The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-07-27
OUR MERCHANT MARINE"

The Marine Journal of New York-the
organ of the American Shipping and In
dustrial League, which body contains
nearly three hundred thousand members,
among whom are enrolled many of the
most prominent citizens of the United
States-is doing famous work in educating
public sentiment toward the restoration OF
our flag upon the ocean, and possibly no
more important question than this de-
mands attention at the next meeting of
Congress.
Our decadence as a maritime power is as
humiliating to us as it is source of Won
der to those nations who listened to the
guns of our gallant sailors of 1912 when
they demanded and secured respect for the
stars and stripes in the four quarters OF the
globe. With all our glorious prestige be-
hind US, we have evolved into a nation of
landlubbers, and an American flag on a
merchant vessel is a curiosity in nearly
every port in the world.
What patriotic citizen can read without
intense disgust the following report of the
Hamburg Consul to the United States
Treasury Department:
at seems a very sad commentary to
have to make on the shipping of our coun-
try when / reply to the first four inter
rogatories of the treasury by saying that
during the year in question there was not
q single American steamer of any sort or
tonnage entered at this port. Nor can l
find in the records of this consulate, cover
ing a period OF over thirty-five years, a
trace of any others, with the exception of
the year 1888, when one steamer of about
1900 gross tons happened in.
81 cannot but believe that such an an
nouncement would astound most of our
people when it is considered that Ham
burg, city of over half million souls, is,
after Liverpool and New York, the largest
shipping port in the world; that it is by
far the most important seaport and dis
tributing center of the Continent; that in
its harbor can be seen the flag of every
third-rate power in the world that has a
seacoast; that so large part of it has
been built with American dollars; that its
import and export trade with the United
States is larger by much than that with
any other country, and that one steamship
line alone dispatches on an average over
three steamers week the year round car
y1ub pdSScHSSIS W IH0 OHIl6u States,
while the same number bring them back
from there"
England's greatness is mainly due to her
supremacy on the sea. She practically
does the ocean carrying trade for the
world, and America pays untold millions
annually as tribute to the shrewdness of
John Bull. We can no longer pursue this
policy of supineness. There is rising in
the Orient young giant whose slumbers
were broken by the guns of Commodore
Perry, and who now is about to enter the
arena of maritime conquest and contest
with all corners for the trade of the Pacific.
That this danger is not remote is evil
denced by the action of the japanese Diet
in February last in passing resolutions to
open great lines of communication with
Australia, Europe and America by gen.
erous subsidies to its steamship companies,
taking their cue in this respect from na-
tons who have learned the wisdom of the
policy. Are we to remain content on land,
or will a generous Congress enable US to
win back the inheritance which we have
lOste