Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-08-02
THE DECLINE eF OUR sH1pr1Ec
INTEREST.

petition states "tbat the present decline
has depressing influence upon all the
interests of the country, besides debriv.
ing class of employment who would
seek the sea for livelihood. The peti.
tioners ask that Commission of Con.
"gress be appointed to consider this sub.
"ject, with ability to sit during recess
The facts about the decline of the shipp;np
interest ought by this time to be familiar
to every schoolboy, and unless Congress is
prepared to act in the premises we do not
see what good Congressional Commission
Is likely to do. The merchants of Boston
certainly cannot expec. to obtain from
suci1 source any recondite information on
the subject. 1t is thoroughly well known
now that the shipping interest began to
decline in 1856, and has been declining
ever since. In 1860 American ships car.
RED 10 per cent. of all the exports and
imports OF the country. In 1881 no less
IMAM % per cent. of our exports
and imports was carried in foreign
bottoms. The causes of this state of
things are not simple but complex. The
primary cause was that revolution in ship.
building which substituted iron for wood
as the material of ships When that
change took place Great Britain possessed
all the facilities for iron ship. building, and
therefore she took the lead in that indus.
try we were not in position to com.
pete with her at once. Our forte had long
been wooden ship building, and all our
yards were adapted to that kind alone.
Nor, even if we had possessed the facilities.
could we have built iron ships as cheaply
as England. But we might have prevented
our shipping interest from decaying BY
buying English vessels and hosting the
American flag on them, had not Congress
made that impossible by the enactment of
the navigation laws.
These laws tied the hands of our mer.
chants and shipowners. They could not
build iron ships for themselves, and thew
were prohibited from purchasing them
abroad. Then came the tariff and the re-.
bellion, to complete the work of disor.
ganizstion, and between these agencies the
American shipping interest has been
brought to its present''moribund condition,
And 1T must be realized that as the case
stands it is beyond the ability of Congress
to restore the dying interest. After SO
long period of decadence recovery would
be slow under the most favorable circum.
stances. We have allowed our principal
rival twenty years of monopoly, and
we cannot now take the trade we have
lost into our hands again at will. By re.
pealing the navigation laws and modifying
the tariff Congress would remove some
OF the most formidable barriers, but it
could not turn capital into the abandoned
channel. As to what the Boston petition.
ers say about the injury to our seafarine
men, that is past praying for. As q
matter OF course there is no class of Ameri.
can seamen who are lsnguishing for ships.
That class ceased to exist nearly genera
tior ago. The plain truth is that if we
could restore the shipping interest to.mor.
row we should have to go abroad for men
to man our merchant marine. For it must
be realized that when, as in this case, a
whole class find themselves thrown ont OF
employment, they do not sit down and
wait for better times, but they at once
look about for some other occupation.
This is what has happened with our sail.
ors. They have become landsmen. They
had to live, and SO they took up whatever
means of livelihood offered.
And 1t must also be remembered that
while the men who were the pride of our
merchant navy twenty years ago are by
this time either too old for work, or dead.
the succeeding generation contained no
element which has been bred to the sea.
The Bostsn petitioners are therefore under
deiusion when they talk of the injury
done to the class who would seek their
living on the sea il they could. That class
has ceased to exist, and it will take years
to supply it's place in any event. If the
navigation laws were repealed, no doubt
our merchants could begin to buy foreign.
built ships. Ii the tariff also were modi.
he'd 1t might become possible to build
them IN the country. But capital has
been diverted from that form of industry
30 many years that it would be hard work
getting it back again, and unfortunately
there is very little probability that Con-
gress will recognize the necessity of re-
moving the distractions which exist. 1t
is more likely that the result of Con.
| gressional Committee would be some
recommendations looking to the establish.
ment of a system of bounties which
would be like tying the legs of half the
community, and then taxing the other half
to buy crutches for the cripples. There is
only one healthy, economical and rational
way by which our shipping interest can be
restored, and even if that way were fol.
lowed it would be the work of time to
bring about the revival. By simply re.
moving all distractions to the building
and to the ownership of ships, capital
would be encouraged to return to this
form of investment. But there is no royal
road to the rehabilitation of our shipping
interest, and least of all can Congress, by
any new enactment, change the situation
for the better.