The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1883-11-21
4 FEW OBJECTIONS.


world. The movement is 20 be en-
couraged, but there are great. almost |
insuperable obstacles in the way.
In the first place II costs. at pres
ent, on an average, SO to S15 per
ton more TO build an iron sailing YES
sci, and from S25 TO S35 per ton more
TO build an iron steamship, in the |
United states than it costs on the
Clyde Let us suppose that this
difference were extinguished, either
by admitting all the materials requir-
ed for shipbUildiBg free of duty, or
by giving our shipowners the right TO
purchase ships built abroad, or by
the joint operation OF both remedies.
Could We afford to use these cheap
ships after we had got them: That
IS a question which gave a great deal
OF trouble 60 the select committe ap-
pointed some time ago by both houses
OF congress to investigate the causes
of the decline Of our foreign carrying
trade
it IS certain that without material
changes IL existing laws cheap ship
would be a cheap elephant, for the
simple reason that il costs us more to
maintain and sail vessels than it costs
our competitors. This is conclusiyely
established by the fact that, although
for some ten years We have been able
10 build wooden sailing vessels about
as cheaply as they can be built any
where, Yet there has been. during the
same period, a steady Giminution IN
the tonnage even in our wooden sail
ing ships employed IN foreign com
merce. More than half of our OK
ports and imports are still trans
ported by Sailing vessels, yet only q
third of this half is conveyed under
the American flag. The carrying
trade OF Norway, which has so sig
nally increased during The last twenty
years. has been built up at our ex-
pense; yet the Norwegian merchant
navy is almost exclusively composed
OF wooden vessels. If there were not,
in other words, an iron ship or steam
ship IN existence. ii would still be I'M
possible for rs, without more exten-
sive changes III our maritime legisla-
ton than those which merely affect
the FIRST cost of vessels, to hold our
own against our rivals on the ocean.
How. then, it may be asked, did our
shipping interest happen to be so
prosperous in the decade preceding
the civil war, when iron had not
superseded wood to any large extent
in the construction Of hulls, and when
steam had not IS yet been generally
applied 10 The movements OF freight
as well as passengers? Our wooden
sailing vessels could then be operated
at a profit. whereas our vessels OF the
same material and motive power must
now be worked at loss. because they
were free from the disabilities rela-
lively 10 their competitors against
which our ship-owners now contend
an vain. Ii is not thai we have i'm
posed new and grievous burdens on
ocean navigation-we have done
nothing except 70 levy duties on ma
terials and prohibit the purchase of
foreign vessels, restrictions which
bear only on the cost OF construction
and repair but that we should have
neglected 10 keep pace with our com.
petitors IN discarding antiquated
vexatious and oppressive regulations
which press with an intoierablC
weight upon the shipping interest
IA word. Il is not 50 much what We
have done as what We have left un
done. Up to 1854 the English stat
utes relating to shipping were sub
stantially the same as ours. From
that day to this little or no chang,
has been made in our navigation
laws, which remain as they were orig
inally framed more than eighty years
ago. On the other hand, Great Brit
ain, our chief rival for the ocean car
rying trade, began in 1854 a process
ofrevision which has steadily gone on
and whose purpose has been the re
moval Of al legislative obstruction
to the investment OF capital in ship
ping and the expansion OF British
trade. The result OF this action OF
the part OF the British parliament
coupled with the complete indiffer
ence Of our congress TO the subject
is that the American ship-owner ca
no more vie with his British co.npeti
tor chan a medieval champion, load
cd down with his suit of chain armol
could run a race with modern ath
lete stripped for the contest.
Among the Old laws enacted whe
the conditions of navigation wer
widely different from what they ar
at present, but which stin press lik
an incubus on our merchant navy,
the regulation compelling the pay
ment of three months wages to ever
seaman discharged from an America
vessel by United States Consul in
foreign port. The grievance consist
not only IN The large amount of none
extorted from our ship-owners. but i
the premium offered for neglect c
duty and infraction of discipline o
the part Of ships company, and i
the delays and contentious arisin
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