The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1880-02-07
THE DECLINE OF AMERICAN SHIPPING

THE DECLINE OF AMERICAN ShIffANo'
That the Chicago Commercial Adcertiser,
which, while protesting to be devoted to the
commercial, manufacturing and general bust
ness interests of the west" is yet an advocate
of that greatest clog on western prosperity, Il
protective tariff, should also profess great con-
Germ for the restoration Of our national mer-
chant marine while cllnging to the only cause
of its decay, the same robber tariff system, is
only being consistently inconsistent. When,
however the idrertiser undertakes to ascribe
the decline of American shipping solely toI
British hostility, instead Of its true cause, 1t
presumes 50 largely on the guilibilty of It's
readers that the FREE TRADER which counts
itself among them, is compelled to protest,
The British hostility the AdreHjSor probably
has reference to is that of England's old navl-
CATION laws, by which it was sought to contine
the carrying Of the entire commerce of Eng
land and her dependencies TO British bottoms.
| 1t was almost an exact counterpart OF the pres.
ent policy OF the United States. Our mer-
chants are allowed to own none but American
"a
ship building material that we can't afford to
build ships That plan on the part OF England,
from its inception up, worked so beautifully
that her merchant marine for forty years re
NAMED nearly at stand still, while that Of
America went on increasing at the rate Of from
50 to 20 per cent. per decade, unti! in 1850 her
tonnage equaled that of England. by that
time, however, England had seen her error
and adopted a very different policy. In about
1s4S her parliament passed what is known as
the free navigation act. Under that act Eng
fish ship builders were not only exempted
| from all duties on imported material that went
into the construction of ships, but English
merchants and shippers were allowed 10 buy
their ships or have them built wherever they
could get them cheapest. Since 1850 hundreds
of the best sailing vessels in the British mer-
chant marine have been French and American
built. Not only is every foreign vessel bought
by an English merchant promptly admitted to
British registry free of duty, but ships fitting
out in British ports for foreign voyage are
allowed to take their stores out of bond free Of
duty, an enormous saving in the outfit of a
ship, while in America no such provision was
ever heard Of There has been Il great deal
SAID about the enormous destruction of our
merchant marine by British cruisers during
the rebellion. While our tonnage from 1861
to 1864 fell Off from 1921 ,2S5 to 2043, GG1, or
nearly half, it is noticeable that according
to the Official figures presented at the Geneva
conference, the actual destruction of American
tonnage by rebel cruisers was but 10, 1853 tons );
but Ivy the good grace Of English hostility"
as manifested in her free navigation laws, a
million tons of American shipping were pass
ed nominally over to English owners and pro-
tected by British registry, And now comes
out conspicuously the beauty of our own ante
diluvian navigation laws. The American own.
ers having secured protection for over 200
vessels during the war by placing them under
the protection Of British registry, can't get
them back because no foreign vessels can ex-
cept by special act of congress, be admitted to
American registry
If it is true, as the idoertser says-and
there is no doubt OF it-that 1.-THE richest coun.
tries are those who cultivate commerce on the
seas, and that, from the days of the Phpnicians
to the present. those countries that built large
fleets of merchant vessels have grown the rich
est and were the most powerful" then, if
America, with every resource in her power,
wishes to take that position at the head Of the
commercial nations of the world to which she
is entitled and which is so easily within her
grasp all she need do is to pass free naviga
ton law like that of England, allowing our
ship builders of Maine and on the Delaware,
in the first place, drawback on all foreign
material entering into the building and equip
ments of ships; and secondly, if our mer.
chants and shippers can't afford to buy home
built ships, let them buy on the Clyde or
wherever else in the world they can get them
cheapest as English merchants and shippers
are allowed to do In word, remove from
our ship-builders the lightweight that hangs
over them in our piratical tariff system, and
from our merchants the odious restriction on
free trade IN ships, and we shall have no more
occasion for lamentatiOn over the decline of
our merchant marine, but less than three years
of such policy will suffice to restore America
once more to her proud position as the first
commercial nation Of the world