838 



UNITED STATES. 



polled to carry 2,200 tons of coal, leaving room 

 for only 800 tons of freight; whereas one of 

 the new kind, of the same capacity, would 

 make the same voyage and reverse the figures, 

 requiring only 800 tons of coal and carrying 

 2,200 tons of freight. 



Under the continued operation of these 

 causes, the American carrying trade has stead- 

 ily declined, until in 1878, with an aggregate for- 

 eign commerce, outgoing and incoming, of well- 

 nigh $1,200,000,000, American ships carried 

 but little over 300 millions and foreign ships 

 carried nearly 900 millions ; or, to be accurate 

 and specific, American ships carried $313,050,- 

 906, and foreign ships carried $876,991,129. 

 In 1857 American ships carried five sevenths 

 of all we exported and all we imported, and 

 ships of all other countries carried but two 

 sevenths. In 1878 American ships carried less 

 than two sevenths, and ships of all other coun- 

 tries more than five sevenths. The cargoes 

 transported in American ships, with an in- 

 crease of 70 per cent, in the amount of the 

 foreign commerce, was 200 millions less in 

 value in 1878 than in 1857. The profits on the 

 carrying trade of American commerce have 

 amounted since 1869 to nearly 1,200 million 

 dollars, three quarters of which vast sum have 

 gone to enrich Great Britain. The remedy for 

 the poverty of American shipping Mr. Elaine 

 does not look for in the repeal of the naviga- 

 tion laws and the free registry of foreign-built 

 steamers, as such a course would make the 

 United States entirely dependent on England 

 for iron steamships, which require as many 

 men on land to build and repair them as they 

 do on the water to navigate them, and would 

 leave America unprovided with the skill and 

 knowledge necessary for the construction of 

 war-ships. He recommends the example given 

 by the European governments in subsidizing 

 the ocean mail service, Great Britain paying 

 for the last year to the various steamship lines 

 $3,700,000 besides ocean postage, France over 

 $4,500,000, Italy $1,500,000, Austria $500,000, 

 and Belgium $200,000. Wooden-ship building, 

 he thinks, will always remain a valuable interest. 

 "For wooden sailing ships no further aid is 

 needed than these laws afford, if we will only 

 seek in every way to lighten the burden of 

 taxation on vessels. We can build wooden 

 ships better than any other country, and we 

 can build them as cheaply ; but after they are 

 launched and in trade they should not be wor- 

 ried and harried and burdened with every form 

 of taxation, port-charge, and quarantine exac- 

 tion at home, and maltreated and oppressed, as 

 they too often are, by our consuls in foreign 

 ports. They should have every facility for 

 supply in our ports that England gives to her 

 ships. Wooden ships will always be used so 

 long as trees grow and winds blow, and they 

 will form a large resource to our country. In- 

 deed, it is almost the only resource we now 

 have in foreign trade, and we should cherish 

 the interest as one inwoven with our history 



and prosperity as a people." For the encour- 

 agement and development of iron steamship 

 construction, in which class of vessels the larger 

 half of the world's commerce is now conducted, 

 he proposes a general subsidy which he de- 

 clares is less than the sums paid by the Gov- 

 ernment for transporting smaller mails equal 

 distances on land. " I would prefer a general 

 law that should ignore individuals and enforce 

 a policy. For instance, enact that any man or 

 company of men who will build in an Ameri- 

 can yard, with American material, by Ameri- 

 can mechanics, a steamship of 3,000 tons, and 

 sail her from any port of the United States to 

 any foreign port, he or they shall receive for a 

 monthly line a mail allowance of $25 per mile 

 per annum, for the sailing distance between 

 the two ports; for a semi-monthly line, $45 

 per mile ; for a weekly line, $75 per mile. 

 Should the steamers exceed 3,000 tons, a small 

 advance on these rates might be allowed; if 

 less than 3,000, a corresponding reduction ; 

 keeping 3,000 tons as the average and the 

 standard. Provide that the steamships shall 

 be thoroughly inspected by a competent com- 

 mission under the direction of the Secretary of 

 the Treasury, the Secretary of the Navy, and 

 the Postmaster-General, and thus insure the 

 very first class of construction for safety and 

 for speed both for passenger and cargo." 



At the time of the organization of the Forty- 

 sixth Congress the Executive Committee of the 

 National Greenback-Labor party, presuming 

 that the nearly equal strength of the Republi- 

 can and Democratic parties in Congress would 

 place the balance of power in their hands, de- 

 termined to manifest their strength in the or- 

 ganization of the House of Representatives. 

 A letter, signed by James B. Weaver for the 

 committee, dated March 14th, was sent to the 

 Democratic and Republican members of the 

 House, giving the names of a number of mem- 

 bers from whom they were willing to select 

 the Speaker, and containing the following dec- 

 larations : 



The Eepresentativcs of the National Greenback-La- 

 bor party feel that grave responsibility rests upon them 

 in the organization of the House of Representatives. 

 The Republican party is fully committed to the finan- 

 cial policy which has brought disaster and ruin upon 

 all the industrial interests of the country. It is op- 

 posed to an exclusive Government money, is in favor 

 of the issue of national-bank currency, and is the 

 champion of monopolies. The Democratic party in 

 its last National Convention proposed no remedy for 

 existing financial evils, but, on the contrary, reiected 

 propositions looking to currency reform. Both the 

 old parties in many of the States, by earnest advocacy 

 of our principles, have been able to defeat our party 

 candidates and elect their own. The time has now 

 come when devotion to principle must be tested and a 

 suffering people be informed who are in favor of relief 

 for them. We hold the balance of power, not only in 

 the present House of Representatives- but in the States 

 of Maine, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Penn- 

 sylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. In 

 other words, in scarcely one of the Northern States 

 has either of the old parties a majority. We intend to 

 follow out our principles, and place the responsibility 

 of their temporary defeat upon those who shall organ- 



