The daily gazette. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1874-1883, 1881-03-03
OUR MERCHANT MARINE.

possible had been done 10 DISCOURAGE
ana prevent the ownership and use Of
ships Tor the purposes of ocean trade
ana transport by citizens of the Uni
TED States. But there is something
worse and more atrocious than apv-
thing that has been heretofore related.
Lhere is large and most influential
class OF persons in the United States
VINO do not want ships; do not believe
III their utility, or in the trade and
commerce OF which they are the neoes-
safy adJuncts and instrumentalities
ana though restrained through fear Of
public opinion in great degree from
working openly, yet never fail, while
pFoie sslhg to the contrary. to do all in
their power to make the resuscitation
OF American shipping impossible. And
thus far their efforts have been emil
nently successful.
10 some, perharps a majority of
readers, these averments will seem ut.
teriy pfepost erous and desiit ute of a II
foundation, fit only to be character
ized as the mere utterances of theo-
rst and one idea enthusiast. But let
us see what evidence there Is on this
subject. We cite first the opinion of
the late Henry G. Carey, of Philadel-
phla, who stands in relation to the
modern doctrine of "protection" very
much the same as the Prophet Ma
homet does to the relig ion of Islam.
Mr.. Carey expressed the opinion over
aud over again that the interests Of the
United States-material and moral
lI ha npnaEly al 81 ~
TIC could bs converted into all impassa-
BILE ocean of fire, and also that a pro.
longed wal between Great Britain and
the United States would be one of the
best possible things which eeuld happen
to promote the industrial Independence
and development of the latter country.
OF course this was only another way of
saying that ships engaged in the ocean
transport OF igrants and
meTchandise-are curses and nuIsances,
aud that the sooner they and the trade
which gives them occcuEAtion are done
away with the better for this country. II
was a TeludorSemeut and reaffirmation
of the Chinese policy of hostility TO for
egners ana all things foreign, when the
Chinese themselves, on ceDtaties of ex-
perieuce, are proposing 10 de away wit b
it. Horace Greeley also taught sub
stantlaily the same doctrine to the day
Of his death. Thus, We commend to the
consideration of the manufacturers of
New England, the finAnciers of New
York, tue farmers of the West and the
Legislators at Washington, all of whom
are rejoicing at the domestic prosperity
which foreign demand for our asricul-
r,rnA,,ata Inrinn he fvu1 Ia
has occasioned, the following quotation
from the seml-weekly New FORK 1rib-
une OF April 8, 1870; "Mhen railroad
brings artisans 20 The door Of the farmer,
| it is = blessing. When it takes the
wheat, the flesh, the corn and the cotton
| 10 a distant manufacturing centre, a
| locomotive Is an exhaustor; its smoke is
a black nag, and its whistle is the scream
of an evil genius" Now, if this doctrine
is correct, then the country has no worse
enemies than its great railroad construc-
tors and administrators. The men who
are stretching Mr.. Greeley's black flag
over every landscape and filling the eats
| of the whole nation with the screams of
| lemons--the Vanderbilts, Jewetts, SCOTS,
CARROTS, Goulds and Fields-ought
forthwith to be hung on . gallows as
high as Haman's.
/ According to this doctriue, further
more, the country needs no ships for
ocean transport, and to seek to pro-
mote their construction and employ
ment by subsidies is certainly akin to
crime. We ought also to grow nc
more wheat, corn or cotton, raise NO
moro cattle, pack no more pork and
barrel no more petroleum than are
needed for our absolute domestic ne
cessilies. Again, in an interview with
the late Mr.. Greeley, in the summer of
1872, when he was d candidate for the
Presidency, he said off | could have
my way, | would impose a duty of
500 On every ton of pig iron imported
into the United States, and make the
rate Interchangeable for twenty years.
That, sir, is my idea of what our tar
iff should be.' Now the plain mean
ing of which was Gf Mr.. Greeley was
in his right mind) that he would by law
prevent ships engaged in ocean trans
port from obtaining any profitable em-
ployment whatever.
But barbarous and repulsive as are
these doctrines and teachings OF
Messrs, Carey and Greeley there is
even something more singular to be re-
ported. Thus, the University OF
Pennsylvania which claims 20 rank
among tho first educational institu-
tions of the country, openly teaches to
it's students that it is not expedient
that the United States should have any
foreign commerce that if there were
were no other reason for discouraging
commerce the demoralizIng effects OF
seafaring life would be quite sutfi.
cient, and that it would be much bet
ter to hang a man than allow him tc
become "a sailor. In confirmation oi
these seemingly incredible statements
attention is asked to the following quo
tations from Thompson's Social Sci
ance and National Economy, the text
book for instruction in economic sci
euce at present used in the university
referred to. In it the author declares
; m 229l "he amount of nations for
. eign commerce the worst possible tes
of its general prosperity : and (pag
222l, that Commerce between dis
Z tant points is an undesirable thing, a
open to the exercise of tyrannizini
power by traders and their combina
! tions !" and that (page 22Sl ''if ther
1 were no other reasons for the polio
: which seeks to reduce foreign com
merce to minimum, sufficient on
would be found in the effect on tn
human material 1t employs" as if
life on the broad ocean were more dt
.nrol; ,;no, than an underground exis