The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1870-02-19
H II P Q LIZ II
Special Congressional Committee
NOUig0tiO7a Interests.

Mr.. LYNCH, from the Special Committee on
Navigation Interests, made the following Re-
port:
Your committee, in prosecuting its inquiries,
have during the recess of Congress, held sess-
ions at the cities of New York, Philadelphia,
Boston, and Portland, receiving the statements
Of merchants, shipbuilders, shpowners and in
surance agents; gentlemen having practical
Knowledge and experience relating to the mat
ter under inv estigation. The shipowners asso-
Citations of New Yoik, Philadelphia, and Maine,
and the board of trade of Boston were repre-
seuted at the sessions of the committee, and
presented the views OF these various associa-
tions Like information and evidence have
been received in the sessions of the committee
held at the capitol during the present session
OF Congress Circular letters have been address
ed to gentlemen engaged in the various branch
es of business connected with the shipping in-
tereStS requesting a statement of their views
on the subject under inquiry, and also 10 Amer
ican consus at the principal ports of foreign
countries, asking them to furnish information
in regard TO the condition of the mercantile
marine of those countries.
The evidence elected by these various modes
OF inquiry will be found under the head OF tes-
timony taken by the Special Committee on
Navigation Interests, and appended to this re-
port.
The committee would call special attention
to the exhaustive paper furnished through the
State Department by our consul at London,
Hon. Freeman III. Morse, and also to the tables
of statistics prepared for the committee by Mr..
+. A. Walker, Deputy Special Commissioner
of the Revenue, and by James Nimm o, jr., of
the Treasury Department., who has made the
condition of our shipping interest a subject of
special attention.
THE DECLINE IN AMERICAN OCEAN TONNAGE.
In order fully to comprehend the extent OF
the decadeuce of American shipping and tie
causes which have operated to produce that
decadence, we must ascertain the points at
which the prosperity of this interest culminat-
ed, and trace it thence back to the source of
that prosperity, and forward to the present
time of decay. 1t is obvious that whatever
causes may have existed prior to the COM
mencemenG of the late rebellion tending to
produce the present con iition of our shipping,
their effects did not become manifest until that
period. Previously there was gradual, steady,
and healthy increase of ocean tonnage,
huctuating with the fluctuations of business,
but constantly gaining until the year 1861.
The increase OF our tonnage engaged in the
foreign carrying trade from 1880 to 1910, was
about sixty per cent; from 1910 to 1850,
seventy-fve per cent. from 1850 to 1860, sixty
per cent. This latter is the first decade in
which we find any reliable statistics of the reg
istered tonnage of Great Britain, to enable us
to institute comparison between it and our
own. In this decade the tonnage of Great
Britain, employed exclusively in the foreign
trade of that country, increased about forty
per cent. Our own tonnage engaged in the
SdilyihS tiduS, ACdSHCu ITO hiSucot
point in 1861, being that year 2,642 62S tons,
while that of Great Britain was at the same
time 3,179, ,6S3 tons, giving us the second place
in rank among nations in the extent CT our
ocean tonnage, while we were the acknowl-
edged superior of all in the proficiency which
we had attained in the science of naval archi
lecture and the efficiency of our mercantile
marine.
1t is difficult to realize that our country,
which is little more than half q century end
ipn in 1891 had reached the m oSt
rank of maritime nations has i'll less than a
decade lost half its merchant shipping and all
its maritime prestige, aud that we now stand
debating whether we shall without q struggle
yield all, and become the mere commercial
dependency of the nation for whose advantage
we have been thus spoiled and reduced
From 1861 to 1866 our tonnage engaged in
the foreign trade decreased from 2,642 62S tons
to / ,492 ,926 tons, loss of 1.149 902 tons, or
more thau 43 per cent, while Great Britain in
the same time gained 9S6,715 tons or more
than 30 per cent Even this statement
does not show the full extent of our relative
loss as compared with Great Britain, very
large percentage of the increase of the latter
iu tonnage having been made in steamers, one
ton of which class of vessels is equal in eff
cheney to at least three tons of sail vessels,
while by substituting largely iron for wood, as
| building material, still further advantage
| was gained over us in her much larger class oil
| iron vessels, doubly as durable as those o
wood The increase Of the steam tonnage o.
| Great Britain during the period alluded to
| was 275 9S8 tons, making an addition in eff,
cheney over our sailing ships of at least 800 00C
| tons. So that taking into account the dura-
| bility and efficiency of the tonnage added by
| Great Britain to her mernhant marine from
| 1860 to 1866, it would probably equal an in
| crease OF 80 per cent. of sail vessels.
The following tables of statistics present n
| more forcible statement of the rise and fall II
our mercantile marine, and furnish more
striking ILLUSTRATION the OF effect Of the war up
on our own shipping and that of Great Britain,
engaged IN foreign commerce, than any other
| language than that of figures can furnish
| Table shouting the tonnage of United States and
British registered vessels employed in the for
eion trade of each country, during the pears
respectively, 1880, 1910, 1850, and from 1860 tc
| 1868, both sslclusiUe.