Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-06-27
WASHINGTON NEWS AND GOSSIP

dated condition Of the shipping interest at the
North, on which we took occasion TO comment
briefly yesterday, is not only inducing interest,"
ed capitalists there TO turn their atssntiou to
the necessity of checking Brit aims evident
strides towards driving us out oI. the heId as
her competitors for the carrying t.'ade II other
nations by resOrting to iron ships lsrcpeiiet' by
the steam worked screw, but to the necessity
for prompt reforms in the management Of sailors
on shore and on shipboard Their coodition
has Been a theme on which philanthropy has
expaGatea for centuries, yet very little progrcs.
has been made III the matter of betterfns it.
The very last suggestion appears to us likely
Is cxter1ninats the fuvt Of their great evir--the
habit e sailor landlords to do their best te' de-
moralize, detsdch and rob them, leaving them
in a state, on Stripping for new voyage, 10
afford seeming fair excuse for the manner in
which they are too frequsptly maltreated on
board ship. But we will let she Courier and
Enquirer tell the tale as follows:
GO Those who were familiar with the life of n
sailor while at sea, know well the treatment
which he received, and how great was its ten
dency TO defeat all that had been done bis il
provement while on shore. Under the cornnal I'd
OF officers who could scarcely give an order un
accompanied with an oath, beaten and brui:,e
for trivial offences, treated more like brute Il ian
human being, need we be surprised that this
moral condition of the sailor is not worse tn. IN
ever. The frequent cases of outrage upon sc; l.
men on board our vessels has finally called fort
determined action on the part of our merchants
remedy to the present evil, and one which I'M
doubleday strikes at its source, is the refusal to
give advance wages. This will at once reach
class of men who are a most INSCRIPTIONS set,
and who have done all in their power to counter
act the efforts which have been made to reform
the sailor. They knew that il he became de-
cent, sober man, their business would be m;e~ri
ally injured. We allude, ofcouTse, to the KEEP
iny Of sailors boarding houses. IL is into t6S
hands Of these men that the advance wages are
usually paid. To insure this, he drugs his VIC
tim, and when he has reduced him TO state of
insensiblity. he ships him, and receives the sum
which is given OF such occasions He can easily
prove that the sailor is fully indebted 10 him for
the full amount. if not more, than what he then
| receives. We speak now of the class Of course
! there are some to whom our remarks do not APP
ply. w hen the sailor becomes sober IL is often
to find that he has been shipped for long voy-
! age with but scanty wardrobe. With the eff
fects of vile liquor still operating upon his ystem
| he is expected TO 90 to work as if he Were we'll
| and hearty. The officer, instead of maxi ing an
| allowance for the state in which he finds him.
| thinks he deserves punishment for having been
| drunk; he, therefore, proceeds to blows, if the
unfortunate sailor be Il little Sury or if he NOV,
not as quickly as he wish.
= The effect of unjust treatment of this kind
upon the rest Of the crew is ruinous, and the in
discretion or brutality the part of the officers
when the vessel is leaving port, often renders the
J men disconnected throug bout the voyage. Hence
/ forward they regard the officers as petty tyrants
| and consequently all work is done unwillinglv
They become sullen, quarrel with each other q nd
/ perhaps finally end in an open mutny We can,
therefore, easily perceive that the determination
| of our merchants to refuse advance wares will lie
attended with a good result. They will undoubt-
| eddy meet with much opposition ffom the : land
! lords, but of this they must take notice. The
| merchants of Boston having resolved to pursue
! the same as those of our city, it cannot be
/ long before we will perceive change in the
| crews of our vessels Let not our merchants think
4 NJ tI1fr A.,f, L.
more to be done. They must determine that they
| Will employ as officers none but those who are
| really qualified. man who navigate his
vessel, or who can handle her we'll NAV be- new
ertheless, an ignorant brute, and utterly unfit to
| have the charge Of men"
The CALF oRyIA OVERLAND MAIL.-The n
Y. Times, it seems, joins the Tribune in the
latter foolish endeavor to make out a niger
IL this fence But in so doing that journal
presents to the public the best possible reason
| why the route, which it seems to he thought
will be chosen. should be adopted. Thus it ex-
plains that by its adoption $3.50 900 per annum
may be saved to the National Treasury sub
stantial reason for its selection, surely, a all
economists will comprehend at glance-so sub
s:antial "a that none will complain about the Sc
lection of the Southern route, if that be cventu-
ally chosen, except those who are advocates
for squandering any amount of the public funds
to avoid locating the eastern terminus of this
mail route on slaveholjing territory.
That the reader may realize how completely
the Times answers its own complaint, we quote
its article on the subject, 81 follows
I'VE hesitate, therefore, 20 accept az true the
unpleasant TUnors charging the Administration
with D -oceedng undi2 nified and Ill scracefuI
Nevertheless, il must be confessed that the char
acter OF Mr. Bird S bid lends seeming corrobora-
ton to the charge II il known that he is very
anxious to obtain the contract and TO be ready to
execute it over any route, which shall be deter
mined upon He knew that there were other
PARTIES including a combination of Express
ComPanies-equally anxious to undertake the
service. quite as competent, at all events with
himself, and more likely to command the public
confidence. because of their known experience
energy and strong capital. These. he certainly
must nave foreseen, would endeavoT to win bv
undertaking: Yet we find that hr Bi CHI puts
in single bid for the Memphis route alone at
S6n,Cp per annum-the extent of the approp5ia-
ton male by Congress for this service I'VE sub
init that under the circumstances, this bid ind-
Gates perfect confidence in its acceptance, such
as Could scarcely result from ANYTHING less than
knowledge that the bidding was a farce and that
at the end be was to be declared victor. IL the
scheme - Carried to maturity we shall probably
be told tlt1 Blrch's bid was the lowest because.
his prcv osss contract for the san Antonio and FL
paso mar route stipulates the contingent discon
tlnll1nce Q, The latter: and the saving in that way
of Sl5g, UOO thus reducing his California bid in
effect to SljU,CU per annum"
Writing tbs paragraph, aswe are, in advance
of the decision of the questions involved in this
matter, we may add that we have, as yet, no
personal knowledge which route will probably
be selected, though our hope is that ere going to
press to-day we may be able to explain the De-
partponts determination in the matter.
AVAILABLE AND BEAUTIFUL WORK OF ART.
Mr.. Boyer, a German artist, (of the Dusseldorf
school) has, for some years past, been collect
ing material in Virginia for the eventual pub