The morning news., 1894-05-06
rival, and America was fairly started in
international trade.

buV these were sailing vessels. The
nrst American transatlantic steamships
were the Arctic, Atlantic, Baltic an6 Pa
enc also OF the Collins line. They went
into the commission in 1s50-5l. Only two
steamships had preceded them. They
were xEt; Ine SIRIUS and Great Western, both
English properties.
r or three years the Collins steamers
We're entirely successful, then they were
ruined by disaster. The first catastrophe
was the loss of the Arctic in September.
ls04 Three hundred persons, including
the wife and two children of the owner.
We're drowned. Not long after, the Pa
Clnc went TO the bottom with great loss OF
llIe, ana the government withdrew its
subsidies. The result was inevitable. In
1908 the business of the line was wound
up, and with its death America dropped
OUT OF the race for houors in the ocean
carrying trade, not to enter again until
the recent flag raising on the New York
and Paris.
THE NEW EPOCH
Il believe that flag raising marked the
beginning OF a new and splendid eporh
for US. 1t is only question of wise leg
lslation now. The cost of sailing under
the American flag in future will not be
much greater than that of sailing under
any other flag, and this cost the govern
about the justice of this. In a thousand
ways the United States will be com
pensated for such expenditure In the
hrsL place, there is the honor Of it. That
IS distinctly worth while. Then there is
the increase of facilities of mail trans
portation. That is important. But most
important of all is the utility of American
PASSENGER ships in case of war.
Both the New York and Paris were
built as auxiliary cruisers for the
British navy. When they became American
ships 1t was understood that in case of
war they should be turned over to the
navy department on demand If such an
unhappy time were to come they would
prove very valuable. On short notice
they could be transformed into cruisers of
great power and speed. They are so CON
structed that guns could be readily
mounted, and while they could not be
armored so as to meet in battle any of the
foreign men of-war, they are SO rapid
that they could readily escape from them.
and do great damage to unprotected com
nlefee. The ships which are
now being built for the American
line by the Cramps of Philadel-
phia will be provided with these an
| plances and many others In case of war
the American line feet would be one of
the most valuable branches of the United
States navy
COMING SUPREMACY.
''Do you think, then, that the United
| States will ever be commercially supreme
on the sea?"
Il see no reason to doubt it, We have
made up Our minds to do it, and we gen
orally get what we make up our minds to.
| One of the things which may lead to it is
| the use of the Great Lakes as an interna-
tional waterway. OF course no man can
! tell whether or not this will ever, really
be brought ab0at, but it does not seem
more improbable that the Erie
Canal will be enlarged into a
passageway for ocean going ships
than it must have seemed years
ago that it would be built at all l have
not studied this subject, and know very
little of the engineering difficulties which
might be encountered. 1t is possible that
they would be so great as to make it i'm
possible TO profitably enlarge the channel,
but that does not seem likely If the
time ever comes when ocean steamships
may enter New York harbor and sail
| thence by the Hudson river, Erie canal
| and the lakes to Chicago and other great
| interior ports revolution will be worked
IN the commerce of the couu. try such as
we have never before even dreamed of -
What do you think, Ndr. Griscom,
would be Chicago's position then among
the cities of the world? Would she sur
pass New York;"
No, do not believe thaG that will ever
be possible. New York i'll remain the
metropolis of America and will probably
become the greatest city of the world
But Chicago would, of co urse, be greatly
benefited and other Like cities, like
Buffalo, Cleveland and Detroit, would
grow to a magnitude and Importance as
yet unthoughU of. If such great ship
canal is commercial possibility, it will
undoubtedly be accomplished, and it will
be the greatest Of all Americas great
achievements.
THE MATTER OF SPEED.
HAS the maximum of speed in ocean
vessels been reachedL'
Yes, very nearly Increased speed
means increased size, as matters stand
now, and the harbors of the world will
not permit an incre ase of size. The en-
frances to them are too shallow. For in
stance, at low tid'5 there is only thirty
feet of water over the New York harbor
bar. The biggest Btea mships now draw
twenty-eight of that thirty feet. That
leaves at the outside only two foot pos
sibility OF increase of size, and there is no
likelihood that a method will be devised
for cutting and keeping clear deeper
channel through a bar situated as is that
of New York's harbor.
ENORMOUS oosT OF GREAT SPEED.
'No greater power can be developed in
ships of the pres ent size until a new fuel
is devised. AT present siX-fifteenths of an
ocean passenger steamships tonnage con-
sists of coal and machinery. All this
enormous perc sntage is utilized to its
highest possibi lity in obtaining the speed
of the present, and with each extra knot
the amount of fuel and the weight of ma
chinerv increa ses in more than geometri-
cal ratio. F'o. instance. one famous ship
has maximu m speed of 21.6 knots an
hour. Another has beaten her by only sew
enty-nine min .utes on the voyage across the
Atlantic. but in order to attain this in
crease of spe I'd she has to burn 800 pounds
of coal to the others 300 pounds. AS long
as this is tru it will be of course impossi-
BILE to build a ship whose increased speed
will be of sny commercial Importance,
That is m:Itter of dollars and cents in
saving of time to passengers or shippers"
rs thert any pathway open now, so
far as you now, toward new fuelg'
OIL AS A FUEL.
"Nothinfy practical, l think 1t has
been demo nstrated that oil is an entirely
successful fuel, and, of course, it takes up
much less, space and weighs less than
coal, but here is not enough of it. The
Pennsylvania railroad, for instance,
made ex tensive and elaborate expert
ments wi tn it, and finally found that they