The herald., 1894-04-11
srEkL vs.. PINS.

Tie last number OF the Scientific
American contained an illustrated arti-
Gle upon the new clipper ship, DiuSo
built at Camden, Maine, with = steel
hull. fully as strong as ANYTHING ever
built at Belfast OF On the Clyde. The
picture represents s toar-nsstsi ship
without any hyinS 5ia OF sorssoP9sllAn;
stsysail, having only two hssd ssils,
whereas the fast clippers Of the Argo-
nautic era always hsd fonr and many OF
them as high Sc Eve. BuS those we're
the DAYS OF $40 ana even $50 Der ton
freights from New York to Csliforais; I;
and every mils sailed wss so much
nearer TO earning the freight money.
Now. when wheat is carried for IS from
San Francisco to Liverpool or Hull,
with an additional half dollar for deliv-
cry at the latter port. fast sailing in a
ship is q secondary consideration. The
great thing is to have a ship that is a
big carrier and to carry as few men as
possible.
Fifty years ago you could hardly give
away Maine built ship, for the reason
that hull, cabins, masts, yards and
everything else were built from soft
pine wood. while the New York and
Boston built ships were all OF oak up to
the plankshear. their yards and mssts
alone being of pine. The enormous
draft upon the oak forests for steamship
construction alone, from 1850 to 1875,
sOon made really good oak a scarce ar
ticle. as proof of which we may men
ton that the eight big ships of the Pa
cific Mail company-the Japan, Amer
lea, Colorado, Constitution, China,
Great Republic, Alaska and Arizona
all were condemned as rotten in eight
years, except the first two, which were
both destroyed by fire off the coast of
Japan. OF course, there was but one
solution OF the problem--that in their
anxiety to get a large feet of ships
sfost and secure heavy subsidy from
our government, the Pacific Mail people
had built six million dollars of steam
ships from unseasoned timber. 1t not
only ruined the prestige of the COM
pany, but it also ruined the professional
prestige of Capt. Allan McLane, ite
president, who was one of the most
amiable gentlemen that ever lived.
Since 1870, when the 100000 ships
above referred to were broken up and
sold for firewood, the English have had
almost monopoly OF the high seas. AS
English plate was cheaper than any
made in America, there was a desire to
import that article into this country by
few men who did not want to see the
old flag entirely swept from the seas
and replaced by the cross of st. George.
There are few old heads in America
who could recall the day when the
British government chartered IA, 900 tone
of American bottoms to carry their
troops from Portsmouth to the Black
sea, and who saw that the only way to
regain the supremacy of the seas was to
get cheap iron ships by leasening the
duty on plate SO as to meet England Oh
equal terms.
Two men in congress were always
to be found battling against this propo-
sition and bowling about protection tc
American labor" Those two men were
James G. Blaine, of Maine, who wa!
eternally "beefng" in the interest o
Maine and her cheap pine-wood ship
yards; and Don Cameron, of Pennsyl
vAnis, who was making his outcry il
behalf OF his fellow ironmasters in the
Keystone State. And ali the party lead
ers in congress, especially the Repub.
licans, took up the shibboleth of the sc,
callsd "Plumed Knight" and applaudeC
il to the echo. From that day to the
present writing, the English shipowner
have done the carrying trade of tn
English-speaking world.
This abuse had become 30 shamefu
that the three states of Washington
Oregon and California alone had paid t.
English shiBownera as much ireigh
money on the grain produced by then
as was paid by all the United States 70
freight on grain 10 tine United Kingdom
prior to 1850. II Blaine and Don Cam
eron could baye had their way indein
itely. the duty on iron plate would neve
have been lessened; and the sweat c
the farmers brow, in Colusa or Spokane
would have achieved nothing beyon
putting roast bsef and champagne O
the dinner table Of the average Liverpoc
shipowner.
The building of this steel ship in
Maine shipyard shows that we are o
he verge Of rev erR; and that th
decline in the price Of steel plate fC
ahips' hulls Will cause q revival
American prestige on the high sea-
That Americans do surpsss, and alway