The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1870-01-14
THE SNIP OWNERS VERDICT.

TIE SHIP OWNERS VERDICT.
A synopsis of the report of the Ship
Owners Association Committee will
be found in this paper, There is no
document of equal length that can pos
sibly possess greater interest to the
intelligent reader than this. The facts
that it presents, though long under
stood and discussed by many persons,
IRE still comparatively new. We are
glad to get them in this way They
come straight to us through the col
umns of the Chicago Republican and
daily Ofegonian. Originating with a
committee that certainly has no connec-
ton with the Democratic party, and
coming through channel that is not
to be suspected of anti-Repnbliean
prediction, thestatementso of that arti-
Gle deserves careful and honest ex-
animation at tho hands of every man
who calls himself Republican.
When a committee, not appointed
by politicians but representing ship
owners and builders and the vast in
dustrial and commercial interests that
reach, in one way or the other, every
citizen, come befofe the country with
the result of three months of patient
investigation, m hst be received
with due conside ration. When it
tells us that ''ten years ago the iron
works of New York were the pride of
the manufacturers that splendid lines
of steamboats, went forth from their
docks equipped Wit b engines and ma
chinery which could not be surpassed
by the workshops of any other nation
and that now, with a solitary excep-
ton, not marine engine or steam
ship is in course of construction; chat
those magnificent shops which were
our glory and our strength, are con
verted into saw mills and horse stables,
the indignant and startled inquiry is
made: 'sWho caused this, and who
viii remedy it? The Immense profits
of the carrying trade have gone into
the hands of foreigners. The ships
that England builds for $40 per ton
costs US $50. It Is bad enough that
our merchantmen can not build their
ships at home. il Is worse that they
cannot buy those that are built abroad.
The government refuses to register q
foreign built vessel. 1t makes through
its tariff home built vessel almost an
impossibility. It has destroyed our
carrying trade; 1t has hushed the clam
or of our shops; it has turned many
thousand men out OF employment
whose labor commanded puen.ium
al over the world.
These are the facts. They weregiven
to OR readers long since, through the
Parsee Letters. They come now sup
ported by the most indubitable proofs.
We commend them to every man who
esteems his country above his party,
and who has higher regard for pub
lie good than party gain.
1t is the tariff that / ook away from
Us thatmostYaluable | BUSINESS Of build
ing ships for the world; that turned
the men who build engines and boil
ers, and who makes sa lis, spars, ropes,
etc., etc., and they who fed and cloth
ed these, al out Of work; that convert
ed iron foundries into stables. It IS
the tariff that DESTROYED our CONNER
cial marine. and the ia riff is one of the
pet measures Of the dominant party.
To unraake these thin. .yaEve must un-
make the Congress that made them.
This is the only remed y and it is sim
pie, ready and eficacious, and if it,
exercise has not become the citizens
duty, then is there such thing as
duty?