MERCHANT MARINE 



3741 



MERCHANT MARINE 



tonnage by building over a thousand new ves- 

 sels. 



The merchant marine of the United States 

 has not always occupied a low position. Before 

 the proclamation of independence the Ameri- 

 can colonies had a large merchant marine, 

 and the tonnage of ships owned in New York, 

 Boston and Philadelphia was greater than that 



V3!?SMBHMI1 



owned in London, 

 Liverpool or Glasgow. 

 The prominent part 

 these American 

 merchantmen played 

 in the successful naval 

 battles of the American 

 Revolution is a part of 

 history. It is reckoned 

 that at the beginning 

 of the nineteenth cen- 

 tury the American 

 merchant marine was sec- 

 ond in the world, amount- 

 ing to about 970,000 tons, 

 which represented about 

 half the tonnage owned by 

 England. This merchant 

 marine grew steadily, until 

 just before the outbreak of 

 the - War of Secession the 

 States had a 

 marine en- 

 breign trade 

 amounting to 2,300,000 



land; (b) Germany; tons, as compared with 

 Franc* ( J) ^ i t^d 3,082,000 tons owned by 

 sta tes.' England. The total 



merchant marine of the United States, includ- 

 ing vessels engaged in the coastwise trade, and 

 those on the Great Lakes, aggregated 5,354,000 

 tons, while that of England was only 4,252,000 

 tons. The War of Secession dealt the merchant 

 marine of the United States a blow from which 

 it is still suffering. Another cause of the decline 

 was the substitution of iron for wood in the 

 building of ships, which took place at that time. 

 This gave a great advantage to England. There 



IN 1914 

 The merchant marine United 

 strength of the five 

 greatest carrying na- merchant 



(aT 



iron could be manufactured more cheaply than 

 in the United States at that period. 



The Coastwise Shipping of the United States. 

 Transportation by water between the- different 

 parts of a country is called the coastwise trade. 

 The laws of the United States provide that only 

 ships built or owned in that country are al- 

 lowed to engage in coastwise trade. While the 

 American oversea merchant marine has greatly 

 declined, the coastwise shipping has grown to 

 large proportions. The Panama Canal stimu- 

 lated still more its growth. The shipping en- 

 gaged in the coastwise trade is over 7,000,000 

 tons, and of this total ships with a tonnage of 

 nearly 3,000,000 tons ply on the Great Lakes. 

 It is a matter of note that the tonnage of the 

 ships navigating the Great Lakes has nearly 

 doubled since 1900. It is now larger than the 

 merchant marine of any foreign nation except 

 England and Germany. 



Shipping Subsidies. In order to build up a 

 national merchant marine many foreign gov- 

 ernments grant bounties for the construction of 

 ships, and pay to these ships certain sums of 

 money during the time they are operated. Such 

 help is called shipping subsidies. The United 

 States government has never granted such as- 

 sistance. The only help granted to American 

 shipowners is in the form of so-called postal 

 subventions. In accordance with a law passed 

 in 1891, which is still in force, the Postmaster- 

 General makes contracts with American ship- 

 owners for carrying the mails between the 

 United States and foreign ports. For this serv- 

 ice the shipowners are paid a certain sum of 

 money, which is in proportion to the size of 

 the steamer and its speed. The contracts are 

 made for a period of five to ten years and are 

 awarded to the lowest bidder. 



There has been for many years past an agi- 

 tation in favor of granting shipping subsidies 

 by the United States government as the best 

 means to create a merchant marine adequate 

 to the needs of the foreign trade of the country. 

 Bills for that purpose have been introduced in 

 Congress several times, but none has become a 

 law. Public opinion has been either lukewarm 

 on the subject or opposed to such a measure. 

 The shortage of shipping tonnage created by 

 the War of the Nations demonstrated the disad- 

 vantages resulting to the trade of the country 

 from the lack of an adequate merchant marine. 

 With the merchant marines of Germany, Aus- 

 tria-Hungary and Turkey driven from the seas, 

 with the ships lost by the allies through mines 

 and submarines, and with the remainder of the 



