The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1881-01-15

| In the recent report of Mr.. Nlmmo, Chief of
the Bureau of Statistics upon the internal
commerce of the country, he says:
| The decadence Of that branch of the Amerl'
can merchant marine which is employed in
| the foreign commerce of the country Is indi-
Gated by the following facts:
The building Of ships and barks employed
in our foreign commerce fell from an annual
average of 233 during the ten years from 1851
to 1860 to an annual average of SO during the
ten years from 1877 to 1880. There were only
% ships and barks built during the year ended
June 80, 1850.
| The iron steamship is now the controlling
vehicle OF commerce on the ocean. The ton
mage of iron vessels built in this country dur.
ing the past five years amounted to only lOl,
! S23 tons, almost entirely for our cOast-wise or
| home trade, IN which no foreign competition
! is allowed under the provisions of our navlga-
ton laws, whereas the iron shipbullding OF
Great Britain during the last five years report
ed amounted to 1900, 1913 tons.
| On the 29th of June, 1880, the French gov
eminent adopted somewhat extraordinary
scheme of subventions for the promotion OF
| the French merchant marine. BOunties were
provided for ships built IN France, and subsI'
dies granted III favor Of all vessels built at the
rate of , francs on every ton Tor each 1000
miles travelled in voyages to and from that
country.
The tonnage of the New YORK state canals
fell from $50 $50 tons in 1869 to 1852, 1872 tons
| in 1919; but the tonnage Of the two railroads
competing with the canal (the New York
Central and the New York, Lake Erie and
Western ralroads) increased from 6,594094
tons IN 1869 to 1925, 1874 tons IN 1879. These
facts it Is maintained, serve TO illustrate the
most striking commercial development of the
age, namely the fact that the vehicle OF com
merce on wheels has, in our domestic trade, to
Il great extent superseded the vehicle of COM
merce on the water.-American Manufacturer.
THE QUESTION OF FREE SHIPS.
Our Washington dispatches hint that Ger.
tain republicans wish to make the question OF
free ships party question. This will be u
pity, but democrats need not deprecate it as
partisans. Ten years ago republican con
greSs appointed "a Committee on the Decline
of American Commerce" which in May, 1870,
sagey concluded that action is imperative"
Instead of reporting bill for the benefit of
ship.owners, this committee reported bill for
the exclusive benefit of ship-builders The
democrats then contended that the navigation
laws rs these then stood simply demonstrated
the great advantage possessed by foreign over
domestic builders Of ships, wooden or iron.
The ten years which have elapsed since that
report was made have converted the whole
American people into another Committee on
the Decline of Commerce" In 1880, as in
1865, our navigation laws debar from Ameri-
can registry large number of ships originally
constructed in America which were Temporal
rly registered as foreign ships while the civil
war lasted We are all of us talking or think
ing now about the great commercial develop
ment which is to follow the construction OF a
canal between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans,
but nothing can be more clear than that many
of the most valuable results of such an enter
prise will be lost to US If this country Is to-
cling to an Anticipated system of navigation
laws which surrenders the carrying trade OF
the world to foreign nations. What objection
can there be to the admission to American
registry OF foreign-built vessels owned by
American citizens? Why canrot an end be
put at once to the extraordinary anomalies OF
IL system under which an American firm can
buy an English steam engine and make 1t
American property so long rs it is used upon
land and yet be forbidden to own an English
steam engine and use 1t In shipy Whatever
is To- be done IN respect TO our navigation laws
must be done by this congress, for all the past
debates and votes as to their modification and
repeal exhibit General Garfield as Obstlnately
arrayed in favor OF them. The inference is
that a. president he would veto any interfer
ence with the navigation laws notwithstan d.
ing the indisputable statistics which show that
between 1890 and 1860 American ships carried
an average of 81 per cent. of ocean-borne com
merce between our own and foreign ports, while
at the last returns this proportion had sunk to
no more than 20 per cent. During the past
ten wears there has been an actual loss of earn
lngs in the ocean-carrying trade to the Aneri-
can people Of nearly six hundred millions of
dollars, which have gone to swell the profits
of foreigners Senator Beck and Senator ker-
nan have undertaken 10 put stop 10 this
policy Of waste and disgrace.-N. J. World.