The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1890-06-05
AMERICAN SHIPPING.
ITS pECAoENcE DURING The PAST
THIRTY YEARS.

pride. They delight in recounting the
growth Of our shipping interests during
that period. Nothing is truer than that
American shipping greatly increased
from 1s46 to 1s6i-partly under condi-
tons already mentioned, and partly from
other causes. Our ships swept the seas
far and wide, hunting for markets for
what we had to sell; and the isles afar
off, hearing Of our free ports, sold to
them largely and bought little in return.
Many went down to the sea in ships who
had never gone before. Sails and sea
men multiplied, and the gold Of Califor-
mia. together with the interests of Amer
lean farmers and manufacturers, paid
for the venture. Foreign freights bur
dened the produce of the one and heavy
importations checked the enterprise Of
the other.
Their orators note, with indications Of
a deeply wounded national pride, that
our flag has almost disappeared from the
seas since the enactment of the Morrill,
tariff. Were it not arrant demagoguery,
it would be dense ignorance that ascribes
the decadence Of our shipping to any
revenue system whatever. 1t was the
Southern Confederacy that caused the
withdrawal of the United States mer-
chant marine from salt water. With the
outbreak OF hostilities in 1851, the mi
itia of the seas" were, TO IL very great
extent, mustered into the naval service
OF the Federal government. As army
transports. blockaders and armed war
craft, their paths Of duty lay thick with
perils. Storms, wrecks, cannon shot and
torpedoes caused hundreds OF former
merchantmen TO adorn the casualty lists
Of the navy. Those remaining upon the
high seas were pursued and harassed by
Confederate privateers.
SO vigilant and persistent were these
patrolmen of the waters, so many were
the vessels destroyed, that such rs could
not find employment in the service OF
the government were compelled to seek
foreign ownership or rot in idleness at
their wharves. Whilst we were engaged
tooth and nail in family strife, iron
steamships largely superseded wooden
sail crafts. Answering the spirit Of the
age, commerce sought carriage on the
swifter courses Of the ocean. When we
were bending every energy to the de-
struction Of each other on land and sea,
British shipbuilders were launching ves-
sells OF new model and revolutionizing
navigation. Facing the disadvantages
of a decimated marine, with rivals in
possession who were in the full enjoy
ment OF the latest triumphs of nautical
science, and n sharp competition already
existing among ocean carriers, an invit-
ing field was not presented to American
shipowners.
In surrendering prominence upon the
seas, the enterprise Of the nation became
by no means quiescent. Great industrial
trihmphs have been won, and vast inter-
nal enterprises undertaken. Railway
lines struck boldly across the continent,
conquering alike the obstacles Of deserts
and mountain ranges. Oceans Of sand
and mountain SHOWS yielded in turn and
made way for the highways of inland
commerce. Ex-soldiers Of either army,
infused with the spirit Of adventure, met
as friends and as Americans in the Great
West. Prairie and woodland were sub
dued with rapidity never known be-
se=e., TIE tide q ecsai-e hea. :a.ss:a.iiaee:
the basis OF the Rocky mountains; then,
over and beyond.
Mine and mill, forest and field -four
shed together. The railroad builder null
tiplied ways OF commerce beyond the
dreams of the shipmaster in the proudest
days of his power. A system of Free
trade with each other, in thirty eight
states and ten territories, comprising All
area equal to all Europe, called for their
best energies. The considerable American
will find in the free and unfettered COM
MERGE between the states and territories
| of the Union--nations as it were-a field
worthy of his enterprise for years to
come.
Until we become older as a nation
until labor. capital and machinery can
be owned and operated in our country
rs cheaply as abroad, our industries will
need protection against foreign competi-
ton. When we conclude that, other
things equal, the American citizen is the
best and most deserving man in the
world, 1t will be good day for us. 1t
will then be apparent that it is to the
best interests of us all to patronize each
other. The American farmer has the
right to feed those who manufacture the
goods he buys. AT present he does it,
If the English operative supplied him
with the goods, 1t Is by no means certain
that the Englishman would purchase
from him in turn. 1t might easily be
cheaper for the emancipated serf of
Russia or the half naked Hindoo to raise
wheat for his bread than for the land
owning American TO do 30.
In that case he would sell his manu-
featured goods to us and buy his sup
plies from some other quarter, leaving
our farmers to dispose of their surplus
as best they might. The great benefit Of
Protection is that 1t makes the consumer
and producer neighbors to each other. 1t
enables the man who makes cloth or iron
in the United States to buy his supplies
of his neighbor. 1t saves largely in the
freight and cost Of handling the products
Of either, and Is the true economy.
American manufacturers should supply
American farmers, and our farmers
should supply our manufacturers. We
have room enough and work enough for
both, and the experience OF hundred
years has proved it to be the best plan.
Arguments favoring Free-trade, free
seas and open markets may sound high
and well. They are fine In theory, but
Improbable in practice. In q great
in this country are already on the free
list. This is notably true Of the tropical
productions of the West Indies, Mexico,
the central and south American states.
We yearly import from these countries
immense amounts Of coffee, hides, dye
woods, dye stuffs, India rubber, gutta
percha and the like. all Of which are ad-
mitted without duty. Free-traders are
ever filled with the fear that our tariff
restriction will cause other nations to
cease trading with us-to refuse to buy
our products because we impose high du-
ties upon theirs.
The reports Of the treasury department
show differently. The tropical countries
just mentioned, who send in nearly all
their products free, buy Of US but little.
On the other hand, European countries,
whose goods are subjected to high duties,
buy Of us much more literally.
Novel Application Of the Camera.
A graphic history Of the new library
building at Washington is being pre-.