 reduced to 26-3 per cent, of freightage; and 

 the transportation of passengers we retain 

 only 6-7 per cent., whereas we formerly carried 

 nearly all. 



Reference to the commerce of the last ten 

 fiscal years, from 1867 to 1877, inclusive, will 



ible us to realize what we have lost in na- 

 tional wealth from this change. In that period 

 onr imports and exports, in the aggregate, 

 amounted to $11,114,174,044, and the number 

 f passengers carried was 4,741,044. The 



ightage arising from the imports and exports 



amounted to $889,133,933, and the passage 

 money to $247,971,505, making the total 

 freight and passenger earnings $1,137,105,- 

 438. Of this, ships sailing under foreign flags 

 took 70-1 per cent, of the freightage, and 93'3 

 per cent, of the passage money, leaving to 

 American ships 29'9 per cent, of the freightage 

 and 6-7 of the passage money. These propor- 

 tions in amount are respectively : 



To American ships, freight earnings $265,851,045 97 



To American ships, passage money 16,614,090 86 



Total of American portion $282,465,186 82 



To foreign ships, freight earnings $623,282,887 04 



To foreign ships, passage money 231,857,414 17 



Total portion of foreign ships $854,640,801 21 



These results show that the earnings and 

 profits of this ocean carrying trade have been 

 transposed, and that vessels sailing under for- 

 eign flags have now within 2 per cent, of what 

 American vessels had before the war. This is 

 owing, in a great measure, to the increasing 

 use of foreign iron steamships, which have 

 driven nearly all our merchant sailing vessels 

 from the sea, and with which we can not suc- 

 cessfully compete until our own home indus- 

 tries are stimulated in the same direction. It 

 would seem that our actual loss of $572,174,- 

 064 within the ten years, as shown by the fore- 

 going calculation, is sufficient admonition to 

 secure this. 



The fiscal year 1878, just closed, shows a fur- 

 ther decrease in the rate of our participation 

 in the profits of this carrying. trade from the 

 29-9 per cent, average to 26'3 per cent. The 

 freightage earnings for that year were $95,- 

 200,009, and the passage earnings $21,918,141, 

 making a total of $117,118,150. In all this 

 the participation of American ships was only 

 $26,498,811, while that of foreign ships was 

 $90,719,339. 



Since the beginning of the war they could 

 not have been paid in legal-tender or national- 

 bank currency, in consequence of the differ- 

 ence in value between it and coin, and conse- 

 quently, within the ten years from 1867 to 1877, 

 $572,174,064, and during the last fiscal year 

 $90,719,339, in gold, have been taken out of 

 the United States because our mercantile marine 

 has been so reduced that we have not had mer- 

 chant-vessels enough to retain it by conducting 

 our own carrying trade. 



The total number of vessels that entered as 

 foreign was 30,796, representing 14,463,804 

 tons. Of this number, 15,330 were British 

 vessels, representing 7,732,870 tons, and 10,594 

 were American vessels, representing 3,642,017 

 tons. The total number of clearances of ves- 

 sels as foreign was 31,364, representing 14,807,- 

 531 tons. Of this number, 15,351 were British 

 vessels, representing 8,282,348 tons, and 10,872 

 were American, representing 3,872,203 tons; 

 while French vessels represented 221,362 tons, 

 and those of all other countries 2,431,618 tons. 

 Of the total tonnage entered, 25-1 per cent, 

 was American, 53*4 per cent. British, and 74*9 





