The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-10-19
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1870.
LINE or sTEA MSH[PS TO LIVER

f-OOL.
The project of establishing line of steam
ships between Philadelphia and Liverpool is
again under consideration. The directors of
the Pennsylvania Railroad are taking the
leading, if not the only active, part in the
discussion of practical plans for putting this
enterprise on q substantial foundation; and
it is reported that the main cause of delay at
the present moment is the difficulty of de-
Gliding between line to be established by
an English firm, with guarantees from the
railroad company, and a thoroughly Ameri-
can line, to be built by our own sbip-builders,
owned by our own capitalists, and to be con-
trolled wholly by American influences.
It may be easier, for the time being,
quicker, and cheaper to subsidize an Eng
Esh line; and if we are influenced by the ex-
ample of Baltimore, or by the nationality of
the steamships plying between New York and
Europe, it would be natural enough to assist
in establishing a foreign enterprise instead
of mapfully endeavoring to build up one of
our own. We believe, however, that this
course would be not only weak, but on the
whole rather detrimental than beneficial to
the commercial interests of Philadel-
pbia. If the enterprise about which
so much has been said is to be attempted at
all, it should be undertaken in vigorous
and bold spirit and it would be better to
abandon it altogether than to swell the list of
notifying failures, or to solicit patronage
for a new scheme that would not fully COM
mand public confidence We had line of
steamships plying between this port and
Liverpool established nearly twenty years
fora N in nj md
vigorous operation. The unfortunate loss of
several vessels on the line first weakened
public confidence in the regularity of its trips,
but this difficulty would probably have soon
been surmounted by the employment of
new ships, if at the critical
junciure in the history of this project all the
remaining sea-worthy vessels of the line had
not suddenly been withdrawn to be used as
British transports in the Crimean war; I'M
porters speedily resolved that if, in addition
to the dangers of shipwreck, they were to be
victimzed by the exigencies of the English
Government, it was folly to place their de-
pendence upon a line thus doubly endangered.
The German steamship lines are at this mo-
ment rendered unsafe by the present war; the
French lines are not absolutely free from peril;
duu Niodt DIAehlh bioy oSoih 10 oooh ihNoiFou
in foreign war that would necessitate the
withdrawal of any line of English steamships
between this port and Liverpool There is
degree of uncertainty, insecurity, and unreli-
ability connected with all projects based on
the employment of British ships which is
fatal to their success.
If we are to have Philadelphia line of
steamships, let it be q genuine, not q ticti-
tious, half -and-half affair. Let our mecha-
MICS build first-elass vessels, of which every
patriotic citizen will feel proud. Let Coun-
ellis guard against the inconvenience hereto
fore arising from ice in the Delaware by
building boats that are ice-boats, and that
do not prove inefficient at the first serious
trial of their utility and strength.
The present time seems specially pro-
pitious for a revival of the project which has
80 long been vainly agitated. The recent
change in the laws encouraging distribution
of imports among various cities, the growing
disposition of Congress to grant subsidies to
steamships built in this country, and the inn
mense amount of business which the Penn
sylvania Railroad could bestow upon a line
of steamships sailing from this port to Liver
pool, are all encouraging indications of the
success of creditable Philadelphia project.
But it must be thoroughly Philadelphian in
all its ramications, if it is to gain that cordial
support of merchants and citizens which is
essential to marked success