, 1871-02-23
THE WEEKLY ARGUS.
THURSDAY. FEB. %, 1871
How England Protects! her Steamship
Lines--A Lesson to Uncle Sam

The petition of Mr.. John Roach of New
York, presented in the United States SEN
ate Friday, for an act for the encourage
ment of iron ship, building and the forma-
ton of a line of frs. class iron steamers,
gives in a nutshell the essential arguments
in favor of immediate action of that kind.
One great difficulty with which our cOme
merce has had to contend, is the encourS
agement given to commerce by foreign ma
tions concentrating large amounts OF cap
ital in forming steamship lines. Thus in
GIeat Britain-we quote Mr.. Roach's
figures :Loll .1..-E
"The Oriental Company was organized
in 1910, and in 1910 established ;he East
India service, by way of Suez, Bombay
and Calcutta, to China, at a sub-idy Of
S1,121,5O per annum for monthly trips,
subsequently increased TO double the
amount for semi-monthly trips. English
ships t } the western coast Of South Amer
ica were in the same year subsidized to
the amount of $I25,000 per annum, and
in 1850 the Royal Mail Steam Packet
Company began a semi>mouthly service to
the West Indies, with separate service
once month to Brazil, having subsidy
of 1880, 900. In 1910 the present
Cunard Company commenced with five
steamers, receiving a postal subsidy of
$4t3,666 per .anuum, or 8 IS 900 per trip;
81, slproving insufficient in 1871 the subs
1- - 955OOOO per an
.ium. ri51j c}sl ,..>,r- a. aid TIE COm>
pany again failed, and in 1916 the subsi-
dy was again increased to $7O5,666 per
annum, which enabledr the Company to
succeed. This line was continued, and
in 1862 increased to eleven steamers, max.
ing lO4 trips per annum. By the aid
thus received tho line was enabled to
drive our steamers from the ocean before
the war, ard during its continuation it
availel itself of the opportunity to in>
crease its strength, and we were COM
PEELED to subsidize this same line to carry
ourmais. The advantage thus given was
successfully used, and being ready to
build ships and mouopolize the business,
we were compelled to abandon our COM
merce on the ocean. English lines have
now been established which sear no COM
petitors. These facts prove the wisdom
of the policy of Great Britain; for she
has not only secured an expedi ious and
economical transportation and the profits
arising from it, but has been enabled to
reduce the subsidy OF this line to compar>
paratively nothing-only 1925 a trip"
In addition to this, and to give to her
own artisans all the advantage Of her lib
eral policy, England early Aegan to build
her iron war-ships in private yards, thus
securing the immense marine engine es-
tablishments in the hands of private ciii-
zens. In the course of his personal in
quiries on this subject, Mr.. Roach made
two discoveries 1. That when England
began building iron ships, labor and ma
terial were fifteen per cent. less than at
the present time, and yet so great have
been the Improvements made by introduce
i-5 new machinery that the same ship can
be built there to day at 30 per cent. less
than in 1850. 3. That the English people
were never taxed one dollar for all the
aid given to steamship lines, as the re-
duction in the cost of her nvay yards more
than equalled the amounts so paid, and
these steamers, manned and equipped,
formed valuable acquisition to her navy.
Mr.. Roach closes his petition as follows
"Many suggestions have been made to
your honorable body, some Of them prac-
ticable, many of them impracticable. The
most impracticable 10 my miud is the ad-
vocating of the purchase of foreign built
ships free of duty. This plan appeared to
me so inadequate for the purpose that l
made some investigations to learn who
was most interested in such a change of
our navigation laws, and found that an
agent had been sent here with a list of one
hundred and eighty-seVen iron steamers,
fitted for our trade, in value amounting to
S25,000,000, with large commission for
the sale of them, although it was well
known that not one of them could. be dis
posed of here without a change in those
laws. Whatever benefits may by derived
from your Legislation for the restoration of
our mercantile marine must be directly
shared in by the commercial. manufactur
ing and mining Interests, whose prosperi-
again directly contributes to that of our
entire population. What we need to-day
is some encouragement from Congress to
aid our merchants in building up a fleet
of iron steamers, to educate our own me-
chanics and retain our capital in the coun-
try; and to this end would most 1e-
spectfully but earnestly petition Congress
to pass an act for the encouragement Of
iron shipbuilding and the formation of a
line cf first class iIon steamers. ."-Bosion