New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-11-22
AMERICAN SHIPPING MOTEMENTS.

The annual report of the Commissioner of
Navigation ia varously Interpreted Some see
in it proof Of the prosperity of American ship
ping interests and others see equally emphatic
symptoms OF decline. In n measure both are
right Their views vary only according to their
varying points of view, and are perfectly recon-
cilable the one with the other. II is through
recognition of the business Of both that we may
best gain appreciation Of the actual net trend OF
affairs.
1t is beyond doubt gratifying TO learn that our
gross tonnage Is the largest since the Civil War;
that our coastwise tonnage is the largest in all
our history and that after eleven years we have
caught I'D with the rest OF the world In making
our steam tonnage exceed our sailing tonnage
This last by the way, has been effected partly
through increase Of steam and partly through
decrease of sailing tonnage, that decrease be
ing here In just about the same ratio as In the
world at large Our Pacific Coast shipping has
been much stimulated by the development Of
the resources of Alaska and the contiguous
parts Of British America. and doubtless that on
the Atlantic and Gulf coasts is feeling to-day a
| similar impulse because Of last years transac-
tons In the Antilles At the present time our
coasting tonnage is greater than that of any
other nation in the world.
| SO far. so good. But there Is another side Of
the shield not so agreeable TO look upon. We
| have said that our decrease of sailing tonnage
| was in the same ratio as that Of the world at
| large. Not so our increase Of steam tonnage.
| In the whole world. in twenty-five years, that
increase has been 336 per cent In the United
| States II has been only GS per cent. The result
| is that the United States has fallen from the
| second place in amount of steam tonnage,
| which it held twenty years ago, to the fourth
place. being now exceeded not only by Great
Britain but also by Germany and France
| Moreover. in steam tonnage engaged in foreign
trade alone this country Is surpassed not only
by those nations, but also by little Norway, and
even by that Spain which 1t has been regarding
as a dying nation" and is only little ahead
! Of that Japan which il itself opened" TO inter
course with the world. That certainly is not q
| creditable showing. Equally unsatisfactory IS
| the report that last year the percentage Of oul
| foreign commerce under our own flag was
smaller than ever before. amounting to only Q
| fraction over per cent, while in 1923 II was 81
| per cent.
In brief. then. this is the situation: American
shipping between domestic ports more prosper
Gus than ever before: American shipping to for
| eign less prosperous than ever before. AND
why? Men may make speeches longer than Dc
! Cosmos's and write whole cyclopedias to tell
For the present let us be content with another
fact or two from the report under consideration
Last year our commercial rivals, the European
Powers and Japan, expended more than 500,
100000 in various ways such ne subsidies, fol
the encouragement and promotion Of their for
eigp shipping, while the United States expended
for that purpose less than s99SOO0. In the Pa
cihc Ocean, which is now of so great interes
TO us. upon which we abut to so vast an extent
and in which we ought, by virtue Of position
and opportunities, TO be the leading Commercial
Power. our rivals spent In subsidies. etc. oil
their lines 10 China and Japan about $1,000, Oco
while We spent less than $4,000. or such fact