880 TRA^■SACT^o^^s of the Ameiucan Institute. 



eral years in waginn; tlie unequal contest. Meantime tlie English 

 were left without a rival for the first class passenger traffic, as well as 

 for the more costly and best paying descriptions of freight, requiring 

 rapid transport. 



As year by year glided away, there were amongst our merchants 

 men of sufficient forecast to see tjiat a time must come when steam- 

 ers would entirely supersede sailing ships. Public attention was 

 aroused to the subject, and it was proposed to build steam ships 

 superior to those of the English line. Congress at length yielded, 

 and authorized a mail contract to be made with Mr. Collins and his 

 associates. The terms were liberal and the ships were built ; they 

 were larger, and their hotel accommodations more sumptuous than 

 the first Cunarders, and made better time ; but they drew too much 

 water ; were too high out of the water, and not long enough to be 

 economical; and they cost a great deal too much to build; or, per- 

 haps, to speak more accurately, the stock of the company was too 

 much " watered" ever to be ])rofi table. To sum all Up, the ships 

 themselves turned out great failures. 



Meantime our rivals AVere not idle. Before the Collins ships had 

 got fairly on the ocean race course, and prior to the sad accidents 

 that befel two of their number, the Euglisli company were engaged 

 in constructing equally fast and comfortable, and better and safer 

 ships. That line had also, by this time, made sad havoc in the best 

 descriptions of the freight traffic. Our merchants could no longer 

 tolerate the delays of sailing vessels. By paying a little more for 

 steam freight they could turn their capital over twice as rapidly, as 

 when they shipped by the best clippers. Congress finally refused to 

 continue the mail contract to a company that had proved a total 

 failure. Thus ended ingloriously, and most injuriously to our 

 interests, the first elfort made to regain our rapidly trans- Atlantic 

 carrying trade, by the only means left open to us, namely : By build- 

 ing steamers equally, or superior to those of our rivals. 



"While England was profiting by the competition of our short 

 lived line of steamers, and was improving the models, engines, and 

 material of her steamships, for she now discarded wood, and com- 

 menced to build of iron ; -our merchants and builders seem to have 

 become paralyzed, and ship building and engineering have remained 

 about stationary. On the other hand, naval architecture has, during 

 the last twenty years, been made the subject of profound investiga- 

 tion in Enjjland and France. The ablest scientific men in those 



