Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1881-07-23
SHALL AMERICANS OWN SHIPS 3?
[Prof. w. G. Sumner IN the North American
Review for August

Cans began TO build ships, as al in- ,
dnstry, within fifteen years after the ,
settlement of Massachusetts Bay. I
They competed successfully as ship
builders, before the Revolution, with
the Dutch and English, and they sold
ships to be'used by their rivals. Ton
mage and navigation laws played all
important part in the question of
separation between the colonies and
Eng land, and the same laws took all
important place in the formation of
the federal constitution. One gen.
Grafton was required for the people
of this country TO get over the hard
logical twist in the notion that laws
which were pernicious when laid by
ourselves. The vacillation which has
marked the history of our laws about
tonnage and navigation is such that
II does not seem possible to trace the
effects of legislation upon ship-build-
ing. In the decade 1S50-1860 a very |
great decline III the number Of ships |
built, especially for ocean traffic. be-
gan to be marked. Sails began to
give wayio steam, but the building
of steamships required great advan-
tages of every kind in the produc-
ton of engines and other apparatus
that Is, it required the presence, i'll u
| highly developed state, of number
| OF important auxiliary and-co-oper-
ating industries. AS iron was intro
duced Into ship-buiiding, Of course
the ship-building industry became
dependent upon cheap" supplies of
iron, as it had before bsen dependent
OIL cheap supplies of wood. No doubt
| these changes in the conditions of
the industry itself have been the
chief cause Of the decline in ship
building in this country, and legisla-
ton has only had incidental effects.
1t is plain fact of history that the
decline in ship-building began before
the war and the high tariff. OF course
the effects produced by changes in
the conditions Of All industry are in
evitable. They are not to be avoided
by any legislation. They are annoy
lug because they break up acquired
habits and established routine, and
they involve loss i'll change from
one industry to another, but legisla-
ton can never do anything but cause
that loss to fall on some other set Of
lpeople instead of on those directly
Interested. Within the last few years
it has become certain that steel is to
be the material of ocean vessels
d "A new improvement which will
Il not tend to bring the Industry back
to this country. hOn the W hole, there
fore, tho decline IN ship building OF
\ the last, t,twenty-tivey years seems to i'll
d. dicate that somebody else than our
selves must bulld the worlds ships
for the present. We have, by legis-
lative devices, forced the production
of . few ocean steamers, but these
cases prove nothing to the contrary
of oul. inference. Ii this nation has
Il hobby for owning some ships built
in this country, and is willing to pay
llenough for the qualification Of that
hobby, no doubt it can secure the
pleasure il seeks. n fisherman who
has caught nothing sometimes buys
fish at a fancy price. He saves him.
self modification and gets dinner,
but the possession of the fish does
not prove that he has profitably em.
| played his time or that he has had
sport. Et sut 4. 'H-' 'EJ5 Hf
Second. The carrying trade differs
. from ship-building as carting differs
/ rIVJrs.- t...il1iine ne-GarrYi"g- -is
the industry of men who own ships
Their interests are more or less hos.
tie to those of the ship.builders
, Ship-oWners want TO buy new ships
at low prices. They want the mum.
, ber of competing ships kept small
. They want freights high. In all these
points the interest of the ship-buildel
is the opposite. The ship-owner is
indifferent where he gets his ships
He only wants them cheap aud good
There is no sentiment in the matter
any more than there is in the pur.
chase OF wagons by an express com,
pany, or carriages by iyery-stable
Keeper.
Third. Foreign commerce is still
another thing. 1t consists in the ex.
change ofthe. products of one country
=. for those OF another. The merchant
wants plenty OF ships to carry all the
goods at the lowest possible freights
but it is OF no Importance to him
where the ships were built, or who
!, owns and sails them. ''..s4'' '' f'
A statement and definition of these
three Industries sufices to show what
confusion must arise In any discus.
sion il which they are not properly
distinguished. 1t is plain that there
are three different questions: ~
Can the farmer build a vehicle (2j
Can he get his crop carried to mark
ct! (3) Can he sell his crop? 1t is
evident that country witch needs a
protective tariff OH iron and steel
must give up all hopes of building
ships i"r ocean traffic. For the coun-
try which, by the hypothesis, needs a
protective tariff on iron and steel
cannot produce those articles az
cheapiy as some other country. It's
ships, however, must compete upon
The ocean with those Of the country
which has cheap iron and steel. The
former embody d larger capital than
the latter. and they must be driven
from the ocean. Ii, then, subsidies
are given to protect the CARRYING
trade, when prosecuted in ships built
OF protected iron, the loss is trans
terred from the ship-owners to the
people who pay taxes OH shore,
These taxes, however, add to the
cost of production of all things pro-
duced i'll the country, and thereby
lessen the power of the country to
compete i'll foreign commerce. This
lessons the amount of goods to be
carried both out and in, lowers
fre!Sh;s, throws ships out of use,
checks The building OF ships, and the
whole series of legislative aids aud
encouragements must be begun over
again, with repetition and intensi-
Hcatlon OF the same results. AS long
as the system lasts it works down,
ana the statistics show, very natural
!y, that fewer and fewer ships are
nuilt lii the country, aud that less and
less of the carrying trade is carried
on Under the national flag. In view
| OF the three different and sometimes
adverse Interests Which are connected
by their relation to the shipping
question, it is not strange that when
The representatives Of those interests
meet TO try to consider that question,
there should simply be scramble
| between them to see which should
capture the convention. The last
convention of this sort was captured
by The owners of u lot of unstable
and unsuitable old hulks, who had
hit upon the brilliant idea of getting
the nation to pay them an annual
bounty for the use of their antiquat-