520 



MERCHANT MARINE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



ELEVENTH DISTRICT. 



William Whiting, of Holyoke 14,485 



Edward J. Sawyer, of Gardner 7,602 



Warner Johnson, of Athol 802 



Oscar Edwards, of Northampton 168 



Allothers 22 



TWELFTH DISTRICT. 



George D. Robinson, of Chicopee 11,294 



Reuben Noble, of Westfleld 9,889 



All others 25 



The Legislature chosen at this election will 

 consist of 22 Republicans and IT Democrats in 

 the Senate (there being one vacancy), and 140 

 Republicans and 90 Democrats in the House 

 (there being two vacancies). 



PEOHIBITOKY AMENDMENT. A convention of 

 persons interested in temperance work, irre- 

 spective of party or sect, to agitate in favor of 

 an amendment to the Constitution prohibiting 

 the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors, 

 was held in Boston on the 28th of September. 

 The following resolutions embody its action : 



In view of the fact that the liquor-traffic still con- 

 tinues to be the most fruitful source of crime, misery, 

 pauperism, and taxation in the State^ and license is 

 wrong in principle and a failure in action, 



Resolved, That the manufacture and sale of alcoholic 

 liquors ought to be prohibited by law. That the Con- 

 stitution of the State ought to be so amended as to pro- 

 hibit such manufacture and sale within the Common- 

 wealth. That we continue to demand at the hands of 

 the Legislature the submission to the popular vote of 

 the people at the ballot-box of an amendment to the 

 Constitution of the State forever prohibiting the manu- 

 facture and sale of alcoholic liquors. 



That we recommend to the friends of temperance 

 throughout the State to carefully ascertain how the 

 candidates of the various parties stand upon the ques- 

 tion of submission of a constitutional amendment, for- 

 ever prohibiting the manufacture and sale of alcoholic 

 liquors as a beverage, to a vote of the people, and to 

 vote only for such candidates as will favor such sub- 

 mission. 



That we pledge ourselves to call a ministerial con- 

 vention in favor of such submission to the people. 



That we pledge ourselves to call conventions in the 

 large cities and towns in aid of the same. 



That we pledge ourselves to circulate petitions 

 among the people and to present them to the General 

 Court in aid of the same. 



That the present committee, with needed additions, 

 be made a permanent working committee in aid of the 



MISCELLANEOUS. In February a destructive 

 fire occurred in Haverhill. The pecuniary loss 

 was about $2,000,000; the insurance amounted 

 to nearly $1,800,000; the territory burned over 

 covered an area of from five to ten acres ; about 

 sixty buildings in the best part of the city were 

 destroyed; 159 firms, including nearly every 

 shoe-manufacturing concern in the city, two 

 national banks and one savings-bank, were 

 burned out, and between 2,000 and 2,500 per- 

 sons were thrown out of employment. 



On the 12th of October a celebration was 

 held in Marshfield, in honor of the one-hun- 

 dredth anniversary of the birth of Daniel Web- 

 ster, which occurred in January. 



MERCHANT MARINE OF THE UNITED 

 STATES. The decadence of the shipping in- 

 terests of the United States has attracted an un- 

 usual degree of attention during the year, and 



aroused the people and Congress to efforts for 

 the discovery of its causes and the provision of a 

 remedy. Since the year 1855 or thereabout, 

 there has been a progressive decline in the ton- 

 nage of American vessels engaged in foreign 

 trade, and in the business of building and equip- 

 ping sea-going ships. The carrying-trade of the 

 country has in that time passed almost wholly 

 into foreign hands. The aggregate tonnage of 

 American shipping of every class in 1861 re- 

 gistered and enrolled, sail and steam, employed 

 upon the ocean, the lakes and rivers, and about 

 the harbors of the country was 5,539,813 tons. 

 In 1881 it had declined to 4,057,734, a decrease 

 of 27 per cent. The decline in tonnage em- 

 ployed in foreign trade only, during the same 

 period, was from 2,496,894 to 1,885,586, a de- 

 crease of 54 per cent. The loss of ground in 

 ship-building is still more striking. In the 

 year 1855 there were constructed of vessels of 

 all descriptions in the United States, 583,450 

 tons. In 1861 the amount had fallen to 233,- 

 194 tons, and in 1880 it was only 157,409 tons. 

 This period covers a time during which the for- 

 eign trade of the country has largely increased. 

 The total of American imports and exports in 

 1855 was $536,625,366, and over 75 per cent 

 of the amount was carried in American ves- 

 sels. In 1860 the whole trade amounted to 

 $762,288,550, of which 66| per cent was carried 

 on by American shipping. In 1881 the total 

 volume of imports and exports of the United 

 States had increased to $1,676,636,000, but of 

 this amount only 16 per cent was carried in 

 American vessels, and the percentage was still 

 lower in 1882. "While the marine of the United 

 States was thus sinking into insignificance, that 

 of other countries was making corresponding 

 gains. The tonnage of British vessels engaged 

 in trade rose from 935,000 in 1856 to 7,903,- 

 000 in 1880 ; that of Germany increased during 

 the same period from 166,000 to 1,089,000; 

 that of Sweden and Norway from 20,662 to 

 1,234,000. The gain of other countries was 

 only less marked. The following table shows 

 the variation in the volume of the foreign trade 

 of the United States from 1840 down to 1882, 

 and in the percentage carried in American 

 vessels : 



