The morning call., 1894-06-05
A BRITON'S VIEWS
On American Shipping of
To-Day.
Henry FoOtIey, One of the AIIans'
Agents, Gives His Opinion of Our
Commercial Standing.

"The delay of legislation on tariff lat
ters by the United States Congress is in
juring the commerce of your country all
over the world"
The speaker was Henry Footley, a
travelling agent for the Allan line OF
steamships out of Glasgow. who is now in
this city on his way to New York and
London. He has been journeying about
India, China, North and South America,
partly Oh business and partly for pleasure.
Mr. Footley has been interested 10 ship
ping ever since he was a boy. and has
given special attention in his recent wa
deringS to what he terms the decline of
the worlds carrying trade"
He says that the United States is losing
prestige on the ocean faster than any other
| nation of Importance on the globe and re-
! marks that his observations lead him To
believe that during the past twelve
months our commerce has fallen off at an
| alarming rate
mo country is buying or selling any
more American goods now than it can
help" said he. The reason for this is
that there has been such an uncertainty
about your Congressional actions that for
| eigu merchants are actually afraid 10 deal
| In American merchandise any more than
| they can help. \ false impression. TO a
/ certain extent, mas gone ABROAD IUdL Ine
! American Congress viii pass no tariff laws
that can be looked upon as being substan-
/ Uial. Whether the United States declare
/ in favor OF protection or the Wilson bill
/ she should do so without delay. An in
! furious free-trade measure would be better
than no measure al all,
/ 81 was surprised 10 note In England the
steady decrease of tonnage chartered for
! the American trade. Manu- acturers have
| told me that they could not see their way
/ clearly toward dong any business win
/ the United States, as the margins for
! profits on shipments made could not be
! calculated. Neither England nor any
| other country knows what your Demo
/ cratic Congress Is gong to do, and there
/ YOU are. Trade Is al a StandStlll and the
| United States is the greatest sufferer of the
! nations.
II attribute bard times in the United
States to two causes-decline of CONNER
| cial interests and labor troubles. The in
activity In shipping circles Is due to too
| much legislation at the wrong time and
not enough at the right time. Foreign
! nations won't purchase American-made
| goods because they cannot send out empty
| ships TO bring back cargoes. When these
/ nations can shin their goods to this coun-
! try and know just what they have tn cal
/ culate on to compete with a prospective
high or low tariff. then business Will COM
/ mence TO move. Dizziness in trade causes
manufacturing trusts are crippled by nom
| activity in shipping.
The trade of the United States with
the Orient has, of course, never been
extensive, as has England's traffic with
| that section. But in late years il is aston
| ishDg TO note the rapid degeneration of
American commerce in the East. San
| francisco must feel the effects OF the de-
crease, for notice that this port is being
gradually shut out altogether from that
Iich field of business.
Il am astOnished TO see The vast change
that has come over shipping interests right
here in your city. | visited this place
| about eight years ago for the first time
ana was struck with the splendid CONNER
clal advantages as an inlet and outlet for
the great commerce of the Pacific and
| trans-Pacific countries. 1t did not strike
me even then that San Francisco was do
ing as much shipping as she should have
been doing, but how vastly different IS the
| situation now AS compared to then. | see
no activity about your whaTves, and on in
vestigatlon find that at the present time
| Portland, Me-, is doing twice as much
| legitimate business with ships as this
great fine city of the West.
"1 Oh haven't any foreign trade. 1t has
all disappeared. Where to? Well Iwould
not venture to say. Again, that old ghost
that fits over New York harbor and every
| American port appears on the scene. Ii
|
! American laws, the instability of the
| American Congress.
I'm Central America / asked a coffee
planter of OcOs Why he did not send GER
| tain large shipment Of coffee TO San Fran
cisco in stead OF Hamburg. He replied that
in the first place San Francisco merchants
had always tried to make all they could
out Of him without giving him chance to
make anything out of them; then, again,
be said he was disguised with shipping
| his crop 10 country where revenue In Xa-
| ton is regulated by a lot Of wrangling
| politicians who have trampled down free
silver and nearly bankrupted every South
American republic by practically throwing
out OF INSTRUMENTATION the only coin me-
dunn known in those countries"
In closing Mr.. Footley said that the uu-
certainty of legislation in this country had
affected the trade of the whole world.
The United States is too big 10 trife win
such serious matters" said he, land il
your Congress does not change its tacti es
American ships will become an unknown
| factor in the commerce. of ALI nationsD