Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-06-10
NOT FLYING ABROAD.

/ The stars and Stripes Keep at HONS
cause 1t Doesn't Pay to Compete wiz"
Cbeap Foreign ships, Cheap Captain
anS Cheap Crews.
Our flag is not on the sea to any
great extent Why should IL os! -
that sort of national vanity which Is
the mere cockade of patriotism more
important than are our genuine COM
mercial interests?
Because the Democrats IN congress
decline to 60 into the subsidy pusiness
the Tribune INDUCES in the following
loose talk:
The Democrats still persist in playing 1n1o
the hands of England and other nauonS a Gn
this question of foreign com1SSl0; ,srt
steady decline in ships cUrrying the AHcrIS
can fiasI and the increase Ss our expense cS
the commerce of other nations mas opeHSu
Marty leaders are not yet willing to admiH
that they have blundered on tfas matter
SThe Tribune is so located that it
ought to know the bottom facts which
it sedulously keeps from It's readers.
It ought to know that our merchant
ships were driven from the Ocean-not
primarily because we were at war, but
because. the business of oceanSarTylnS
had ceased to pay. 1t ought to know
that the foreign vessels that tie up
within sight of its windows at the
wharves, Of Manhattan Island DO not
return two per cent profit toa ehelr
owners AS an investment. 1t ought to
know that ocean-carrying is about tho
least remunerative business IN the
world, and THAT Americans can not at
ford to engage in it to any great ex-
tent in, direct competition with the
cheap ships. cheap captains and cheap
crews of Europe The captain OF an
Amsterdam or Genoese bark gets $500
a year, but a. man for the same service
in New York costs 81, 500 to $1,SO0!.
To make a. serious effort to rebuild our
merchant marine would be about as
wise as itlwouad be for American capt..
talists to go and establish maccaron1i
factories in Naples or pulque mills lns
Mexico.
To-day it costs less to transport "a
can of kerosene from New York toe
Marseilles; France; than it does to car.
nv it from New York to Philadelphia,
and it costsSjust about as much to get
ladies' handbook carried from Will
ards Hotel! across the Potomac to
Alexandria asst does to send a pack
age of the same size from Baltimore to
Calcutta in Hindostan.. This is the Sc
rious fact: The reason why American
ships are not on the ocean is because
they do not want to- be; because 1t
does not pay to be-: because they can
not afford to be-, If the thronging
paupers of Holland, Spain and Italy
are eager to serve us'as'oceanic porters.
why not let them do it,. while we calm
ly continue to busy, ourselves about
something that paysP A bank presi-
dent might, on arriving at the depot,
shoulder his own'trunk and carry it to
his home; but why should he, when
there are clamorous, hundreds who
want the job and cam do it cheaper
than he can?
In times of peace we cam not afford
to struggle with the, hungry stevedores
of Amsterdam and Liverpool and the
wretched lazzaronii of; Italy for the
privilege of carrying the flour barrels
and kerosene cans of the wvs.}d, because
there is so much' more money in
manufacturing the load and in times
of war, large merchant marine is al
ways an element of weakness.
What we want, andlwant at once, is
a respectable navy, worthy of our
wealth and our pretensions. Let puis-
SAINT ships-of-war bearrour flag where
it is needed, and let the poverty strick-
en- porter-feets of the world carry any
flag they please.
On this platform the Democratic par
ty can securely stand.-Bashimgton
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