Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1880-10-28

commerce, we should ind that TO protect
every 100 tons of merchant shipping sail
lag under the nstionsl flag costs annual
ly-in France, e11S; Russia, 1884, Aus
trIa, e256; Germany, e214; ItslY 1lot {;
United States, CTS; England, Sll5. To
protect every Gl,C00 worth OF sea-
borne imports aud exports takes
in Russia about e35 1S5.; Austria,
e28 los; Ffalce, e26 1861 Italy,
go IS; Germany, G22 26s.; Uuited
states, e2l S.. England, el7 Is. Ia none
Of the shove cases has the trade OF colo
NAL dependencies, other than with the
mother country, been taken into account,
or he figures OF England would fall rela
lively lower. Al the same time, It has
been Impossible 10 show aGy peCuaIary
value for the duty Of providing against
invasion, which The navy If an insulaf
state mas to carry cut, or OF securing the
import OF large portion Of the necessary
food supply OF the Inhabitants. The
figures as yet given show only the outlay
for The purpose OF securing the perform.
suce OF certain duties, and exhibit rather
the amount which each country thinks It
desira bic to expend on ii than the cost OF
The agents aud instruments by means OF
which 1t is Carried out. The outlay may
be more or less than necessary; IS hither-
to stated, it tells US nothing concerning
economy OF performance If The aim OF
the naval administrator be TO keep up Ia
time Of peace as large a fleet tor service
when required as the sum at his disposal
will allow, we may see what the cost OF
doing so is in different states For in
stance, the annual sum necessary TO keep
~ on their present scale every ton OF ar
mored and unaImored fighting shipping
IN the sea going squadrons, and to main
tain the reserves and establishments, as
well as the personnel required by it, de-
duced from the total expenditure, is-in
the United States, el20 As /; in Russia,
nearly el00; in France, e54 6s.; in Ger
many, $50 So in Elg land, ei3 1Ss.; in
Italy, $40 As; in Austria, eoo, S. Il
should be observed that the two nations
whose expenditure per ton is less than
that Of ourselves, Italy, and Austria, do not
maintain sea going squadrons on stations
at & distance from home; all the others
do. As the cost of the PERSONAL enters
into the above proportion, IT naturally fol-
lows that in nsyies recruited by voluntary
enrolment the sum is higher than It
would be were compulsory service in
force. Thus, ia Russia, where the c. s.
per ton is much above that in all other
European countries, the average snare OF
each member Of the personnel in the total
expend ture, e85 12s., IS the lowest Even
here that of England, ESQ Is, is exceeded
by that OF the United States, France and
Germany. From the above statistics 1t is
evident that the English admiralty admin.
istratiOn, whether economical or not, Is at
all events notably more so than that OF
any other nation. II certainly succeeds
In getting more for each pound spent than
ls got by the ministry of marine OF any
foreign naval power. The costliest item
is, as might have been expe cted, the wages
OF each seaman We are often told on
high authority that as long as we depend
on voluntary enlistment TO I'LL up the
ranks of our army we must expect To have
larger army estimates Than continental
nations, in which compulsory service is
the rule. But the navy also depends on
getting the service OF volunteers, and,
moreover, has 10 enter into direct Compe-
titiOn in the labor market with the two
greatest mercantile marines In the world
our own and the American. In spite
of the higher price these latter are resdy
10 give for The skilled labor Of the able
seaman, we still manage to obtain 1t for a
share in the totsl cost Of the navy which
compares tsv0rsbly with that incurred by
other powers