The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1868-11-20
OCEAN STEAM NAVIGATION AND TEE CUES
TIOs OF SUBSIDIES CONSIDERED.


TIOa OF SUBSIDIES CONSIDERED.
.rs tE ~>~~~~~~-~~~~~~>~~~~~-~ st
To THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD
For quarter OF century prior to the establish
ment Of ocean steam lines between Europe and
America the United States were In possession Of .
large preponderance Of the carrying trade between
the two continents. Our improvements In ship
building the steady increase In the size Of our far
famed packet ships, and the consequent diminution
in the cost per ton Of working them had left us
almost without rival on the ocean. 1t was in
those days the pride OF Americans to witness in
every important seaport In every part of the world
the Stars and Stripes floating from the masts Of the
finest and largest ships. The British Indlaman OF
100 or 800 tons burthen, ceased to command or
binary respect along side the Liverpool ana New
York liners Of double the tonnage At the time that
steamships became "dxed fact" we had made o
great advance, even on our own ocean packets, by
the construction Of clipper built ships In tonnage
these rapid saers exceeded their predecessors con-
sderaby and because OF their increased length and
liner lines and the application Of the hollow
water line to their entrances and clearances
they reduced the average length of voyage across
the ocean nearly one-half. Yankee ships and
Yankee enterprise were in those palmy days for
merchants ana shipbuilders the constant subject Of
remark in all commercial countries, and the develop
ment OF our commerce by means OF our own superior
ships had become both the envy and the admiration
of the whole civilized world.
Such Is the tenacity with which trade and travel
adhere to established usage and follow old accus-
toned methods Of transport that the highly subsI-
died lines OF English steamers had for several years
to contend for o share Of the lucrative carrying
trade Of which We had, by the means referred to-
acquired almost o monopoly. Our merchants at
maiely win the day and obtain the bulk OF il not
the eutre passenger business; but they chung with
great zeal and pertinacity 70 the fast sailing clipper
half clipper ships for the transport OF freight. At
length after the English steam lines had been ten or
dozen years In successful operation and were
freight some OF our more far seeing merchants be-
gan to consider the question IN broader and more
practical light Iney saw !nat the DAYS OF sailing
hold the commercial sceptre OF the seas II we did not
promptly turn our enterprise In the direction OF
gress with commendable liberality granted postal
subsidy to acompany-afterwards known as the
ana steam power, far superior to the CuDard steam
were built and put on the line between this port
and Liverpool For a time we seemed to have re-
gained our old prestige the SEAS but It turned out
to be only seeming. These costly structures, with
equally costly engines, proved to be great failures
Their consumption of coal and cost OF maintenance
such that even the very liberal postal subsidy
could not sustain them, and the msf0rtunes and nu
merons accidents ana break downs leo to the final
refusal OF Congress to renew the subsidy, so the COM
pany ended In bankruptcy and modification.
Meantime the rivalry ongendered by this short
lived and singularly uniucky attempt to maintain
our supremacy Of ocean trade led to an immense i'm
pr0vement IN the models and machinery OF the Eng
gated the Whole SUBJECT Of designing and ensineerng
ships, and succeeded. by inviting shipowners and
practical builders and engineers to meet together,
first In the rooms OF the Engineers Association in
London and afterwards In those Of the naval archi-
tects, In erecting numerous and important improve
ments In their steamers French engineers always
improvements.
OF these valuable opportunities to acquire know
ledge OF first principles, became rivals OF the Eng
lish. The result has been that the carrying trade
the 0cean-except the coasting trade. which con-
troll through our exclusive navigation laws-has be-
come monopoly In the hands OF the English, French
and Germans, who get their ships chiefly built In
England.
The rapid glance thus taken of the changes ana
viclssitudes OF the ocean carrying trade Turing the
last forty years should be full OF interest to every
American reader: We had succeeded in construct
ing wondrously fast lake. Sound and river boats bur
when brought into active competition, aided by
most liberal subsidy, with British steamers, broke
down, and, In very un-American style, gave up the
contest our shipbulders are idle; and the building
yards which once swarned with skilled workmen
are either silent and closed or keep few score
men at work on an occasional river or ferryboat.
The almost entire humiliation OF SO important
branch OF national industry, carrying with it. as It
laws the loss OF the transatlantic carrying trade
and OF our prestige as first class maritime Power
Is source OF deep humiliation and chaGrin. Some
writers have imputed this loss to the raids made on
our shipping by rebel cruisers during the war.
Nothing Can be more unfOunded than this assump-
ton. Our lines OF steamers had proved failures be-
fore the war began and though we have had four
years OF peace there Is no symptom OF revival Of
the business. Such arguments must, therefore, be
dismissed as worthy only OF stump orators who
rarely ever look below the surface OF things, and
rely, rather, on denunciation and invective than
on sound common sense conclusions. How
ever unpalatable 1t may be to our national vanity
the true for the decadence in question should
be honestly laid bare and admitted. The truth Is
that for ono reason or another we have fallen be.
hind European nations Ia the art or shipbuildlng.
The writer has on several occasions endeavored to
OF our worthy shlpbuilders, who have ever been
customed to the praises OF unsked and unlearnod
writer's 1t Is therefore proposed to point out how
and where they have failed
The circumstance that our naval designers have
been unable improve their lake aud river models so
as to obtain an increase or speed on
must be taken to be strong evidence that
that period. We have nothing now on our inland
waters in the shape OF steamers to surpass In speed
and seawortniness such boats as the City OF Buffalo
and many others that run on our lakes nearly
quarter OF century ago. But 1t is when we come
to comparison OF our ocean steamers with those OF
England and France that we put to the blush,
II does not require the skilled eye OF the scientific
naval architect to point out the superior points and
beauty Of these foreign built vessels as compared
Those accustomed to cross our Jersey City and
Staten Island ferries will have had frequent oppor-
tunIties OF remarking the very striking difference
In the style OF the two classes OF stcamersth0sc OF
European and those OF American build. such
observers ut once struck WIKI the great length,
fine lines and general symetry of the foreign steam
ships On the other hand when their attention Ia
drawn TO a "buky, unwicdy, Dutchn looking steamer
short and high out OF the water, with no end or
what sailors cal ''t6p hampern they guess Of once
that she was built on the East river somewhere
below Thrtieth street. Even the much praised
wooden structures built and building for the Subsi-
died Pacific NAH Company. are no exceptions to the
RUE stated. They are vast and costly aud as mere
floating hotels compare favoraDly with European
steamships. As ships they are expensive to build
and very costly to rum because each has carry
cessary dead weight, which renders an increase Of
engine power and large daily increase Of fuel In
dispensible.
Mood, a. o material for the construction OF the
hulls CT ships has been pretty nearly discarded by
European builders, and only continues to be usel by
our more conservative merchants, who think
saving OF ten fifteen per cent the first cost bet
ter than saving twenty-five per cent annually IN ope-
rating them. But 1t IL claimed by some Of our moro
advanced shipbulders that they can construct iron
ships al least as cheapy rs we can build OF wood.
They, however, say That american merchants and