Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1879-06-19

>SluNCroN. ID. g., June IL. 1874.
NcsSrN. WILLIAM f.. DopCE. \. \. Low.
jaws NJ. BRow>, II. u. tLAfLIS. Henry
lluroN. Il. G. ARNOLD, +. Is. TnrRnER,
Mosts TAYLOR. ions /. SrrwART. Ner
lO,k CHg:
am honorcd by Your letter inviting me to
address the business men of the city of New
York on the Decay of American Commerce
and the Means for promoting its Revival"
! The great Importance of the subject and the
high character of those who desire its discus
>Ion, combine to render your inv itation most
impressive and Welcome. 1t is with no
small regret, therefore, that feel compelled
to decline it. Public engagements have de-
taincd me here until summer heats have made
II inconvenient for me to deliver an address
lntocrablc for you to hear one. | am sure
YOU will not wish further elaboration of an
excuse at once so pctinent and conclusive.
But YOU will bear with me while advert as
briefly as may be, to the important and en-
crossing subject which suggested your letter.
No man denies that the carving trade of the
nitcd States has suffered a great decline:
that il gives no sign of improvement or reyi-
val, and that serious and permanent loss is
thereby inflicted upon our country. On these
points thus stated there is substantial unani-
nifty of belief among our people; but when
We go one step further and attempt to
state the cause of the decline We find wide
divergence of views and when by second
step we proceed to discuss the remedy we en-
counter differences so pronounced and so viz
lent rs to involve anger rand acrimonv With
no disposition to wranglc over the subject or
to arraign any mans theory in n hostile spirit.
! shall submit my own views on the depres
sion; what produced it; and what will relieve
it.
In 1871. after a commercial struggle that
began when We separated from the mother
country. we stood nearly if not quite equal to
Great Britain in ocean tonnage. In that year
our entire foreign trade, export and import,
amounted to S123, ,Oo0. 900. and of this total.
$40 900. 600 was carried in American bot
toms, and only S2l3, 900 900 in the ships of
all other countries. This proportion was
not materially changed until 1861, when the
country was suddenly prccipitated into II war
whose magnitude no man could measure.
Then followed n series of events beyond the
control of any power. the effect of which was
utterly disastrous to the American carr, ing
trade Nearly seventy thousand seamen were
withdrawn from the merchant service and en-
listed III the Navy, to maintain the eXtened
blockade that stretched from Delaware Bay
to the mouth of the Rio Grand. More than
million tons of American shipping were with
drawn from Il G peacel IL suit; of commerce
to take part in the blockade and to supply the
transportation needed for the maintenance of
the vast armies that we called to the defense
of the Union. The gap thus made by the
withdrawal of American ships and American
scamcn from the commerce of the world was
rapidly filed by the alcrtness and the en-
terprsc of England and just in proportion to
our decline in the carrying trade the activity
in British ship-vards was rc-doullcd. Added
IN the direct loss noted f.a mo IN indirpct
one even more hurtful to us. Eight hundred
thousand tons of American shipping. ocscapc
destruction ut the hands of hostile cruisers
/ flying the confederate ensign but built in
British yards and manned bv British sailors
| cancelled their American registry and sailed
under the flags of other nations. and when
worn out their place was supplied by foreign
| built ships.
| As the civil war progressed. and the causes
Just named were producing their increasingly
banetul effect on our commercial interests.
another fact WAS developed which proved
most adverse to us. Prior to that period
ocean steamships had not been formidable as
freight carriers. The marine engine was
too heavy; absorbed too much space; CON
snmed too much coal. The steamers were
unrivaled for transporting passengers and
| for freight having large value in small space:
| but they had not vet entered the general car
| rying trade for the heavy and bulky articles
of commerce But just at this time the
screw was generally substituted for the pad
die. and the compound-engine was invented
to take the place of the simple one. Iron.
heretofore successfully tried, now became
ii general substitute for wood, and huls were
thus built that would last as long as the en-
! gincs. These several changes, with some
! minor inventions. increased the carrying ca
pacitv of the steamship beyond all anticipa-
tion. \ very intelligent and entcrpri,ing
owner Of British steamships illustrated to me
the actual difference by this simple state
mcnt. \ steamer of the old kind capable of
carving three thousand tons, might sail on
voyage so long that she would be compelled
To carry twenty-five hundred tons of coal.
leaving room for only eight hundred tons of
| freight; whereas, one of the new kind, of
same capacity, would make the same VOYAGE
and reverse the figures, requiring only eight
hundred tons of coal. and carrying twenty
two hundred tons of freight. This was, in
short, a total revolution on the soa--almost
as great as the steamboat had wrought in the
carrying trade on our rivers, or the railway
on land. The palpablc result has been that
the trade of the North Atlantic. the greatest
! highway of commerce on the globe. has been
transferred to the steamship, to say nothing
of what has been done by the same agency
on all seas and between all continents.
The close of the war left us in most dis
couraging situation commercially. Our fl
nances were disordered, prices of material
were abnormally high, and it was an idle
effort to attempt competition with England in
any field where our expanded paper currency
had to contend with the solidity of her gold
Our sailing vessels received less and less en-
ployment in the carrying of cotton, provi-
sions. and bread-stutfs to Europe, and we did
not offer any encouragement for the building
of steamships. Perhaps with the prices of
that period success in any event would have
been impossible. England, mcanw lille, feel
ing her advantage, and eager to push it, did
not leave her commerce to It's own develop
mcnt, even with all the elements in her fi-
vor, but she stimulated its growth by enor-
nous bounties paid to those who would build
and sail steamships. From the close of our
civil war down to the year lS77-a period of
twelve years-Great Britain paid to her
steamship lines for mail service sum total
! of sGj, ;'39, ,s43 Ii. or an average of nearly