The New Orleans daily Democrat., 1878-11-29
AMERICAN COMMERCE.

AMERICAN COMMERCE. |
SOME STATISTICS BEARING UPON ITS
EXTENT ARID DECLINE.
The Report of Secretary Thompsom-Our
Merchant Marine Before and since the
WaF-Hnjurions EfFects of the NRvlga-
ta0n Laws-An Earnest Argument i'm
Favor of Their Repeal.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 28-The Secretary of
the Navy has submitted his annual report
to the President. The document Is of special
interest to the whole country. The following
| Is g synopsis OF the important parts:
The Secretary, after stating briefly the i'm
provernent In the condition of the navy since
his last annual report, the number of avail
| able vessels and the number In course OF re-
pair, etc, says: In my last annual report the
| attention Of Congress was directed to the
| condition Of our commerce and the relations
| borne to 1t by the navy Our rapidly increas-
| ing exports since that time have demon
strated that this country must become
the world. The area of our I'M
proved lands is annually enlarging, keeping
| pace with our rapidly increasing population,
and giving assurance that the surplus of our
agricultural and manufacturing products will
consequent upon this skill of our manufactu-
rers. artisans and 1abOrers and will in the
future of our history be called into still fur
| ther requisition, and experience has shown that
guarded on the seas. The duty Of protecting
| ours is now greater and more urgent than it
| has ever been before. This duty is confided
| to the legislative department of the govern
| fnent, and it would be unjust to assume that
| under any exigency of our affairs it will not
be discharged. The American people
will not be likely to accept any
condition Of things that shall
deprive them Of those advantages of trade to
| which their position entitle them: nor is it
to be expected that they Will be content with
any policy that shall put it out of their power
! TO obtain gust compensation for their indus
| try and proper reward for their labor. Not
| the least of the considerations from which our
| government derived its existence were the
necessities OF trade and commerce. In order
| to aVOld conflicting and Incompetent regua-
ton by States, the obligation has been i'm
posed upon the national government to pro-
vide for these necessities not alone by such
measures as should develop our industries to
their greatest possible capacity, but by proper
maritime protection, both at home and on the
high seas.
| The framcrs Of our institutions were wise
enough to know that the nations Of the larg-
est commerce. exercised the greatest influence
over the affairs of mankind. With this
knowledge to guide them they constructed o
government with reference to this obligation,
and conferred upon it such functions as are
essential to the jnst protection Of all our in
dustrial interests, with view to that ultimate
commercial supremacy to which. from our
geographical position and territorial advan-
tages, we may fairly aspire, and il the GOV
ernment shall fail to do whatsoever it may
rightly do to achieve the result, it will be i'm
possible for this country long to maintain it's
present position in the front rank of nations.
In our earliest legislation in reference to
commerce and the regulation of our coasting
trade, preference was given to American over
foreign shipping by the exclusion from our
registers Of all ships built abroad. The de-
gree OF protection thus afforded was sufficient
to stimulate not the industry merely but the
ingenuity OF our people, until our registered
and enrolled tonnage increased to an extent
that threatened the maritime supremacy of
Great Britain.
For the period Of forty years, from 1920 to
! 1860, American ships carried an average of
Slipper cent Of the ocean borne commerce be-
! tween our own and foreign ports. It was dur
| ing this period that the vast and unprece-
dented. increase OF our shipping took place,
rising from $50 167 tons in 1920 to :. 1858 $50
| tons IN 1860 The decrease in our tonnage and
ocean carrying trade began with the COM
mencelnent OF the war in 1861, and has con-
tlnued till during the present year. This
large percentage in our favor has been re-
duced to 26.3 per cent of frcightage, and in the
| transportation OF passengers we retain only
81 per cent; whereas we formerly carried
nearly all.
The reference to commerce in the last ten
ySdLS, nun 1901 10 l6if Intrusive, VIII enable
| us to realize what we have lost in national
wealth from this change in that period. Our
| imports and exports in the aggregate
amounted to S11,114,1 ia 0A, and the number
! Of passengers carried was 4741, ,844. The
| freightage arising from imports and ex-
ports amounted to $3.50, 133, ,933, and passage
| money to $2f7,971 sos, making the total freight
and passenger earnings 1871 105438. OF
| this, ships, sailing under foreign flags took
7ol per cent of the frejghtage and 6.7
OF the passage none.
These results show that the earnings and
| profits OF this ocean carrying trade have been
transferred, and that vessels sailing under
foreign flags have now within 2 per cent OF
what American vessels had before the war.
This is owing in great measure to the in
creasing use Of foreign iron steamships,
which have driven nearly all our merchant
sailing vessels from the sea, and with which
home industries are stimulated in the same
direction. 1T would seem that our actual
loss Of S572, ia O84 within ten years, as shown
by the foregoing calculation, is 8 sufficient
admonition &,dna to secure this. The fiscal year
1S78) just closed shows a further decrease in
the rate OF our participation in the profits OF
this carrying trade from the 2o.9 per cent
average to 2G.3 per cent. The freightage
earnings for that year were $95,2O0009, and
the passage earnings $21, ,918,141, making a
total OF s117,118,15O In ali. American ships
only got $26 493,81O OF this, while foreign
ships got $50, 719, ,339.
these are important facts and cannot fail
to arrest the attention of Congress and the
country. They show that at the ratio stated
our farmers, planters, manufacturers and all
others engaged in our numerous industries,
will, il this condition Of things remains I'M
changed, soon be at the mercy Of foreign ship
owners, who will possess the power, because
of the absence OF competition. to put up their
ocean freights to ruinous prices, and thus i'm
pose on our people even heavier and more op-
pressive burdens than they have hitherto
borne, and the fact should not be overlooked
that the payment Of these immense sums
for freight have operated as q drain upon our
precious metals. Since the beginning of the
war they could not have been paid in legal
tenders or national bank currency in conse-
quence Of the difference in value between it
and coin, and consequently within the last
ten years from 1867 to 1879 $572, ,084, and
during the last fiscal year, 800, 49, 339 In gold,
have been taken out Of the United States,
because our mercantile marine has |
been 50 reduced that We have not had mer- |
chant VeSSeIS enough to retain it. Rl CON- |