The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-01-04

American enterprise has stopped there 1t has
been left to other nations to take our surplus
products at our seapolts and carry them abroad
and bring back the goods We receive i'm exchange
for them. and to make all the profits to be
realized directly or indirectly from That branch
of trade. If this rapid growth upon the land hats
been the main cause of the loss of maratlme I'M
p0rtance, it is reasonable to suppose that ut no
distant day we will be in a condition III part TO
| regain it.
The absorption of capital and enterprise in in
| ternal improvements and other kindred indus
tries Is not likely to increase in the same ratio in
| the future as ii has done in the past, while our
| extended sea front upon the Pacific as well as
| the Atlantic must attract portion Of that cap
| tai and enterprise to commercial pursuits. The
| importance of so doing is very manifest, both III
| a commercial point Of view as well as a means OF
national safety-for if, in our present helpless
| condition in respect to our foreign trade. a war
should break out in Europe that should Temporal
rily deprive our merchants of the use OF the Bl1t-
! ish merchant vessels our surplus products would
! rot in our ports before we could create the means
| of carrying them to market On the other hand,
| if we should be threatened with q foreign war
| we have no considerable body of experienced sea
| mon to defend us from attacks OF our enemies
| This last danger has been SO often mentioned as
| to lose its effect ana yet every person whose at
tention has been called to it adrIr IT'S existence
There are other causes than those 1 nave
| named, which, if they have not contributed to
the decay of our shipping interests have at least
| not retarded il. The most noteworthy of these
has been. and still is, that Indifference which our
| government has manifested toward its growth or
| preservation. have already mentioned the de
! cree of ostracism pronounced against all those
/ vessels that took protection under foreign flags
| during the war. and which has been continued to
| the present day, long after amnesty had been
| extended to all other classes of offenders; but
| that was an act which spent its force upon the
offending parties Our registration and naviga-
! ton laws have always been restricted and lib
| era and have not the merit of being original.
| We adopted the most Objectionable features Of
! the English navigation laws, and have continued
| them in force long after they had been
repealed or modified in THAT country.
Something of the spirit. temper and
! character of these laws may be learned by any
on" VII .c will examine few Of the sections of the
Revised Statues of the United States under the
| title. Regulations of commerce and naviga-
ton 1t will be seen by the first section that
vessels registered pursuant to laws, and no oth-
ers, shall be deemed vessels OF the United
States. By the second section it is provided
that vessels built within the United States and
belonging wholly to citizens of the United
States. vessels captured by the citizens of the
! United States and condemned as war prizes and
belonging wholly to citizens of the United
| States and none others, shall be entitled to be
registered In many ways vessel may forfeit
its registry: among others by sale to foreign
owners. Now as our merchant marine is made
| up wholly of our registered vessels and those
| that keep their registry good, it is easy to see,
slow and its preservation difficult Efforts have
| been made in the last few Years to modify or re
| peal these laws, and to introduce more liberal
! and enlightened policy in their stead, but those
who have a special interest in their preserva-
ton have been able thus far to defeat all such at
| tempts
INDIANAs COMMERCIAL GROWTH.
As one of the States of the Union, Indiana has
an interest in common with the other States in
the development and growth of our foreign COM
meree. 1t is not of that interest propose to
speak, but of the interest directly affecting its
| prosperity as a State. Its natural highways are
! quite limited but by the development of the
great railroad system of the country its relations
to travel and commerce, both internal and eX-
ternal. have been greatly changed.
The wonderful change that the last fifty years
has caused in the internal condition of the cOun-
try has been nowhere more marked than in our
State 1t is only about thirty-hve years since
the first railroad finished from the Ohio
river to its capital and to-day we have over five
thousand miles of railroad completed and in ope-
ration. OF the ninety two counties in our State
there but four that have not railroad facili-
ties, and three Of these front on the Ohio river.
The capital Of the State is one of the most i'm
portant railroad centers III the country, and the
most populous inland city in the United States.
In fact, indianapolis can no longer be termed
an inland city, but port from which mer-
chandise can be shipped direct to any
part of the world and foreign goods received in
bulk from any nation or people with whom we
are engaged in trade. These important changes
are only evidence Of other and more important
| changes that have taken place within our Dor
dcrS. AT the time of the admission of Indiana
into the Union as a State, in 1876 her population
was estimated at -, coo; to-day it numbers over
900, 600 Fifty years ago the sparse population
of that day had but little to sell, and no accessible
| market for that small surplus. But now our an
nual surplus of the single article of wheat is over
20 600 600 Of bushels. Our wheat crop Of 1882