The sun., 1897-11-07
The Value OF the Shipyard.

The Value OF the Shipyard.
The effort to be made at the coming
session of Congress to build up the Amer.
can merchant marine gives a special time
illness to Mr.. LEWIS NIxoN's striking DEM
onstration, in the North American Retie,r,
of the commercial value of shipyards to the
nation that fosters them.
The chief example which he cites In sup
port of his view is, of course, England; for
her ships now carry more than seven
tenths Of the worlds ocean-borne COM
merce, while "the earnings of her CONNER
cial fleet, including the accessories of
banking, insurance and commission, ex.
ceed $500, 100000 a year, net cash." and
OF this amount our own country con.
tributes the prodigious amount, in round
numbers, "of $3OO,O0O,OOO, or about
three-ffths of our whole national rev.
enue." That the shipyard is the foundation
of sea power, in the military sense, cannot
be disputed; /; but it is clear from the fore.
going figures that 1t is high time for Con.
gress to consider It's bearing also on na-
tional wealth.
The long struggle for sea domination in
which England was engaged from 1855 to
1915, now against one power and now
against many powers, which ended In her
triumph, was conducted in the face of many
obstacles. To begin with, she did not
grow even the timber she needed for her
ships. OF her principal shipbuilding
materials "her own soil produced in
1894 less than one-third, and in 1915
less than one.eighth." Two big vessels,
built at Chatham and Deptford. that
fought at Trafalgar had hardly a stick of
English timber in them. Yet though she
bought timber everywhere, and carried It
to her yards, England never bought foreign
ships for her navy. She went further,
throwing obstacles in the way of their pur-
chase by foreign merchants, and absolutely
forbidding their purchase by the East India
Company, over which the Government had
certain control. At the beginning of the
present century, British shipowners, accord
Ing to Mr.. NIXON, were paying at the rate
OF $50 per ton for English-built ships made
of imported timber, when they could buy
American-built ships of equal or better quail
tty for $50 to 800 per ton. Impelled by mo-
tives of personal gain they naturally sought
to remove the obstacles to buying foreign
ships; but the country clung to its time hon.
ored policy, and determined to maintain
nome shipb'tilding al any cost. The. tri-
umph OF that policy we see to-day. Our
own $500, 100000 a year Is an expensive
tribute paid to it.
OF course the great change which relieved
the strain thus imposed on England's ship
building was the change from wood to iron
as the material employed. That gave her
enOPmOua al ya nta0a sk~
produced her own material instead of i'm.
porting 1t. Then came, during our civil
war; the wreck of the American ocean borne
merchant marine. which had been her most
formidable rival for the worlds carving
trade, the cruisers which her dockyards
furnished to the Confederacy greatly con.
tributing to that wreck. Still further,
when, after the civil war, our national
energy found It's outlet largely in developing
railways throughout the country, and open.
Ing the continents resources, England
continued busily her own plans of develop-
Ing II great system OF sea transportation
all over the globe. her insular restriction.
on the ono hand, and her numerous and
vast colonial possessions, on the other
inviting her to that task
IL was perhaps natural that after the Grip
plinG of our merchant marine by the war.
we should seek the more tempting path of
land development; but Mr.. NIXON suggests
that the practical result is that the money
that English bankers have loaned us to
build our railways with Is the money that
we have paid 10 English shipowners for
carrying our freight and passengers" Just
after the wGr, il. iaU;, ~r paid .irm fIIg,.
OO,OOO, while last year we paid them
$3Oo,OOO,O0O. The average for the thirty
years is said to be little over 5000, 900.
600, which would make the prodigious sum
of $4,000 ,O00,O 900 passing to their pockets.
In 1890, or few years before, there were
signs of change. Germany and our own
country had begun to augment their war
fleets by building their own vessels, and
also planned the extension of their mer-
chant marines. At first, after the long neg
lect, we had to use some foreign material
In our war vessels, but soon Congress de.
clared that only home material should be
employed, Then we began to furnish
subsides to few oceah. going steamers
But Mr. NIXON dlscerns an effort on