The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1900-05-03
The American Marine.


erican ship yards. No nation, in it's
people is possessed of those qualities
which pertain to seamanship, in
superior degree to those possessed by
the sons of Uncle Sam. But probably
the citizens of no great State have
been SO Indifferent of, and blind to,
the interests and Importance of ocean
commerce, as those very people who
rightfu1ly boast their material endow-
ments, their splendid opportunities,
and their magnificent qualities.
American ship builders have proved
themselves exceptionally capable.
William H. Webb stands at the front
as a builder of wooden vessels; he con-
structed ships for Italy, Portugal, and
France. Cramp and Roach, American
ship builders in iron and steel, enjoyed
a nationwide, perhaps worldwide
reputation. The Boston Atlantic
works constructed vessels and made
machinery for different empires, and
during the Civil war turned out
number of irrepressib1e monitors. AT
Camden is Roach's celebrated ship
yard that covers an area of seventy
two acres. Other famous yards might
be mentioned located in different
parts of the country. American built
vessels are as famous as the docks
from whence they come. The boats
that ply up and down the navigab1e
rivers of North America, and those the
keels of which cut the waters of the
Great Lakes are remarkable for con-
struction and frequently pa1atia1 in
splendor. The Governor Ames built
In 1888 was probably the finest sChoon-
er that ever cr1ised on the coast of
North America. But, having said all
this we are bound to repeat the state
ment already made, that Uncle Sam
has been Indifferent, perhaps blind, to
the opening opportunities for peer
less ocean comm cree.
The Government of the United
States, in 1857, with a remarkably
nagnanimous but unpatriotic i'm
pulse, gave away, the immense mail,
express, freight, and passenger bust
ness of the country with Europe, to
other ships than those that fly the
Stars and Stripes. The year 1860 wit
mes ed the introduction of vessels
made Of iron and steel; this was most
uufriend1y to craft built of wood, and
the American oceau-feet was con-
structed of no other material. The
Civil War broke out; the Government
purchased few gallant ships, but
these speedily went to the bottom.
The remnant of Americas sea-going
fleet, if not destroyed by Confederate
privateers, was surrendered to foreign
ship-owners, for the purpose of avoid
ing capture.
The United States was practically
without a marine. Europe had a mo-
uopoly of the ocean trade. England
and the Continent could build cheaper
than we by twenty or twenty-five per
cent. The business of operating salt
water ships was more expensive by
thirty per cent. to the American than
to the Eug1ishman. A seaman's
wages was nearly fifty per cent. more
on an American ship than on Norwe-
gian, Dutch, German or British. And,
to make matters worse, the naval att
thorities at Washington ignored the
private ship-yard and unofficial
builders by decreeing that all vessels
used in government service should be
laid in the national docks and COM
pleted in the national ship-yards.
Dlscoura cement and Indifference, as
might be expected, overlook the Amer
lean private ship-bui1der. No wonder
that the Vanderbilt line to Havre,
started in 1856, was expelled from the
Atlantic Ocean; no wonder that the
two fine ships, the Erie and the On
tario, which constituted the American
line between Boston and Liverpool,
were withdrawn from the foreign
trade and practically cut out of exist
ence; or, that the line started from
Baltimore vanished away.
Comparing the last quarter of a CEN
fury with the twenty-five years previ-
GUS, the total sea carrying business of
the United States diminished from 20
per cent of the whe1e in 1875, to less
than per cent in 1899. In the same
period the tonnage of American vessels
engaged in trade with distant ocean
ports decreased at least 10 per cent.
But while this diminution marks the
carrying business Of American ship
ping, foreign tonnage engaged in
bringing our merchandise to, and TAX
ing it from our ports increased so per
cent. The Yankee ocean fleet numbers
perhaps a thousand vessels; of these
400 are only temporarily registered,