Arizona republican., 1894-01-04
OUR PKUGKEOo Al SEA.
American Ship Builders Make the
 Best of Ships.
General Ignorance of the People Con earning Achievements in Building Fast Ocean Steamers-For-
 eigRers Astonished.

There is a serious side to our con- tinued yachting triumphs, in impor- tance transcending far the sporting world, says the Boston Transcript. Some time ago Emperor William was quoted as saying that in building up the German navy he would look to the United States hereafter. Whether the emperor said this or not, the fact that it is attributed to him in Europe dem onstrates that the revival of American skill in shipbuilding is attracting at tention abroad We should not be surprised at learning that it is attract ing more attention abroad than it is at home. American enterprise has looked inward from the seaboard so long that it has but recently accus- toned itself to the idea of looking sea- ward. That it is waking up to the possibility of reaping the harvest of the deep seas many signs betoken. Thoughtful Americans have for years seen the folly of abandoning the for eign deep sea carrying trade to for eign steamers. They have grown weary of figuring up the millions that go to foreigners for freight money on American goods. But the masses of our people have been too busy, have made money too easily on shore, to think of turning their thoughts sea- ward, to appreciate the extent of the demands of freight money, or even to realize the progress of the country in shipbuilding, much less the possibil- ities of development of our money making power on the seas.
 How few are the people who realize all that is meant by the statement that a newly-launched cruiser has made twenty knots on her trial trip! There are not many who know that a twen ty-knot ship was ten years ago a me chanical impossibility in this country. Of the materials entering into the con- strudtion of such vessel there were in this country in 1883 only the inge nuity and the ore. Since thattim the steel-plate industry and numerous al lied businesses have been built up to build the ship. England looked with amusement on the undertaking of the United States to build flyers. It said thatthe Americans were clever people, but they had built 10 fast steamers, and they had so much to learn that they would never catch up with Eu- rope; the Americans might turn out some vessels only little less fast than those launched from the European yards, but they would not equal the latter. Now the tone of English com ment has changed. The London En- gineer, high authority, tells English men that even if the present congress should pass a free-ship bill, its bene- fit to English shippers would be exceedingly limited. A few Clyde built flyers might be bought by Amer jeans and put on American registers to form the nucleus or a last ocean serv- ice, but that would be all. Its req sons for this belief are not only the American preference to wait until i'm provement of processes has offset the difference in cost between the two countries, but the extension of our ship-building plants. Some of these
 
 most as well able to build ships as ourselves, and the almost may be omitted in regard to two of them" The great plant at Newport News es- pecially moves it's admiration for its completeness, area and appliances, and it says of the Cramps that the cruisers built by them would do no discredit to Elswick, Fairfield or Clydebank.
 Skill in handling vessels comes nat ural to Americans We have seen it illustrated in many ways The yacht race itself has more than a merely sporting significance. It signifies that we retain our skill in building fast ves- sells and can adapt that skill to special and peculiar types with the best re- suits. We have great coastwise fleet, both steam and sail, we have fast cruisers, and if we do not have fast foreign carrying trade under our own flag we shall have only ourselves to blame.