The Portland daily press., 1872-06-04
THE PRESS.
TUESDAY MORNING, JUNE A, 1879.
Encouragement Of American Commerce.

mittee on Commerce. under whose instructions
l have reported it to the House. 1t provides
first that the Secretaries of the Treasury Ma
Wy, Interior, and the Postmaster General shall
be constituted a board of commissioners, to be
known as the board of commissioners of COM
merce whose duty shall be to execute all con-
tracts i'll which the government of the United
States is interested, and which may be author
lied by law to be made in aid of foreign or do
mestic commerce of the United States, to see
to the due execution and enforcement of all
contracts made for the promotion of commerce
and to the faithful performance of their duties
by all officers having duties to discharge in aid
of commerce, including officers having charge
of immigrants and American seamen, to col
lect arrange and report from time to time and
at least once in each year, to the President to
be by him presented with his recommenda-
tions to Congress, all such information and sta
tistics concerning the commerce of the United
States and other nations calculated to show the
wants OF American commerce, together with
such recommendations as they may deem prop
er in aid of such commerce, and to discharge
all other duties which may be by law devolyed
upon said board in relation to the commerce of
the United States
Second, that there shall be established, under
directions of the board of commissioners of
commerce, at least one line of steamships be-
tween some port or ports in the United States
and one or more of the principal ports of Great
Britain, and one or more of the principal ports
New York and the West Indies and Mexico,
between New Orleans, the West Indies, Mexi-
leo, and Brazil; between San Francisco, Aus
tralia and, New Zealand, and other islands of
the Pacific.
Third, that bounty of not exceeding fifteen
dollars per ton shall be paid each year for
period of five years for the construction of iron
steamships and twelve dollars per ton on other
steamships of not less than one thousand tons
each, and not exceeding five hundred thousand
tons in the aggregate, and not more than one
hundred thousand tons in any one year. to be
employed exclusively in foreign trade.
Fourth, that the board shall receive proposals
for the construction of said steamers to be ap-
portioned fifty thousand tons upon the Attain
tic and Gulf coast, twenty-five thousand tons
upon the great lakes and the Ohio and Missis-
sippi rivers; and twenty-five thousand tons on
the Pacific coast, and to be constructed upon
plans approved by the Navy Department.; the
government having the right to purchase or
charter them upon appraisal, and the Secretary
of the Navy, upon certain conditions, to detail
officers of the navy to serve as officers of such
vessels. .-
Fifth, that there shall be paid twelve dollars
per ton upon first-class sailing vessels of not
less than three hundred tons, to be engaged
principally in the foreign taade, and that the
owner Of any vessel upon which bounty has
been paid may engage in the coasting trade
upon the repayment of the amount received,
deducting ten per cent for each year the vessel
has been in service.
Sixth, that vessels engaged in the foreign
trade and fisheries may purchase stores in bond
without the payment of duties.
The amendment which / propose as a sub.
stitute provides for the board of commissioners
of commerce substantially as in the bill of the
committee; that materials for construction and
repairs of vessels for the foreign trade and
ship stores to be used on the voyage of such
vessels, may be taken in bond free of duty, and
that vessels built under the provisions of this
act may be taken by the government when
wanted upon paying their appraised value, or
By paying reasonable compression for the
charter Of such vessels while in the govern
ment employ. Such, in brief, are the proyis-
ions of the bill of the committee and of the
amendment which l am permitted to offer as
a substitute therefor.
The second and third sections of the bill,
which 1 Offer as an amendment, have been
incorporated in to the tariff bill which has
just passed this House, so far as to apply to
wooden sail vessels, and will afford some en-
couragement for building this class of vessels,
and is valuable in that it applies the principle
recognized in regard to all articles manufac-
tired of imported materials when exported
but it requires more comprehensive measures
to revive the foreign commerce of the country
generally, and the bill under consideration is
offered as basis for such measures.
The objection urged against any bill granting
a bounty as an encouragement for the revival
OF Snlpplng is tnat tne WnOl6 country Is taxed
to build up and foster single industry. Those
who make this objection leave entirely out oi
sight the connection of our merchant marine
with our naval establishment The statesmen
of England, and of our own country in former
times, whatever may have been their views on
the tariff Question, have uniformly regarded the
merchant nJarine as an auxiliary to the Navy,
and to that Ell have claimed for it the foster
ing care of the government.
Naval officers of Great Britain have repeat
1vxv% Gall Loe~ e D.
that in case of war the navy was dependent en-
tirely upon merchant shipping for support, not
withstanding the extent and power of the navy
proper. At the time of the Crimean war
board appointed by the admiralty of Great
Britain made a careful examination of the
merchant steam marine of the kingdom, and
reported that ninety-one merchant steamers
could be fitted to be made serviceable for wal
purposes in two weeks at an expense of e3 00(
each, and that in four weeks, at an expense OF
96, 900 each, they could be converted into eff
cient war steamers.
The navy, like the army, is but nucleu:
around which the volunteer force is gathered
in time of war; but unlike the army, the navy
to be available, must have trained men, and
ships ready for use in case of emergency
navy cannot be extempOriZed except from an
efficient merchant marine, and upon the eff
cheney of our merchant marine depends ou
power and success in naval warfare.
The amount appropriated to the navy from
1850 to 1860 was about seventy-thres million
dollars, and yet at the breaking out of the war
we had but one hundred vessels of one hundred
and fifty thousand tons, and about eight thou
sand men; but we had q merchant marine o.
more than five million tons which had not cost
the government a dollar, which not only train
ed the mechanics to build that navy and the
seamen to man it, but furnished six hundred
vessels of more than one million tons and about
seventy-five thousand men, all of which were
Immediately added to the naval service. If the
production of this million tons of shipping anC
the training of the seventy-fve thousand men
had cost the government an amount equal Il
the cost of the navy proper with its one hun
dred and fifty thousand tons of shipping anC
eight thousand men-$73, ,000, ,000-it could no
have been properly regarded as a bounty to
ship-bailders, but would have been legitimate
ly chargeable to the support of the navy. w,
are now appropriating about twenty million
dollars per annum to keep up the navy, an,
whether the amount asked for is few million
more or less is regarded as of little consequence
because the maintenance of that arm of tn
service is deemed of vital importance to the ma
| ton; but we appear to be entirely indifferen
| as to the fact that the merchant marine upol
| which we must depend to re-enforce and sus
| tain our navy in case of war is fast disappear
| ing from the ocean. We are not only losing
our shipping, but we are losing the mechanical
skill necessary to construct our navy. During
| the last war, as will be the case during an
| private yards for naval vessels. More thai
| eighty per cent. of the vessels, and a mucl
larger percentage of the machinery for thos
vessels built during the war, were built in pri
| vate yards. Improvements in naval architec
ture are developed in the construction of mer
| chant shipping for the reason that competitio
stimulates improvement and inventions. Their
is no competition in the navies of the world e1
| cept in times of war; and the result is that al
ter long period of peace naval vessels ar
found, when brought into service, to be of littl
value.
| All naval officers testify to the vital impol
| tance of sustaining our merchant shipping a
/ an auxiliary to the navy. The reports to tn
English Parliament by special committees ar
filed with such testimony. Admiral Porte
testified before the committee on the decline Q
| commerce that thirty first-class merchan
steamers at the breaking out of the war woul
have been of more value than our entire navy
| and that if we had possessed them we coul
have strangled the rebellion during the frs
| year by sealing up every port in the confeders
cy. Other naval officers have expressed tn
| same opinion and when we consider the dt
struction wrought by the Alabama aud two [
three other such vessels which were fitted OF
I in the ports of Great Britain during the rebe
lion, we can readily credit the statement
The possession of fleet of such steamel
would doomore toward keeping the peace b,
tween ourselves and foreign nations than tt
| amount WHICH we expend on our naval estal
lishment twice told. An addition of five pc
cent. or S1,000,000 to our annual naval apprt
priations applied under the provisions OF th
Dill, would suffice to provide those thirty steam
ers. We think nothing of expending $1,000
900 upon single naval vessel that may prov
utterly worthless when completed ] see
stated in the testimony before the special con
mittee who recently Investigated matters col
nected with the Navy Department that the ell
eine of the naval steamer Tennessee cost $3.50
Zoo and has been recently thrown out as wortl
| -, r I'll rracfical DurDoses and axchanOa