The Sun.
London, England, 1869-11-02 00:00:00

THE SHIPPING TRADE OF AMERICA.

(From the Anglo American Times)
A very important, and a meeting very interest-
ing to England was held in the rooms of the Ship-
owners' Association of New York on the 13th inst.
to elicit the opinions of both ship-
buildersTh The object
and
n was
dshipowners on the decline of the Ame-
rican mercantile marine, and the best means of re-
covering the former supremacy. The following
was submitted for the consideration of the members
of the Society :

Resolved, That the Coproittee of this Association ap-
pointed to confer with the Congressional Committee on
Commerce and Navigation, be instructed to express the
views of this Association as desiring for American citizens
the right of purchasing vessels in any port of the world
where they may find it the most advantageous to do so,
which vessel or vessels when so purchased shall ba en-
titled to all the privileges of United States registry. 2.
Failing in this, to express the desire of shipowners to be
permitted to import vessel property upon the payment of
a fixed duty, either ad valorem or per tonnage. 3. That
all the materials entering into the construction or outfit
and supplies of a vessel constructed in America on Ameri-
can waters, shall be subject to a refund of duties or in-
ternal revenue tax, or a bounty equivalent thereto. 4.
That power be given to such Committee to adopt any plan
likely to result in the placing of shippin3 interests on a
proper basis.

It is evident that two (perhaps conflicting) interests
are involved ; the one that of the owner, the other
that of the builder. The former might find his best
course in the securing from Congress the repeal of
the Navigation Laws so as to permit him to pur-
chase ships anywhere and register them as Ameri-
can. The interest of the other is to maintain the ex-
elusion of the foreign built vessels, but to demand the
free import of such material as may be required in
the construction of the ships. As the case now
Wands the builders themselves do not get orders
for vessels, while the laws
prevent t k t owners from
giving the orders to foreign builders, the result
being to throw the foreign carrying trade of the
country exclusively into the hands of foreigners.
Most of the speakers discuss the subject almost in
the words used by us since we took it up over two
years ago. It was shown that about the titne when
the civil war commenced, the era of iron shipbuild-
ing began, effecting a revolution in the material of
construction, and the effect was the more decisive,
that at the same time the change in the propelling
power from wind to steam occurred. Most of the
shipowners desire legislation to empower them to
buy the ships they require abroad when Americans
would have the pride of again seeing the American
!tag borne upon every sea. Now neither benefit, as
the shipbuilding interest is bankrupt, being unable to
compete with Britain and other nations, for since
the war not only the tree going to compose the
vessel, but the land whereon it grows, has increased
in value. Mr. W. Nelson said he had found after
careful inquiry that of GO barks then lying in the
port of New York, 43 were foreign and 17 Ameri-
can, the tonnage of the foriner being 19,543, while

that of the latter was only 8,575 ; of the 75 brigs also
in port, 44 carry foreign flags, the tonnage of which
was 10,167, that of the American brigs being 9,130.
A month ago the proportion of foreign vessels was
larger. He admitted that the purchase of ships
abroad was not a popular idea with the masses, but
free trade in ships would be necessary unless the
abrogation of the present injurious laws weighing
against the American shipbuilding interest be effected,
the latter being the necessity in the opinion of Mr.
Webb, who stands at the head of the shipbuilding
trade in New York. Another speaker considered that
they were trying to ride two horses at the same time
—the horse of Protection and the horse of Free-
Trade. To revive American commerce it was neces-
sary to drop the question of American shipbuilding
and go before the country simply as carriers. Mr.
Henkel, who vacated the chair to speak, did so in
a most effective way. He evidently disliked the
idea of falling between the two stools of Free-
Trade and Protection, urging that they should go
before the Congressional Committee simply as car-
riers, confining the resolutions to that issue. Ile
believed the outcry about the sacrifice of the ship-
building interest to be fallacious ; England had in
some such dilemma not even hesitated to sacri-
fice her wooden shipbuilding interest, and the re-
sult is that she now builds iron ships for all the
world. The President of the Maine Association,
who was in the room, was asked to give his opinions.
He did not like anticipating what his delegation had
to say to the Congressional Committee, but he might
remark in a general way that Maine desired to modify
her views as far as possible to meet the judgment of the
community at large. The problem was a cheap
merchant marine, whether of wood or of iron, to be
arrived at by the readiest means. He maintained
that America had the materials and the men, but
failed in legislation, so as to enable them to com-
pete in shipbuilding with other nations
"Give us," said the Hon. N. G. Hichborn, "the same
laws that England has, and we can build either wood or
iron vessels as cheaply as they can in England. lam sure
we could do it in Maine, at all events. If we ask our Go-
vernment to unfetter us, and to place us on the same foot-
ing as shipbuilders on the other side of the water aro on,
and we have a metallic currency, we ask but very little
time to show the world that we can meet England half
way; and if she can then beat us we will wish her God-
speed. Wo don't want to be denationalized, and therefore
we claim the right to build our ships on our own soil. If
we can only agree to a concerted plan of action, I believe
that wo can succeed in liberating American commerce from
the thraldom it is now under."

The Congressional Committee will be prepared with
a report for Congress, and the question will soon be
decided one way or the other. That question situ-
ply resolves itself into this—whether the materials
used by the shipbuilders, which can be imported
cheaper than they can be procured in the coun-
try, are to be admitted duty free, and after, if
American shipbuilders can compete with those of
the Clyde, the question will be answered satisfac-
torily;
or if permission is to be extended to American
owners to purchase their ships in the cheapest mar•
ket. As the laws now stand Americans are barred
out of the foreign carrying trade, and will con-
tinue to lose even the few ocean going ships re-
maining, unless some change be effected. With
that decline is swept away the school for American
seamen, and by degrees Americans will cease to
follow a sea-faring life, the boys being no longer
trained to it as a calling. It will be found more
difficult to revive a taste for the sea than to revive
shipbuilding, and if Congress deals too tenderly
with the shipbuilders they may lose all in the at-
tempt to prop up an interest which will revive of
its own accord when the natural time comes. That
day will dawn when the debt is greatly reduced,
when the country has returned to specie payment,
and labour and material have become cheaper. But
Congress cannot effect such a change by the mere
passing of an Act, while it can effect the change by
an Act which would place American owners on an
equality with foreign shipowners. When circum-
stances favoured shipbuilding in America, with a
surprising speed that branch of industry advanced
to the lead in the world, and England instantly
availed herself of the fast cheap American clippers,
or the carrying trade would have passed from Eng-
lish bottoms. The consequence was a great spur
and an improvement to shipbuilding in England,
and it is now seen that her Majesty's Government
selected the best course in placing the Engllll
owner on a level with the American owner (who
then bad the advantage in shipbuilding) which en- i
snred to the country a fair share of the carrying
trade, leaving the builders whom the Parliament
could not effectually help to take care of them-
selves. The British Administration could no more
change the circumstances then prevailing than
can the American Administration now. They
could not transfer to the banks of the Clyde the
pine forests of Maine no more than can the Wash-
ington Government transfer to Maine the cheap
iron and labour of Glasgow. If England bad re-
fused to register as British, foreign built ships, pre-
cisely
what is happening to America now, would,
at least, in a measure, have happened to England
then—the foreign carrying trade would have passed
into the hands of foreigners, and the great ships
lying in the Mersey and in the Thames would all
have flewn the Stars and Stripes. We trust that
Congress will look to the greater interest, which it
is in its power to place on an equality with that of
foreigners, and leave the lesser to await the time
when the nation has recovered from the damaging
effects of the war, and it will quickly revive under
the influence of the cheap labour and material
which will surely follow. The tone of the speakers
was all that could be desired. No spirit of jealousy
or ill-feeling of any sort was displayed, which, in
the depressed state of their interests, together with
the belief in America that it is in no small degree
due to English action during the war, reflects not ,
a little credit on the speakers.
In the session of the Special Congressional Com-
mittee on the 15th inst. several shipbuilders were
examined, and, according to their general testi-
mony, as the iron of the United States is superior,
and their ships are better built, if placed on equal
terms, they could compete with foreign yards. The
shipowners, however, differ widely from the builders.
To read the evidence of the latter, it might be sup-
posed that they excelled the world in the manufac-
ture, making ships not only superior, but nearly as
cheap as they do on the Clyde. Yet on inquiry it
transpires that they make few or no ships at all.
That they will be able when circumstances change
to compete against any country, we believe to be
au undeniable fact ; but the truth is, that since the
war that industry has languished in Europe, and
could not therefore revive in America. Shipbuild-
ing has for some time been a ruination trade on the
Thames, ou the Mersey, and on every other river
except the Clyde, which has suffered severely
though surviving, while scarcely a sound of ship-
building is heard on the Thames. One of the facts
of the case is that Britain can better afford to em-
ploy capital for a very low remuneration than Ame-
rica can, still the Thames has been no more able to
bear up against the depression than has Green Point.
The special Committee of the House of Represen-
tatives is now sitting in New York, with the lion.
John Lynch, of Maine, in the chair, composed of
Messrs. Holmes, Morrill, Welles, and Buffington. It
will be their business to report fully to Congress when
it assembles, and they will find matter for reflection
in the official reports for the fiscal year ending 30th
of June last, which show the following arrivals at
American shores from British ports :—American
vessels 343, tons 350,024 ; foreign vessels 1,190,
tons 1,427,545 ; a decrease of one-sixth in Ame-
rican tonnage during the year, and an increase of
foreign tonnage of about one-ninth.

They appear to have some nice young men in
Massachusetts, as the following instance will show. A❑
individual was imprisoned for a brutal assault on Lis wife,
and on the expiration of his short term he was released.
That night., the 11th instant, Dr. Cole, of Saxouvillo, was
called from bed, the plea being a message from a patient.
No sooner had he, however, got outside his door, than
Le received a bullet through the cheek, and had to send for
another doctor to attend him. It was then the turn of
Mr. Gray, the depot-master, of Framlingham, who, on
being aroused, went to the window, and was there pottA d
at twice. Police Justice Adams and another gentleman
were then visited, but they wore not so easily coaxed out
of bed, and the patience of the would-be assassin being
exhausted they escaped. As it was through the instru-
mentality of these gentlemen that the punishment was in-
flicted on the wife-beater, the conclusion has very natu-
rally been arrived at that this was his first action on get-
ting out of gaol.