The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-10-22

/ because he believed we could build a better
vessel Tor the same money. We have better
material here to build them Of If Govern
meut did not help the shipbuilding interests
ne 1elt assured that many of the ship carpen-
ters would leave the country, and their num-
DER be greatly reduced. Our navy yards at
present get the best ship carpenters for they
pay high wages and require less work AS for
taxing common carpenter to make ship
| carpenter OF Tin answer to 4 question put by
one OF the committee) he said he would rather
tlke green hand to make ship carpenter Of
Cart Charles Dr. Darts, of the firm of e. NJ.
Davis & Co., said that he disagreed with bis
friend Capt. Ryan in regard to the deteriora-
ton of discipline, for the reason that we no
| longt had vessels TO establish system of dis
| clpline with. Our fleets had been SWEEP from
the ocean by pirates and by being sold to other
parties to sail under foreign register. Only
| give us chance to build vessels as cheap as
| foreign nations and we can not only compete
| with them but We can outstrip them He then
showed that vessel and good one, could be
built in Quebec at $3S ton in gold Now if
| Government would take the duties off of the
| MATERIAL and the duties on outfits out of bond
and put things on gold basis. we could beat
the world in shipbulding, and could turn out
vessels as fast as needed He therefore thought
that the want of business was the reason why
| the sailor had deteriorated and that discipline
would improve as commerce improved. There
| was deterioration in all classes of business
nowadays, in professional as well as in bust
| ness men. (On being asked by one of the
committee if he thought the same rule applied
to members OF Congress- he Thought it likely
| Great laughter.) Mr.. Burlington here asked
| Capt Davis if he did not think that where the
| interest in seamanship was kept up the seaman
was an honor to his profession? Capt. d. said
he most certainly did On being asked what
he thought of the repeal of the navigation
laws and the granting of American registers
to foreign built vessels, he said he thought it
might be beneficial to commerce but bad for
shipbulding. He thought it would take some
ten or twenty years to compete with England
IN the manufacture of iron vessels, but in six
months we shou'd outstrip them with wooden
ones. He was averse to our Government en-
couraging iron shipbuildiug, because the cost
OF learning would be too great for the country,
and he was opposed to seeing any vessel which
had been sold to sail under a foreign register
admitted back in our marine. 1t was better to
let them die out.
Cyrus r. Sargent, of Yarmouth, a shipbuild-
err, but never a shipmaster, stated that he
thought the duty on materials should be re-
moved. He then explained how the English
were able to sail their vessels cheaper than us
by means of requiring certificates of seaman
ship. He said that the law requiring our YES
sells to carry certain proportion of Americans
for crews was dead letter, because the Amer
lean seamen were not in existence in sufic-
iency He thought free trade should be the
word all over the country. A general repeal
of the navigation laws would, in his opinion,
shut up the shpyards In regard to the build
ing of vessels, he thought vessel could be
built as cbeapy now as before the war; that it
was simply difference between gold and cur
rency that made the cost seem greater. But
Mr. Sargent did not seem to be able to prove
this astonishing statement, Notwithstanding
he claimed that the difference between gold
and currency was an imaginary One He
thought Yarmouth shipbuilding had been as
brisk during the war as ever, and that with
free trade she could compete with the world
He thought the great reason for the decline in
shpbuilding was the fact that English capital
lists were satisfied with four or five per cent. on
their money, while the Americans required
eight where they had formerly thought six an
ample return. Then, again, English vessels
were insured against total loss, but merican
only against partial loss. He was of opinion
that the difference in the cost of labor and ma
terial did not amount to the difference between
gold and currency. In the vessels sailing to
fora
er sailors than the English. In the matter of
coppering vessels, it cost $4,000 to copper a one
thousand ton ship abroad, and it was done as
well there as here.
Mr.. Giles Loring, of Yarmouth, another ship
builder, took the same view of shpbuilding, as
it now stands, with Capt. Dyer. He could not
agree with his friend Mr.. Sargent, that a ship
could be built as cheaply now as before the.
war. He used to get floor and top, or frame
as it is sometimes called, from Canada before |
the war for $40 Now it would cost at least |
$18 The increased cost of material was TWEEN
ty per cent. more than before the war, and |
that, too, in gold. Then capitalists put their |
money into ships because it paid them salts
factory interest; but now they invested in
bonds, which gave them higher interest and |
the interests of the shipbuilder at the present |
day, and if something was not done to alleviate |
their condition very shortly they will have to |
emigrate to the West If we oGly give our |
shipbuilders some protection against foreign |
builders, then>we can compee with them sue
cessfuly. He stated that the wages paid to
ship carpenters the same as stated by
Capt. Dyer 1t cost few years ago double to
copper vessel in Europe that it did here;
now it was thought best by some of the own
ers to buy the copper abroad and have it put
on at home He thought the eight hour sys-
tenn had been very injurious one; ten hours |
should be the time men were employed. Many
of their best men had gone into Government
yards in consequence of the less time they had
to work, but he had found out that when men
feed on the Government it pulls them down in
little while. They deteriorate. (This was
considered applicable to congressman. Anoth-
err laugh.) All classes of interests centered in
the shipbuilding interest. If Maine shipbuild-
ing was to be destroyed Maine would be pros
trated
Mr.. j. E. Simpson, one of the proprietors,
and the builder of the Dry Dock said he was
a shipwrght by profession, but had more expe-
rience in the repairing than in the building of
vessels lately Everything since the war had
advanced in price, especially iron and copper.
None of our ships can now afford to get cop
pered here; they have to so to Europe Be-
fore the war there would be three or four YES
sells at a time waiting a chance to be repaired;
now the docks were idle. A statement had
been made by an Englishman that we had no
mechanics in this country who understood
their business. 1t was a slur. An English
vessel was taken into the Erie Basin Dock and
repaired in just half the time it would have
occupied abroad, and the owner was perfectly
astonshed. Where we use six men the Eng
fish require sixty. Our mechanics were as
good as any abroad. In New York wages were
81 day. The men are employed ten hours on
new work and eight hours on old. He thought
iron vessels could be built here that would
successfully compete with those built abroad
If we could receive protection for five years.
He thought we paid higher wages to our men
and got more efficient ones. He was opposed
to a repea! of the navigation laws, and thought
if they were repealed, and duty materials
removed, we could not compete with Europe