COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION, AMERICAN. 



151 



The share of each nation in the total ton- 

 nage entered at American ports in 1883, as 

 compared with 1856, was as follows: 



* Decrease. 



Of 1,190 steam- vessels, carrying 44,205,000 

 bushels of grain from the port of New York 

 during the calendar year 1883, there were 786 

 British, carrying 29,441,951 bushels; 93 Bel- 

 gian, carrying 5,734,018 bushels; and 170 

 German, carrying 4,248,485 bushels; the re- 

 mainder carrying mostly Dutch, French, Dan- 

 ish, Italian, but none of them American colors. 

 Of 166 sailing-vessels, carrying 4,252,946 

 bushels, only two were American ships. Out 

 of 113,343,163 bushels carried in 1880, 63,376,- 

 584 bushels were shipped from New York by 

 sail, but in 1883 the proportion had declined to 

 4,252,936 out of 48,457,945 bushels. 



The American steam tonnage entering Amer- 

 ican ports in 1883 was 1,300,727 tons, against 

 1,356,790 in 1882, 1,240,578 in 1881, 1,195,- 

 900 in 1880, 1,118,459 in 1879, 1,092,103 in 

 1877, 1,141,734 in 1875, 870,192 in 1873, 836,- 

 456 in 1870, 298,311 in 1866, and 153,230 in 

 1864. Of the foreign tonnage 6,646,338 tons 

 were steam in 1883, 7,163,237 in 1882, 6,391,- 

 126 in 1880, 3,142,723 in 1875, 1,680,704 in 

 1870, and 642,576 in 1865. 



In 1856 the tonnage of American vessels 

 entered at our seaports from foreign countries 

 amounted to 3,194,27 % tons, and constituted 

 71^ per cent, of the total tonnage entered ; and 

 in 1868, three years after the termination of 

 the war, the tonnage of American vessels 

 entered constituted 44'26 per cent, of the to- 

 tal tonnage entered, but of the total tonnage 

 entered at seaports of the United States from 

 foreign countries during the last fiscal year, 79 

 per cent, consisted of foreign tonnage, and 

 only 21 per cent, of American tonnage. 



The amount of American tonnage entered 

 has exhibited but little change since 1868, but 

 the tonnage of foreign vessels entered has in- 

 creased from 3,105,826 tons in 1868 to 10,526,- 

 176 in 1883. In other words, foreign ship- 

 owners have been able to secure the entire 

 increase in the foreign carrying-trade of the 

 United States, which increase has been very 

 large. These facts show that the decadence of 



American shipping is not at the present time 

 due to incidents of the late war, but to causes 

 which are persistent. 



The iron ship, especially the iron steamer, 

 has, to a great extent, superseded the wooden 

 ship, and owing to certain conditions of min- 

 ing, labor, skill, and capital, iron vessels can 

 be more advantageously constructed in Eu- 

 rope, particularly in Great Britain, than in the 

 United States. How small, relatively, is the 

 iron tonnage built in the United States is 

 shown by the fact that during the year 1882 

 there were 130 iron and steel sailing-vessels 

 built in Great Britain and Ireland, the total 

 tonnage of which was 132,340 tons, and 568 

 iron and steel steam-vessels built, the total 

 tonnage of which was 520,437 tons, a total of 

 698 iron and steel sailing and steam vessels, 

 the aggregate tonnage of which was 652,777 

 tons, or sixteen and a half times the total iron 

 tonnage built in the United States. 



The small progress made in the United 

 States in the building of iron and steel vessels 

 is even more strikingly exhibited by the fact 

 that, of the 39,646 tons built in American 

 ship-yards during the year ended June 30, 

 1883, 18,530 tons were for the home trade, 

 which under the navigation laws of the 

 United States is confined exclusively to Amer- 

 ican vessels, and only 21,116 tons for the for- 

 eign trade, which under the principles of 

 maritime reciprocity, now prevalent among 

 commercial nations, ig free to the ships of all 

 nations. 



Daring the fiscal year 1883, 30 per cent, of 

 the exports of merchandise was carried in 

 sailing-vessels, 67 per cent, in steam-vessels, 

 and 3 per cent, in cars and other land vehicles. 

 Of the imports, 24 per cent, was brought in 

 sailing-vessels, 72 per cent, in steam- vessels, 

 and 4 per cent, by land. 



During the fiscal year 21 '4 per cent, of the 

 exports from the United States of wheat and 

 wheat-flour was from the Pacific coast. The 

 rates of transportation by sea from Pacific 

 coast ports to Europe were exceptionally low 

 during the season of 1883. The current rate 

 on the 5th of November, 1883, from San Fran- 

 cisco to Liverpool, was only 1 12*. 6d. per 

 ton of 2,240 pounds. This was lower than 

 the average monthly rate during any month 

 since June, 1872. The reduction in the ocean 

 freight rates from the Pacific coast to Europe 

 prevented the expected diversion of wheat to 

 the rail-line from California to New Orleans, 

 to be shipped thence by vessels to European 

 ports. The lowering of the rates by sea was 

 the result of the low quotations of wheat in 

 the European markets, which were due to the 

 large stocks then on hand, and the expectation 

 of supplies from other countries as well as 

 from America. 



The percentage of the tonnage entered at all 

 American seaports which was entered at each 

 of the principal ports in 1883, as compared 

 with 1870 and 1860, was as follows: 



