The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-04-04

American ships and merchandise by such
nations. These terms have been accepted by
treaty or proclamation as follows
Argentine Confed. July 81, 1883 No date specaed.
Austria. Aug II, 1929. one years notice.
Belgium. ....... July 27, 1858. IL months notice.
Bolivia. May IS, 1858. IL months notice.
Brazil. .........Nov 4, 1857 AT win.
Ohili. Nay 1s, 1892. - months notice.
Costa Rica. July 10, 1851 IL months notice.
Denmark. .....,. April 26 1876. i years notice.
Dominican Rep. -. Feb s. 1867. IL months notice.
Ecuador July 13, 1889. 10 months notice.
France -. ........ Dec. 25, 1866. AT will.
GreatBritain Oct IS, 1919. At will
Guatemala Marcia 3, ls49. AT will.
Hawaiian Islands. Jan. 29, 1861. AT will.
Hayti. yti..............Nov. 3, 1864. AT will
Holland ........ Aug. 26, 1852. Il years notice.
Honduras. .........Juy 4, 1864. AT will.
Mexico 49,; April 5, 1881 .12 months notice.
New Granada. Dec IL, 1916. .12 months notice.
Nicaragua. June 2l, 1867. 12 months notice.
Peru. .......... July 2e, 1851 .12 months notice.
Prussia. May "a, 1928. AT will.
Russia. ............Dec 49, 1892 .12 months notice.
sn s6S Nvv %G1tGs n9toe
Venszuela .......Aug. 2S, 1860 10 months notice.
Spain and Portugal yet refuse us maritime
reciprocity, but with these exceptions our
trade may be supposed on footing of mu-
tuality with the mercantile world The occa-
sion of the system thus portrayed Mr.. Nimmo
gives as belief on the part of our legislators
that reciprocity was demanded by mutuality
of interests, and would result in a mutuality
of benefits; but the reality he does not think
commensurate with the hope. The propriety
of our system of maritime reciprocity, he
Thinks expired with the era of wooden ves-
sels-''to-day we once more behold the Bri-
tish flag as far in ascendant as it was
hundred years ago, and we have great
reason to fear the entire supersedure of the
American by the British flag in interna-
tional commerce"-and the secret of this he
| finds in the rise of ocean steam navigation.
| Wooden ships we are able to build as
cheaply as they can be built abroad, and
as a consequence our lake and coasting trade
is in unabated health; but coming to iron
| ships Great Britain is ten years ahead sThe
| question before us, therefore, in the upbuild-
ing of our merchant marine, is not how shall
we protect our shipping interest against
foreign competition but, how shall we pro-
tect it against British competition ?" The
| propriety of this he enforces by showing that
in round numbers Great Britain has fifty per
cent. of all the shipping on the sea, the
| United States twenty per cent, and all other
nations thirty; and then varies his question
to say, Show shall we meet these advan-
tages possessed by England, and place
! our ships in a position to compete
upon equal terms with British ships?"
The answer to this Mr.. Nimmo sums up in
The word protection; which really seems to
the unregenerate mind as if the occasion of
| the decline was relied on to be the cause of
the reinvigoration. In covert way it is in
timated that the Government of the United
| States should go into the business of estab-
fishing great iron -shipbuilding establishments
| like those on the Clyde and the Tyne, which
we are told would cost some 81, 500, 600 each;
| and then the position is boldly taken that
there should be "a limitation of the maritime
privileges of Great Britain in our commerce
on this continent" But in plain terms this
means that we should now revive the old
navigation acts of the time of Oliver Crom-
well, at least so far as regards England, and
as supplementary measure establish ir on
ship yards at public cost. The absurdity of
all this is something refreshing. Mr.. Nimmo
shows tie cause of the decline in our for
eign commerce on page % of his report,
where the taxation on an American and a
British line of steamers, estimating capital
| stock in either at $3, 900, 900, is thus gven:-
AMERICAN.
State, city, and county taxes. ... $4,000
| British advantage, per maritime re-
United States tax on gross receipts 87,5OO
United States tax on profits. IS s0O0-sl55, 500
| BRITISH.
| Income taX"........................S 50, 600
rental taA' .'..........-....-..,... 1000 1000
Thanks to protection, excessive taxes
Boutwetsm etc. tc............... .......... Sl45 500
This amount or more, Mr.. Nimmo pro
poses to saddle on the people of the United
States in order to give them American ocean
steamships, instead of giving the n such ves-
sells by taking that weight off. He would
''protect" them into an ocean marine at great
cost, instead of ''free-trading" them into one
at no outlay at all.
Further still, Mr.. Nimmo dwells on the low
state of our ocean marine, or rather the no
state thereof, saying on page 19:-"Of the
1873 steamers regularly plying between the
United States and ports in Europe, not one
wears the American flag" The remedy for
this he finds in a system of subsidizing ocean
steamers, instancing divers facts and figures
purporting to show that France and England
keep up their steamer lines by heavy d0u-
ceuTS, and that only by these have those
nations maritime supremacy over our
selves. A letter to the World sufficiently ex-
plodes all this, showing that the National
Steamship Company of Liverpool, which has
never received sixpence of subsidy from the
British Government, and never held a mail
contract from either England or the United
States, can yet build new ships, keep up the
old, be their own underwriters, and pay
stockholders 20 per cent. dividend per wear,
showing profit of not less than 33 per cent.
per annum, a rate our correspondent claims
as common to all the four New York and
Liverpool companies.
THE DANGER BEFORE THE COUNTRY,
From the A. Y. Times.
We have called attention at various times
to the unpleasant similarity in the state of
public feeling, as regards active politics, in
the communities of two great cities-Pars
and New York. In both cities the so-called
''better classes have pretty much given up
apy share in administration; in both, 'per-