The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-03-05
The China steam Line.

The China steam Line.
AS some of our readers are aware, the COM
pany which owns the line of steamers running
between San Francisco and China, have petl-
| toned Congress to increase the subsidy to one
million of dollars, in order that q sepi-monthy
service NAV be secured. While the large sum
asked for may not be granted, an increase, sufi-
( cient to secure u semi-monthly service, will prob
ably be appropriated. In that case, and in the
event of this port being connected with Sydney
by Il monthly steam line, it is probable that the
mail service in the Pacific will be performed wholly
by the China Steam Company in this way One
steamer a month will touch at this port, going to
and returning from Yokohama, connecting here
with Australian steamers, owned by the above
company, and which will time their arrival and
departure so as to meet the China steamers. In
this way, the three points-China, San Francisco
and Australia-can be connected by steam, with
simply the addition of good steamers between
this port and Australia, and the withdrawal of
the IddhO. We have been advised that the new
steam service between Australia and San Fran
cisco may yet be arranged in this way. The
Ala of q late date has the following remarks
urging Congress to increase the subsidy Of the
China line:
Important public interests demand the pas
sage of the bill now before Congress to grant a
subsidy for the establishment of a s%emi-monthly
line of mail steamers between San Francisco and
Hongkong. The Atlantic, which was long to a
great extent an American ocean, has lost much
of that character. Our wooden ships are at a dis
advantage, and European steamers have crowded
their American rivals out of business. The
Pacific is still mainly ours, and we may yet make
it an American possession. We have its chief
commercial port, and the only point that is both
n steamer and a railroad centre. Our bay has
an excellent situation for commanding many of
the chief lines of the trade in our hemisphere.
Photographed influences give us the superiority
by sea and topographic by land and our geo
graphical position is midway on the only temper
ate zone route between China and Europe. Eng
land holds the Island of Hongkong, which is too
small to have any significance, besides Australia
and New Zealand, which are SO far from the
populous districts of Asia and from any of the
main lines Of travel around the world, that they
have little value save for the wealth they may
produce within their own limits. British Column
bia has many elements of value, but it will
probably in a few years be annexed to the United
States, and will tend to increase the importance
of making our commercial position on this coast
as strong as possible France has Tahiti, New
Caledonia and a little district in Cochin, China,
but SO far they are merely military colonies, with
no probability of becoming anything more. The
Philippine Islands are Spanish, the Portuguese
have Macao and the Dutch have part of Java
the situations of which are of little significance
for general commerce. The American position is
decidedly the best.
But to convert the Pacific into an American
ocean we must use every effort and lose no oppor-
tunity. We must extend our steamer lines in
every direction, and build up trade rather than
wait until some other nation has built it up in
of us. Asia is the main point to be
the centre of the great wealth to be
tapped the home of the vast market which
should be made tributary to our industry the
hive of the immense population which in time
will send to us for teachers, mechanics, engineers,
and superintendent of the improvements which
it must copy to enable it to compete with Chris
tendon. The Asatic trade is rapidly and steadily
increasing much of it must in time come this
way, and one of the best means to bring it this
way is to increase the number Of steamers in the
Mail Line"