The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-21 00:00:00

gister, but Mr. MORSE limits this concession to
steamers of not less than 2,000 tons burden, which
may be immediately required to put on any esta-
blished and regular line between the United States
and any foreign country, and we have nothing to
say against the qualification, as it really meets the
necessity. Foreign-built vessels would be excluded
from the coasting trade, yet American merchants
would be placed on an equality with foreign mer-
chants in establishing ocean lines between Ame-
rica and foreign ports. A glance will show our
readers how impossible it is for wooden vessels,
whether sail or steam, to contend against iron in
the long run. Experience has proved the absolute
superiority of iron in all respects over all other
substances. This is most marked in durability, for
iron ships have been running more than 26 years, yet
time has not been reached in which to test their

With care they may be kept gool for 50
years, and perhaps for a century. When new, if
good, LLOYD classes them A. 1 for 14 years, and
afterwards they may be continued in that class for
an indefinite time if the materials and workmanship
prove up to the mark. All parts above and below
water are protected from corrosion, and the bot-
toms from barnacles and seaweed, by apply-
ing a composition like paint with a brush.
The cost of keeping the iron ship in re-
pair is infinitely less than for the wooden
—hence, when one of each is launche I, the
economy of the iron ship is beyond dispute, and
the question then lies in the comparative outlay in
building. Here are Mr. MORSE'S figures—" A new
iron ship can be bought in England in complete
order ready for sea with stores on board for about
£l5 10s. or $75 20c. per ton, not much over the
price in gold of wooden ships in the United States
at this time." In that sentence alone Mr. MoRSE
tells the real cause of the decline in the shipbuild-
ng trade in the United States. To remedy an evil,
the first necessity is to understand that evil, and
although it may appear more romantic and senti-
mental to attribute to the sea-rovers the destruction
of the vast carrying trade, the rise and prosperity
of which Mr. MORSE has so graphically described,
yet it is more practical, and therefore wiser, to ad-
dress ourselves to the real point. If Americans are
again to compete for the carrying trade of the
world, they must turn their attention to the manu-
facture of iron steamers. Let Congress weigh this
fact, which really lies at the bottom of Mr. MORSE'S
Report, and we venture to assert, that if he furnishes
another on the Ist of January, 1869, that that fact
will run through it from bottom to top. There is
another paper on seamen to which we cannot here
further allude than to remark on the immediate
necessity for Congress to supply a school for sea-
men. Until shipbuilding under the new conditions
can be carried on successfully in the United States,
American merchants should be permitted to pur-
chase and register ships for employment in their
foreign carrying trade, or, when by their wonderful
national adaptability Americans can compete suc-
cessfully in such construction, it will be found that
the race of "sailors" has died out. This subject is of
national importance, and should not be neglected
by Congress, for delay only adds to the difficulties
of the remedy, and it is a grave responsibility for
those in power to allow the habits of a section of
the nation to change in a direction inimical to the
national interest and destructive to the future
safety and glory of the Republic.—Ang/o-American
7 imes.

wear.