Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1894-07-10
NUMBER 2S.

Italy IL IN such financial straits that she
IL en- the verge VI revolution, but her
minister ~ marine has recently ordered
Sfrst class battleships. cruisers, ~ tor
ps.lo boats aud immense transports.
the battlesLips 10 have from 1900 10
1900 tons displacement and speei of
~ knots. France now has II armored
battleship- In construction and 10 unar-
mored hut protected cruisers, besides
arnior,d cruisers of the second class AMI
various torIcslo. dispatch and coast do
fense vessels. In Germany the naval
budget IL still under discussion. but tho
lowest estimate IL for armOred battle
ship-, q coast defense vessels. = torpedo
boats aud Z unarmored vessels of various
grades.
At thi. point bit of history 1. In OF.
der illustrating the strange fluctuations
In American shipping. The hrst vessel
worthy ~ the name constructed In North
America was made by the spsniaris ON
the west coast Of Mexico. where they
established a shipyarl In 1874, and not
many year. later they had . very hns
ship for those times. la which Don Juan
Cabrillo sailed up the coast aud entered
the hay % Sin Francisco. On the gulf
of Mexico they sou hal large vessels
constructed. in one q which d. Leon
surveyed the coast q Texas In 1865.
New England b-gsn with such small
boats that nO exact dat. can - s.t, but
the fret American deck-i ye-s.l was
built by Adrian Block near tho mouth
of the llud,on In 1914 IN i6;D MAssa-
ehn-stt. h.sl Eve .hiI-. but u Is not csr-
tain which ~ thsin were huilt ca that
coast. llst shipIang incrrass,l ~ rapidly
that IN iGD tie hshsri.s were an imIor-
tant sourus q hsr ryysnus. AMI In iSii
Hugh Peter. built ycs-sl q 80 tons
bar,lsu at salsm.
oas salsai.I N..y.
In isOi. say. The British Record. the
Amsrican oolnnis. hai !. 2.'00 men. with
igi vessels. Aggr,gating -.ooo tons. Ia the
Newfoundland hshsrisz. In the wars
with "a. frynch the American sailor.
burs an huuorabls part. II va. In iGi5
that the hrst American SLAYER sailsi f0r
Tie coast u Ouinea, and whsn she ~
turusi b. Dlston her ofhcss were pun.
lshs,l anil the cayiive- wsr. r,turnei to
thsir native country q, ihe public IN.
I.u-.. H. i.ii Massachus tts hai - .Oao
ten. - shipping and the other colOnie,
smaller amouuis EACH When the pop
ulation q ths colonies was only i.0o.Oo.
th. sntri.- AMI cl.arance- AZ Baton In .
single var were 80.
The hrst naval exploit. II such u may
H. call.,l. iu the Resistance a. Great
Britain wa- the capture - the Gasp.e.
In isi2. A. a. that war and it, naval
hsro.-. ESPECIALLY Paul Jones. are not
the details known t0 every Yankee
schOolbOyi during the entire war there
wcrr regularly commissioned In our
own navy - vessels. u which ~ were
captured by the British OF burned a.
prevent capture. The first vessel to
carry the American hAg 10 China
was the Empress, Captain Greene.
which sailed from New York Feb. q,
1884. Ia. troubles with Tnpoli and
Algiers began the nent year. aud the
h.rOe. 81 that war are well known. IL
was In 1913 that the Constitution was
trst put In commission ~ an American
vessel, and after long and glorious
service she i now laid up A. the recciy.
Ing ship at Portsmouth. y. III. The loss
of the Kearsarge leaves the Hartford.
Admiral farragut's flagship, our only
vessel afoa, around which historic mem.
oric. cluster. This year the committee
has made hlsral appropriation for her
preservation aud Improvement and for
rtfitting her with modern battery,
rather Ia obs,lience 10 public sentiment
than for her value.
short Naval Comb.t.
Ia ISL the naval appropriation was
only si ,y5j. .J66 When war was declared.
but single fhip. the Wasp, of n guns.
was on foreign service. though many
American vessels suitable but not yet
htiei for war were ahoat "a the great.
est land victory ot that war. al New OF.
leans, wa. won thr,o weeks after tho
treaty ~ pssc. was signel. - SEVERAL
sharp naval combats took place during
the sin months after the peac-. the Last
being that b-tw,.n the Psaco.k and th.
East India compny's cruiser Nautilus
In the strait % Sunda. June ~. The
Psacock hrv,l but one bruaslsids. killing
and wOunding 10 u the British. when
the Sautiln. SURRENDERED. and the nsrt
day. the Amsrican captain having learn
81 ~ the p.ac.. she wAs gwen up Thsr-
was not time fur thu navy D. dsgsnsrats
much t-f0rc the second liarhaTy war -
gan. After that the navy was main
tains,l la tolsr,ble sffcisncy. AMI Amsr-
icAn merchant shipping In, rcass,i wiihs
randiiy never before known In hist0r,.
We were doing ihrrsfourihs - our
ocsan carrying when the TRANSITION from
wODlsn % irun vessel. b-gAh. since
which our decline IN that rs-Tect Ia.
be.n a. rapid a. cur previous riss.
IL began In isjS Ahl AmOunt.si 10 IS
I-r cent before south Carolina secel.d.
Thence a. the close Il the war the de-
cline was D Isrcent ~ carrying. though
not u tonnage. for the ship~ were only
laid up temporarily. Thereafter we
lD-i steadily to the close of ls9!. sincs
which there has BEN shghtimprvye-
ment. scnstor Frye says: "ln 1910 we
hal ,c0O,OcO tons In the foreign trade
and wer. carrying ~ PER cent % our eK.
lort- and imports. Today we have
-, 900 tons and carry but ~ Ter cent of
our exports aud imports, paying Great
Britain flij. .OoO. 90 per year to carry for
US" On this basis he proposes q 10 Ter
cent differential against goods imported
Ia foreign bottoms, which the other Eel.
lows. as usual, big leave a. amend by
de,lucting 10 per cent from the regular
duties Tor gools imported In American
bottoms That II "where We are at"
for the present, but as 90 the navy proper
there 10 much more 10 be aid hereafter.
J. H. BEADIE-