Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-05-17
American Commerce.

gates to the Transmississippi congress-,
urging the consideration of the need of
Legislation by congress to build up
ocean commerce. The letter is as fol-
lows:
1T has been suggested to me that
during the session of the Transmissis-
sippi congress in Wichita, Kan, be-
ginning on May 81, that it will be found
among the Pacific coast and the gulf
states particularly, and in d number of
the interior states, a strong and grow
ing desire to see American ships replace
the foreign ships engaged in carrying
out imports and exports, and to which
the people of this country are paying
5000, 900, 900 annually, every dollar Of
which goes to enrich foreigners at our
expense. This is by no means a polit-
ical, and, least of all, a partisan, ques-
ton. 1t is a wholly industrial question
Just as much so as the Improvement
of our rivers and harbors-an industrial
and commercial subject, The sugges-
ton follows by saying that if the Trans
mississippi congress would take up and
deal with this subject in a broad ma
tional and friendly way, that it would
most materially advance the welfare of
the whole nation. and their own sec
tions, quite as much as those right on
the seaboard. If you entertain these
views, l will appreciate it very much if
,,,,, ,ri1J 1aa1, i,,tn t1n walton ft111H- a mr.
express yourself on this subject before
the congress-
Governor Otero does we'll in calling
attention to this matter.
For decades the protection of Amer
lean industries has been the question of
paramount Importance in the political
economy of the United States. Under a
system of adequate protection the ma
ton has built up magnificent industries
that have made it the leading manufac-
turing nation of the world. The polit-
ical questions of the next few years
are not to be confined to the money
and trusts. The protection of American
shipping interests is to be In issue. Of
course, bound in with thai one great
issue are imperialism, money standard
| and tariff and trusts, but the united eff
! fort of the nation should be toward re-
storing to the United States the su-
| premacy at sea that it shared with
| Great Britain less than a hundred years
ago.
The shippers Of the United States an
nually pay to foreign ship owners $780,
900, 900 for carrying passengers and mer-
chandise to and from American ports.
| No nation can afford a drain of that
nature for any length of time, and if
economists are to seek the reasons for
the periodical times Of stringency in
money. and depression that af1ict the
nation from time to time they may find
one cause in the very fact that 5000 :
900, 900 annually flows into foreign pock-
| cts without the United States receiving
| any products of wealth in return for it.
The decline of the American foreign
merchant marine within the last fifty
years has been most humiliating and
| disastrous to commerce.. %Thirty-nine
years ago American ships carried
2,494, 1874 tons of the foreign shipping
trade. To-day, with the country thrice
as populous and nan times as rich,
American ships carry only some 5000 900
tons, or s per cent of the export trade
of this country, and 16 per cent of the
import trade.
The foreign trade of Great Britain,
by tons, is eighteen times as large: that
of Scandinavia two and a half times
as large; that of Germany, with only a
small seacoast, is over twice as large,
and that of France and Spain exceeds
that of this nation by 400, 900 to 800, 900
tons a year.
Out of the sixty steamship ines CEN
tering at New York only seven are
American lines. The millions spent an
nually for harbor improvements by
congress are really for the benefit of
foreign shipping, to which in the last
thirty years the nation has paid 81, 800, :
oVV,VuV ioI UcedIl lIdlSpOIL dllOH.
What business do American vessels
do in return at foreign ports? In 1892,
at Hamburg, the third largest ship
ping point Of the world, not a single
other foreign vessels entered the port.
In nine years only fifteen American
vessels passed through the Suez canal.
in 1896 not a single American vessel
foreign vessels of other nations passed.
In 1894, 1868 British vessels cleared
American ports, while only eighty-three
American vessels cleared British ports.
At London the aggregate tonnage for
a year vas IA, 433, 663 tons, of which only
1000 tons were American. Similar sta
%tistics are furnished by every American
port and by every foreign port, some of
which have not for years seen a vessel
flying the American flag.
Yet it was not always so. A little
over eighty years ago American foreign
commerce was the equal of British
commerce. For thirty years, by pro-
tective measures, American commerce
was stimulated and grew until the
American flag was foremost in nearly
every foreign port. To regain that lost
prestige should be the aim of every pa
triotic American. 1t is a question that
is a vital one to the inland states, as
well as those having a coast line. The
great Bismarck said: THE merchant
marine is the handmade of all other in
dustries, Of agriculture, manufactures
and On the day that the
freight trade Is given over to foreigners
a mortal blow will be dealt to all the
industries of the country"
This mortal blow has been struck the
United States, and there will be some
| restraint in her growth in agriculture.
In manufactures and in internal COM