Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1871-11-01

commerce also. Two facts loom up and
must be admitted. One is that wooden
ships are to be built no more, and the other lie
that iron sailing vessels will be no longer re-
CURED. To-day the ship-builders upon the
| Clyde are very far in advance of Americans
in skill and means of building. 1t is also
| true that the art of building iron ships on the
lakes is far in advance of the art on the coast.
The builders at Buffalo are to-day building
propellers at $50 ton. Our iron is ten per
better than the iron used by the English. Ii
the business was once established ana skilled
labor obtained there would be still further
advantage of ten per cent, making about
tw thirds of the difference between our ship
builders and the English. Still there would
be a difference to overcome. l believe that
there will never be another great naval bat
tie, yet we must sustain naval armament.
But although l may deceive myself and
think our iron war-vessels are larger than
they need be, we might combine future naval
strength with commercial advantages. The
government might enable the merchants to
build iron vessels of two or three thousand
tons, to whose cost they should contribute
something. These vessels should be built so
as to be of service in time of war. Then an
American Lloyds ought to be established.
No doubt some relief might be obtained by
the removal of duties but if all the duties
were removed We should be at such a disad
| vantage that we could not put a ship upon
the ocean. In the past ten years we have
developed the iron interest till it extends over
the whole country. Wherever there is a
mill, a shop or a laborer, there is some per-
son who would be untavoraby affected if
these duties were removed. The govern
| ment cannot abandon this, or any other of
the great interests that have been built up in
| the past ten years. Neither can the govern
ment do anything to injure the industries of
the country or diminish the means of sus-
tanning the public credit. The movement is
fraught with more evil than the evil it is pro
posed to remove. Some relief might be af-
forded by refunding to shp-builders the du-
ties that might be paid on English iron i'm
ported for ship-building, or enabling them to
procure American iron as cheaply as it can
be got abroad. If the money now paid to
foreign ship-owners could be paid to Ameri
can owners, the effect would go far toward
turning the balance of trade in our favor
The last topic l wish to discuss is public
debts. The public debts of the western ma
tions have increased in fearful ratio in the
last twenty-five years. In 1915, they
amounted to 100000, 900. To-day they
are not less than S23 ZOO, 100000. You may
| talk of posterity paying the debt but nation
is whole from generation to generation, and
L duI sure Ill pOsteTlty COulu vote Oh IL, II
would outvote you. When you say that pos
terity should pay this debt, you mean that
the laboring people shall pay the debt. Cap
ital is always seeking to avoid its share of
the public expense. The poor are, to large
extent, Independent. There is a certain kind
of independence of the fortunes of poor
| community. Their property is never de-
stroyed nor stolen. The machinery of gov
eminent is largely for the protection of prop
erty. The capitalists of the world should
not seek to put these burdens upon the la
boring people. Only about 50 ,000,0 900
of this vast sum represents public improve
ments. When you postpone debt you leave
the taxation principally upon the privilege of
doing business or upon consumption. In
either the burden falls heavily upon Ia
Dor. Nor is it safe to assume that debts will
pay themselves. Public debts either diminish
or they increase. If you do not provide for and
determine that the public debt shall decrease
it will surely increase. There are only three
countries in the world free from debt, Servia,
Bolivia and Liberia. Isn't it the part of wis
dom to say that the debt shall not be left for
posterity to liquidate? that we shall grapple
with it at once and pay il in twenty years
and thus teach the other great nations of the
world the value of freedom from public debt
The laboring people need not be alarmed if
| Liz ldDuIluS ptOplc WHO CDiAe mere lTOiH
other countries are compelled to send their
children to the public schools.
Mr.. Boutwell, closed by giving some advice
to the young. He remarked upon the i'm
portance that the young people, who are to
rule the country forty years hence, should
prepare themselves for public employments.
They should not suppose, however, that the
disposition to rule carried the ability to rule
along with it, nor should they believe that
popularity is Immortality. Craftsmanship
is the highest of secular pursuits. 1t is
greater than the art of war. The highest
honors of State are that it is both defensi-
BILE and worth defending.
A COMPLIMENT TO MASSACHUSETTS. Gov.
Clafin received a telegram Saturday from
Secretary Fish inquiring which day Massa-
chusetts will select for the annual Thanks
giving, the 23d or the Both of November, to
which His Excellency replied that when the
President was here he informed the Governor
that he had selected the 3Oth for Thanksgiv-
ing, and that day is accordingly agreed upon.
Boston Journal.
| VIII our Massachusetts friends take it to
heart if we gently hint that it is SUI h par
| II