The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-10-09
MARINE, '97.

respect IN the past ten years. In lSS
the number Of steam vessels registered
in the United States was 402, and o
sailing ships 8 1893, with a total tonnage
of 8, 453. 422. While both the number o.
sail craft and the total tonnage hav,
decreased in the past ten years, the
number of steam vessels has Increased
When the matter of speed is taken int
consideration the merchant navy Of
1898 is probably more efficient thar
that of q decade ago Taking into ac-
count the growth of the country anC
OF its commercial demands. however, II
IS far less efficient than the merchant
iieet possessed by the United States al
the beginning of the civil war, when
the dOcumented tonnage was at its
5,599,S12 tons.
The figures in the preceding table
will suggest to the thinking American
what has been told him often. that a
great part OF his merchant navy is en-
ployed in coast trade and the commerce
of the great lakes. The figures on
this subject are very striking and show
that while our salt water fleet has
scarcely held its own for the past 20
years, there has been a great eXpan-
sion in internal commerce, representa-
by the trade of the lakes, that this is
in fact the only branch of our trade
TO show an increase. The figures fol-
low:
Gulf coasts. ..2sf7.7s6 2S47185 2,944. SIS
Pacific Coast. 4S9,ol2 $5i,6b9 25l,5
wat water sal. .os6. sos s1Slso4 s1s6 42l
Rivers FsH zsi iS s5s ss5 s5S6 Us
water -, $50. 212 LeS9.424 1046. us
The expansion in the lake trade
more than 1907 per CENTS a fair index
of the commercial growth of the
United States IL the past 20 years.
What il would mean to the CONNER
cial interests of the country if Ameri-
ran shipoWners had maintained the
same command Of this growth in our
foreign commerce that they have of
the trade Of the lakes may be con-
ceived 3y the intelligent reader with
Dur the aid Of figures.
one respect in which the United
States compares unfavorably with
ever the weakest If the five countries
mentioned in the first of the preceding
tables is in the control of its foreign
trade IL 1895 the tonnage of vessels
entering American harbors from for
eign ports or clearing from American
porIs far foreign destinations counting
oniy those laden with cargo was d.
24s So. OF this, 2.Sll.13Q tons was made
up Of ships of domestic registry, while
20024-097 tons SVas under the flags Of
other nations. For the same year the
tonnage clearing to and from French
ports was 24,350, 00e only slightly in eX-
cess OF the figures for the United
Stat<s. But of this "A, 350,0 900 tons only
Is ScJ, 900 was made up of foreign ship
ping, while the remaining S.650. 600 tons
was of French registry. In other
words, while two-thirds of Frances
exports and imports are carried in for
eign bottoms, nine-tenthS of those
passing TO and from the United States
travel under other flags. If the fig
ures for Great Britain had been used
in eylace OF those for France in making
this comparison, the contrast would
have been much more striking
IT cannot be said that French ship
owners possess any natural advantages
not within reach OF Americans suf-
ficieat 10 account for this difference.
They do possess one decided artificial
advantage, however. 1t is the policy
OF France to tax foreign shipping for
the benefit of native owners. Thus, in
1897, the navigation dues imposed at
French ports yielded 13 $50, Cos francs,
and the bounties disbursed TO French
shipping for the same period amount
ed to 33,630,731 francs. As approx
mately two-thirds of the navigation
dues were paid by foreigners these ig-
ures indicate that other commercial
nations paid out during 1897, in round
numbers, S2,000.0O0 for the encourage
saent of French shipowners in build
ing up French shipping interests. The
tonnage taxes of the United States for
the same year aggregated $731, 769.61, or
about One-third the amount collected
by France from the same source. The
important point is that even of this