New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-03-16
.CENdTOR HILL on SHIPS.

senator I'M III opening HIS COu'HO'H N''N"''
has undertaken to reply to one of President Iiar-
rsons speeches The President has always
taken hearty interest in the restoration OF the
American commercial marine and in the open
ing Of new markets for exports. The senator
chooses to assume that the Protective system has
involved the decline OF American shipping IN
tcre,s, and reminds the President that " in the
good old days of Democratic rule the flag of our
county used to fly on Our merchant marine
everywhere throughout the globe" IL he had
carried these "reminiscences step further, nc
would have succeeded in cOnvicting the leaders
of his own party of degenelacy and folly IN re-
pudatng the Democratic record made hand over
hand in those good old days"
During the decade of Democratic RUE which
preceded the Civil War there was hardly year
when considerably more than S1,O0O,OOO, ana
oftener nearer 50 10000 than $1,000
was not expended for mail payments to ships
under the American flag. During the last year
of the Pierce Administration these payments
amounted to Sl936,715. To the honor Of the
Democratic party of that period be it said that
the ocean carving trade under the flag was not
neglected, but lis prosperity promoted by liberal
PAYMENTS for mail service. But when the Cleve-
ago this time-honored Democratic policy was re-
vesed and the amount pad to American ships
for this service was reduced to the bcggarly sum
Of S43,319. Moreover, every attempt made by
the Republicans in Congress to restore the Amon-
can merchant maine by postal subsidies has met
with strenuous opposition from the Democratic
side Although Democratic Congresses and Ad-
mnstratons forty Yeas ago recognized the ne
cesSity and expedicncy OF developing the com
mercial marine by liberal contracts fer mail ser
vice. Senator Hills party has antagonzed the
same policy during recent years. Ii has done
this when the actual cost OF ocean mail carriage
is only % per cent of the revenues derived from
foreign postage.
Ii suits the purposes of trickscrS Ike Senator
Hill to attribute the decline of the commercial
marine to Protection. That has been stock
argument Of Free Traders for thirty years, but
it involves fallacy which can readily be pointed
ont The argument assumes that tho ocean
carrying trade has been protected by tariff legi>-
ation. but that is not the case The shipbuildcf
has been protected, but not the vesSel-owner.
The capital invested and the labor employed in
an American factory has been protected by the
tariff The capital invested and the labor en-
tcctcd. The commercial marine on the high
seas has been systematically neglected and cN-
posed. unaided, to foreign competition and cheap
labor. On the great lakes there is fleet Of
enormous tonnage under the American flag. lis
interests have been protected, and that commerce
is furnishing to-day The cOasting trade Is also
prosperous, for it has also been protected. Inc
ocean carving trade has been suffered TO decline
because nothing was done TO aid 1t. 1t Is III
langushing condition to-day, not in consequence
Of Protection, but from the lack of it.
When Senator Hill seeks to explain the ccca-
dence of the commercial marine by Republican
tariff legislation, which instead OF giving us
fIecr and wider markets has restricted them" h
is many fahoms beyond his depth. There has
been an enormous expansion OF foreign trade,
both in exports and imports since BuchananS
time American shipping has not suffered be
cause commercial exchanges have been restrict
ed BY tariffs. 1t has declined because the United
states has Systematically neglected It, while
every maritime nation in Europe has been de-
welcoming iIs own commercial marine IN Blu
chanan's time iron ships were not building, wood
had not been displaced on the seas, and Amer-
can shipyardS had a marked advantage over for
eicn builders in CheapnesS of material but even
then Democratic legislators and Administrations
thought nothing of expanding 81 100000
wear in mail contracts for the general interests
Ct the commercial marine. How much more
urgent is the existing need Of liberal mail pay
ments when steam has superseded sail, and when
Europe has the advantage of cheap labor in
building and manning iron ships, such igno-
rant claptrap as Senator Hills Southern oratory
is no reply TO the Presidents well digested, en-
lghtened and patriotic appeals for the restora-
ton of American maritime prosperity.