522 



MERCHANT MARINE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



to more than 50 per cent of the value of all 

 the products of our cotton manufactures, as 

 returned by the census of 1880." But, he 

 adds, the direct losses are "insignificant in 

 comparison with the indirect losses due to the 

 loss of trade from an inability to make ex- 

 changes promptly, regularly, and cheaply with 

 foreign countries." 



CAUSES OF THE DECLINE. A study of the 

 causes of the decadence of American shipping 

 shows that its beginning was practically con- 

 temporaneous with the introduction of steam 

 in place of sail as a propelling power, and of 

 iron or steel in place of wood as the chief ma- 

 terial of construction. "Wooden sailing-vessels 

 were made more cheaply in the United States 

 than in any other maritime country, and as a 

 consequence the greatest skill and perfection 

 were attained not only in their construction 

 but in their use. About 1855, when American 

 shipping interests were at their highest stage 

 of prosperity, the tonnage of the country was 

 more than 50 per cent in excess of the needs 

 of the entire carrying-trade in its exports and 

 imports, which shows that it was largely and 

 profitably engaged in carrying commodities for 

 other countries. Moreover, a large amount of 

 tonnage was built each year for sale in foreign 

 markets. This construction for foreign account 

 amounted in 1855 to 65,000 tons. In 1856 it 

 had fallen to 42,000, in 1858 to 26,000, and in 

 1860 to 17,000. The first steam -vessels were 

 built in Great Britain in 1838, but the growth 

 of this interest was slow -at first. The total 

 British steam tonnage engaged in foreign trade 

 in 1851 was 65,921 tons. A beginning in this 

 direction was made in the United States in 

 1848, when it acquired 16,000 tons of steam 

 shipping. Its increase at first was compara- 

 tively rapid, and in 1851 it amounted to 62,390 

 tons. The advance continued until 1855, when 

 American steam shipping amounted to 115,000 

 tons. From that time a retrograde movement 

 set in, and the steam tonnage of the United 

 States was less in 1862 than seven years before. 

 The civil war which intervened accelerated the 

 decline, and prevented attention from being de- 

 voted to the subject, which might possibly have 

 given a different direction to events. Ameri- 

 can commerce was, in a measure, driven from 

 the seas by Confederate cruisers and their al- 

 lies, and American shipping was sold to foreign- 

 ers on account of the special risks to which its 

 use was subjected. Attention was turned away 

 from ship- building for commercial purposes, 

 and from the fostering of commercial interests 

 in general, and the heavy burdens imposed upon 

 the country in order to raise war revenues had 

 the effect of restricting foreign intercourse and 

 trade. Accordingly, when the war was over, 

 the American merchant marine was well-nigh 

 destroyed. The wooden sailing-vessels had 

 largely disappeared, there had been no increase 

 of steam tonnage, and the slight revival which 

 followed the return of peace affected the coast- 

 ing-trade mainly, if not wholly. In 1869 the 



steam tonnage was 221,939, but in the twelve 

 years following it dwindled to 145,604. Mean- 

 time the building of iron steam-vessels had 

 been developing to enormous proportions in 

 Great Britain, and that country had gradually 

 secured the bulk of the carrying-trade of the 

 Atlantic. Some of her mail-steamship lines to 

 remote colonies and to distant parts of the 

 globe, in which the British Empire had posses- 

 sions or large interests, were developed by the 

 aid of liberal compensation for mail service 

 under special contracts. While the British 

 marine and commercial interests had acquired 

 such overshadowing proportions, and those of 

 the United States had sunk into such insignifi- 

 cance, in the ten or fifteen years following 

 1855, it was soon found that continued peace 

 and internal prosperity produced no symptoms 

 of recovery on the part of the latter country. 

 On the contrary, the decline continued. It 

 speedily became evident that the primary cause 

 of this state of things was the fact that under 

 existing conditions iron vessels could be more 

 cheaply built in Great Britain than in the Unit- 

 ed States. The difference has been variously 

 stated at from $10 to $15 per ton for iron sail- 

 ing-vessels, and $25 to $35 per ton for iron 

 steam-vessels. But it was also found that 

 many burdens were laid upon American ship- 

 ping by the laws of the country which would 

 prevent development even if ships could be 

 economically built. There were many anti- 

 quated restrictions in the navigation acts, 

 heavy port charges, tonnage dues and consular 

 fees, not to mention State and municipal taxa- 

 tion, which placed American shipping at a dis- 

 advantage in competition with that of other 

 countries. Americans were not permitted to 

 buy ships abroad and have them registered in 

 the foreign trade, the materials used in their 

 construction were subject to heavy duties if 

 imported, domestic materials and labor for one 

 reason or another bore a high price, and it was 

 no wonder that ships were neither built nor 

 used to any extent by the United States in for- 

 eign commerce. The only chance for develop- 

 ment was in the coasting-trade, from which 

 foreign competition was excluded by law. 



THE REMEDY. The remedy for this deplor- 

 able state of things has been a subject of 

 thought and discussion to an increasing extent 

 for some years. Private citizens and public 

 bodies have given it their attention, until it has 

 been forced to the position of a pressing ques- 

 tion. Near the beginning of this year the 

 New York Chamber of Commerce considered 

 the report of a special committee on the sub- 

 ject. Among the suggestions of that commit- 

 tee were the following : 



1. The repeal of the existing law of Congress which 

 requires the payment of three months' wages to all 

 seamen discharged in foreign ports. This law was 

 declared to be unjust, not called for by any other na- 

 tion, and now not applicable, as it was originally in- 

 tended to protect American seamen, the law requiring 

 American vessels to have only American sailors hav- 

 ing been repealed. In addition, the facilities of trans- 



