CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. (AMERICAN SHIPPING.) 



SEC. 17. That the individual liability of a ship- 

 owner shall be limited to the proportion of any or all 

 debts and liabilities that his individual share of the 

 vessel bears to the whole. 



SEC. 18. That when any vessel, whether steam or 

 sail, shall be constructed and equipped in the United 

 States for the foreign trade, including the trade 

 between the Atlantic and the Pacific ports of the 

 United States, in whole or in part of materials of the 

 production of the United States, the owner or owners 

 of such vessel shall be entitled to receive and collect 

 from the United States a drawback or sum equal in 

 amount to the duty which would have been collected 

 upon imported materials of like description and of 

 equal quality with the American materials used in the 

 construction, equipment, engines, boilers, and other 

 appurtenances of such steam or sail vessel: Provided, 

 That in ascertaining such drawback the duties on 

 such iron or steel materials shall be computed on iron 

 and steel advanced in manufacture not beyond the 

 point of plates, angles, bars, and rods : And provided 

 further, That this section shall apply only to vessels 

 commenced after the passage of this act. 



SEC. 19. That such sums shall be paid in the same 

 manner and from the same funds as drawbacks on 

 customs duties, and under such regulations as may be 

 adopted from time to time by the Secretary of the 

 Treasury, and shall be adjusted and the amount there- 

 of determined prior to the registry of such ship or 



SEC. 23. That all acts and parts of acts in conflict 

 with this act are hereby repealed 



Mr. Cox, of New York, opened the discussion 

 on the part of the minority of the committee : 



" Mr. Speaker, in most cases, either of social 

 or physical grievance or disease, the way to 

 reach the remedy is to study the causes so as 

 to remove them. The sickness even unto 

 death of our marine is a partial exception to 

 this mode of treatment. Many of the causes 

 which produced the effect which we deplore 

 have done their worst and have expired as ac- 

 tive energies. To their operation have been 

 added new causes, which congressional su- 

 pineness and injurious policies have intensified. 

 So that, indeed, it may be said that if our 

 navigation and commerce are to be restored 

 the remedy must be as heroic as the case is 

 desperate. 



" It is beyond doubt that the origin of our 

 navigation laws was a compact with slavery. 



SEC. 20. That the certificate of registry of every 

 such ship or vessel shall be entitled u Certificate of 

 registry under an act to remove certain burdens on 

 the American merchant marine, to encourage the 

 American foreign carrying trade, and so forth," and 

 shall contain a prohibition of such ship or vessel en- 

 gaging in the coasting trade, except between ports on 

 the Atlantic and ports on the Pacific. Every such 

 certificate ^ shall have indorsed upon it the amount 

 paid or adjusted to be paid to the owner under this 

 act. Every renewal of the registry shall be in like 

 form. Should any vessel so registered be about to 

 engage in the coasting trade, other than that between 

 ports on the Atlantic and ports on the Pacific, the 

 owners must first surrender such certificate of regis- 

 try, repay to the collector of customs to whom the 

 certificate is surrendered the sum indorsed thereon, 

 and take out a new certificate of registry or of enroll- 

 ment in ordinary form. Should any ship or vessel, 

 registered as hereinbefore provided, engage in the 

 coasting trade other than that between ports on the 

 Atlantic and ports on the Pacific, without surrender 

 of such certificate, as hereinbefore provided, or with- 

 out repayment of the amount indorsed thereon, or 

 without taking out a new certificate of registry or en- 

 rollment in ordinary form, she shall be subject to a 

 fine of double the amount indorsed on such original 

 certificate of registry ; which fine shall be a lien on 

 such ship or vessel, and shall be ascertained and col- 

 lected at suit of the United States in rem in admiralty 

 against such ship or vessel in the district court of the 

 United S.tatcs for the proper district ; such suit to be 

 governed by the laws, rules, and regulations pertain- 

 ing to other suits in admiralty. 



SEC. 21. That when a steam or sailing vessel is 

 built m the United States for foreign account, wholly 

 or partly of foreign materials on which import duties 

 have been paid, there shall be allowed on such vessel, 

 when exported, a drawback equal in amount to the 

 duty paid on such materials, to be ascertained under 

 such regulations as may be prescribed by the Secre- 

 tary of the Treasury. Ten per cent, of the amount of 

 Buch drawback so allowed shall, however, be retained 

 for the use of the United States by the collector pay- 

 ing the same. 



SEC. 22. That all registered ships, steamers, or ves- 

 sels employed exclusively in the foreign carrying- 

 trade, including the trade between the Atlantic and 

 Pacific ports of the United States, are hereby exempt- 

 ed from all or any State or municipal taxation. 



This David A. Wells has shown most vividly 

 in his volume on the 'Mercantile Marine.' 

 New England was engaged in shipping and in 

 transporting and selling slaves to the South. 

 She desired to hold the monopoly of that trade. 

 This she procured for a period, by the exten- 

 sion of the time for the extinction of the slave- 

 trade to 1808. The compact was completed by 

 the navigation laws of 1790 and 1792. Ton- 

 nage dues and imposts gave to the American 

 the entire commerce and prohibited foreign 

 ship-owners from engaging in our trade. 

 Again, in 1816, 1817, and 1820 the odious 

 British navigation laws against which our 

 fathers rebelled, were re-enacted by Congress. 

 Every discrimination possible was made 

 against foreigners. 



" These laws, whose origin is found in the 

 horrors of the middle passage, and whose his- 

 tory is a part of the most disgraceful experi- 

 ence of our country, have ceased to protect 

 American shipping. 



" Indeed, the protection of these laws, by the 

 whirligig and revenges of time, is given to the 

 foreigner, to the Briton. We drive to him 

 the carrying of our persons and property ; 

 load him with largesses of freight and fare, 

 and forbid our own people from enjoying even 

 a share in the hundred and odd millions which 

 our laws transfer out of our produce and pro- 

 ducers to the pocket of the foreigner! If this 

 be done to protect our ship builder, it fails; 

 if it be done to protect our ship-owner, it fails. 

 The owner if he would build here must do it at 

 a loss of 15 or 30 per cent. If he would buy, he 

 must buy ships only thus built. Thus builder 

 and owner are burdened by the clinging of this 

 Old Man of the Sea. If we can build as cheap 

 here as abroad, we need no protection ; if we 

 can not build as cheap here as abroad, who can 

 afford to buy ? The sea is open field, where 

 the guerdon falls to him who can procure his 

 vessel in the best market. 



" This open competition, as to the purchase 

 and use of ships of all kinds, has changed, or 



