The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-04-28
Rv w. Macarthur.

Editor of the Coast Seamen's Journal.
All the world loves a sailor. which
probably accounts for his being blindly
adored and numerically chastened by
turns. Taking this statement of the
case as a keynote. let us study this
ere ature Of so many ups and downs
let us find out what he was and is,
and what ne may be in the new era
OF society.
Away back in the indefnable epoch
OF mans genesis looms a nameless
potentiality. the coping of Great ton, the
perfection of the inscrutable plan by
which the dominion Of man on earth
was established. Without this perfect
ing link cosmos had never been; the
world were a fragmentary chaos. and
mankind d species Of indigenous bar
barism. The perfected man knows no
limit within the confines of the globe.
lie spurns the land. and launching
boldly forth grapples the mysterious
sea in all its moods. taking the angry
stoIm-king by the very beard. and
Laughing to scorn his impotent terrors.
Man wrests from the ocean its deepest
mysteries, harnesses its winds and
1ides to the triumphal car OF Com
merce. and interweaves all lands and
all life in a responsive, indissoluble
whole.
The qualities so much admired by the
race, courage and enterprise. were
characteristic of the earlier adven-
turers on the deep, hence they were
symbolized by romancists; by their
nd a. he
prestige of nations, hence they were
loved and feared on either shore. The
ancient history of Phoenicia, Carthage,
Italy and Scandinavia is, in the final
analysis, the history of the ancient
seaman and so, in modern times, the
history of Holland, Spain, Great
Britain and the United States, is the
history Of civilization, wealth and
power attained upon the sea and de-
Tended by seamen. Who shall say that
the conquest of the world across seas
was not a laudable. even a necessary
thing, however the means by which it
was accomplished may be questioned?
And who doubts the impulses of enthu-
siastic admiration that sweHed men s
hearts at the contemplation of the sea-
mans genius? Conceive the ardent
wave that flushed this nation in its
youth when the redoubtable Jones I'M
furleG the flag of independence in the
stronghold of the enemy And in the
Intervening space, the march of this
country to Its present rank among civ
ilizei forces has been over the seas.
For or success during the formative
period of our national existence we
owed as much to the men who carried
Our flag abroad as he insular peoples
did TO their towers along the deem -
This debt was discharged not only in
a general way by Congressional reso-
lutions, imposing ceremonials and DO
etical paeans, but by the specific and
personal regard of the people them
selves. The seaman was not only the
nations darling" but he was. TO a
large extent, its father, brother or
sweeth cart. The pole-star of the early
American seaman lived ashore and TO-
ward II his course was ever shaped
The ideal Of the seaman's calling was
a realism in New England I have
heard a distinguished ex-Congressman
say that in his boyhood every first
son of an American family had to go
10 sea, and every second son wanted IN
do likewise. The nations forefathers
sought to conserve the welfare of the
seaman. and legislated to that end.
In addition to being respected. TIE sea
mans business was lucrative. He was
generally a partner in the venture.
first as the holder of a lay" from
which position he often graduated
through the various phases of master.
owner, designer and builder Of ships
It is we'll known that the man who
built and managed the famous Yankee
clippers. which won pre-eminance afoat
for the Stars and Stripes, were seamen.
Grinnell, Goodhue, Marshall ana Col
Inns are historical names, suggestive al
Fhe United States maritime supremacy.
ana, as the historian pathetically SAYS,
they left no successors"
The epoch beginning with the civil
war has witnessed a great change in
the maritime status of this country.
Forty years ago American ships car
ried 80 per cent. of American com
merce and were almost wholly manned
by native-born American seamen-tbe
best afioat. Today our ships carry Ia
per cent. only of American cargoes
and of their crews IS per cent. are nm,
naturalized aliens. The Profession of
the seaman has fallen into disrepute.
There are various elements combined
3n this result, such as the substitution
of steam for sail as a motive power
the charge from wood to iron in the
construction of ships. etc. But the
prime cause lies in the investment of
foreign capital Chat is. capital invested
by tee non-seafaring classes) and the