Evening star., 1898-10-08
worlds Merchant Marine. %.

lnere mas been an Improvement in this
respect IN the past ten years In 1SS7
me number of steam vessels registered in
the United States was 4o2 ana nf soii;rt
ShipS 3eo5, with a total tonnage of 3 I53 135
nile both the number of sail craft and tbe
total tonnage have decreased in the mast
ten years, the number of steam vessels bas
increased. When the matter of sneed ,s
taken into consideration the merchant navy
OF 1898 is probably more efficient than tbaf
oI decade ago. Taking into account the
CROWN OIL the country and of its commercial
demands, however il is far less efficient
man the merchant feet possessed by the
ohlteu states at the beginning of the civil
war, when the documented tonnage was at
its naxlmum-5, 539, SD tons.
Coast and Lake Trade.
The figures in the preceding table will
suggest to the thinking American, what
mas been told him often, that a great part
OF MS merchant navy is employed in coast
trade and the commerce of the great lakes
Inc nEures on this subject are very strik-
ing ana snow that while our salt water fleet
mas scarcely held its own for the past
twenty years, there has been a great ex-
pafslon IN internal commerce. represented
by the trade of the lakes-that this is in
1ect, the only branch of our trade to show
an increase. The figures follow:
Distribution of Merchant sbfppipp Inv
Tons.
Atlantic and gulf
pscte'! coasts I96 2s47 1876 2o44s65
facihc coast........ 4390l2 334 G6y 25l SOC
Total salt water. .3os6 sos 31sl. .so4 3.l96, 4e1
Great Great lakes. s....1,4 40 1903 T33.069 Clio. 169
Rivers ...-.-........ 2I2lO 356, ,355 436Ols
Total fresh water. / 6s2 212 Loss. 424 1.O46.17s
The expansion in the lake trade-more
than 100 per CENTS fair index of the
&C cmmercial growth of the United States in
the past twenty years. What il would
n can to the commercial interests of the
country If American shipowrers had main
tanned the same command of the growth in
cur foreign commerce that they have of the
trade of the lakes may be conceived by the
intelligent reader without the aid of figures
Where We Are weak.
One respect in which the United States
compares unfavorably with even the weak
est of the five countries mentioned in the
first of the preceding tables is in the control
of its foreign trade. In 1896 the tonnage
OF vessels entering American harbors from
foreign ports or clearing from American
ports Tor foreign destinations counting ONLY
these laden with cargo was %, ,345, ,S2T Of
this, 2,311, i3O tons were made up of shfDs of
domestic registry, while 20,034 G97 tons were
under The hagc of other nations. For the
same year the tonnage clearing to and
from French ports was 2i,3jO 600 only
slghtly in excess of the figures for the
United States. But of this 24,3J0,00O tons,
only lo,9D,GO were made up of foreign shin
ping, while the remaining $3.50, 600 tons We're
OF French registry. In other words, while
tWo-thiIds of Frances exports and imports
are carried in foreign 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
place of those for France in making this
&C mparison the contrast would have bean
much more striking.
What France Does.
1t cannot be said that French shipowners
possess any natural advantages not with
in reach of Americans sufficient to 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 13,656,655 francs and the
bounties disbursed to French shipping for
the same period amounted to 1869 T3l
francs. AS approximately two-thirds of the
navigation dues were paid by foreigners
these figures indicate that other COM
mercial nations paid out during 1897, in
round numbers. 100000 for the encour-
agement of French shipowners in building
up French shipping interests. The tonnage
taxes of the United States for the same
third the amount collected by France from
the same source. The important point is
that even of this amount American ship
owners did not get the benefit, as practi-
cally the only sums pail out by the United
States for the encouragement of its sSip-
ping interests are in the form of mail sub
sides bestowed on few lines
Although 1t might seem reasonable for
the United States to impose heavier naviga-
ton duties than any of the other COM