The semi-weekly Republican. (St. Francisville, La.) 1872-1872, 1872-03-08
The Decline of American
Commerce and its Causes,

Not more than ten years ago tn
commerce of the United States wa
one of the wonders of the world ant
the envy Of the nations. Our Ship
dotted every ocean and whitene<
every sen. There was not a grea
foreign port in the world that WA,
not crowded with our merchantmen
Not only was our own carrying trad,
in our own hands and in our owl
bottoms, but we also monopolizcd F.,
vast proportion of the carryin gtrads
of Europe, and in point of tounag,
onr mc:cantilc marine was secont
only to that of England, our tonnage
footing up 100000 tons, while thai
Of England wills 100000. NoI
merely was our commerce geat and
ilourishing, but for speed, symmetry
elegance and carrying capacity oul
Ships and steamers werc unriyallet1
the world over. Our clippers out
sailed tho ships of all nations and
even, with a good wind, would out
strip some of the best steamers out
of English ports. Indeed, it became
proyerbial among seafaring men that
American clippers could beat any
thing ever built. In every foreign
port the largest and finest vessels
carried the starry flag proudly flying
at the peak. lii the matter of steam
crs VIC were equally ahead Of our
competitors; for size and speed, car
rying capacity and splendid finishing
our steamers were u,lrivalled. Such
steamers as the Baltic "North
Star" Vanderbilt" and others had
no peers ahoat on the ocean. But
our commercial supremacy did not
end here. There were constructed
in this country great numbers of
sailing vessels and steamers for the
naval service of different European
governments, and some of the .arg-
est, best and most powerful frigates
in the navies Of Russia, Italy, Aus
tria, Spain and Turkey were built
in this country. Among them the
"Great Admiral" the {" Re d Italia, :"
and "Rc don Portagalio Secunflo"
are among the lugest and most pow
crfnl wooden vessels in the world.
Even England, although building
| her own WIZ vessels, adopted the
lines of our American vessels and
introduced the American improve
ments into both her naval and mer-
camille marine, all which was greatly
to the honor Of tho Republic. With
such Il record before us the question
presents itself, "What has caused
this unparrelled decline i'll our com
mcrcc?' We reply first, the almost
universal use of steam instead of
s,ils as Il means Of ocean loco,nNion,
and second, the substitution Of iron
for wood in architecture, which las,
has alone completely revoMtionized
the business of ship building. The
simple fact that wooden vessels cam
not compete with iron vessels ac-
counts for much Of the decline of our
commerce. To-lay, English iron
built steamers and ships have monop-
o1ized the carrying trade Of the
world and the only way in which we
can recover our commerce is to
buill iron vessels No amount of
law making will upset the great nat
ural law that an iron ship is stronger
than wooden ono, and will run at
Il less expense. Until we can build
iron vessels ;ss chcaply as England,
it is useless for us to compete for the
trade Of the high seas. England, in
her cheap iron and coal, has an over
whelning advantage over all other
countries, an advantage secured
mainly through her pal1per labor.
1t must also be admitted that her
old and long established iron in
dllstrics, also, are q source of and
immense cl'eaponi,g i'll the first cost
OF manufactured iron, engines, ma
cllinery and boilers. When we have
built up our iron manufactures, there
will be considerable reduction in
the first cost of those articles, aud
we can then he in condition to COM
pete with England. Another e!e-
ment of English supremacy on the
high sea is in her iron screw propel-
lers, against which no wooden YES
sci, no matter how strong Or cheap,
can complete for Il single month.
These propellers are built at a
comparatively small expense as they
carry no masts OF rigging, they car
ry an enormous; cargo III proportion
to size, cost but little to run, and
last for Il generation. They arc fast,
90 and come i'll all weatllers, and
perform as much carrying in Il year
as half a dozen clippers OF the same
size. Thus smaller number of vc<;-
sells are now required for a given
amount of work than formerly. BY
these means the English marine en-