The Washington times., 1901-09-15
TRAMP STEAMSHIPS Woes.
Crowded Out of the Great Routes
of Commerce.
Forced to scurry for Carsoes In the
Obscure Ports-alany of the Old
Vessels, Being Laid Up-New Ones
Being Built.

NEW YORK. Sept. Ito the owners
of tramp steamships the present situation
, as regards shipping Is declared TO De the
most critical in years. Within the past
five years the exteLsion Of the service
of the established lines, the establishment
| of new lines. and the building OF enor-
nous freight steamships of which the
| Cymric and Celtic are types, have prac-
ticaiiy driven the tramps from the main
routes of commerce, compelling them to
/ pick up trade elsewhere Between this
city and the great European ports. such
as London, Liverpool, Hull. Newcastle.
Leith. Bristol. Bremen. Rotterdam, Ham
| burg. and Havre, the regular lines are
now in position to handle all the freight
, that is offered. and the smaller chartered
| steamships which the lines themselves
| or outside agents frequently despatched
| few years ago to supplement the estab-
lished lines are never likely to be called
| upon again except in case of an extraor-
binary stimulation of trade.
| At present the tramp steamships are
still employed for q great deal of the
| transatlantic trade. but 1t is chiefly be-
| tween the lesser ports. or between a great
| port on one side and lesser port on the
| other. In the cotton season. for instance,
i .
ports in this country with cargoes of cot
| ton for Havre, Liverpool, and Bremen.
| Coffee. lumber and sugar are carried by
| them also.
The natural development of the ship
| ping trade in the last fifty years has
! brought about the replacement of the
sailing ship by the tramp steamer, and
| this In turn by the regular lines of
J freighters. Exactly the same order OF
events is followed with respect to any
! individual port. though the changes come
much more quickly nowadays. The trade
1 with Australia, for instance. was carried
on almost exclusively by sail up to three
years ago. Now there are three regular
| lines of steamers, one American and two
| English. 1t should be noted that the es-
| tablishment of a line of steamboats, does
| not necessarily mean that the tramp
| boats have been superseded In numer-
| Gus cases what Is nominally new line
| Is in reality a combination of the owners
| of a certain number of tramps VINO nave
| put their boats together under one man
| agement and given them the advantage OF
| sailing on a regular schedule some OIL
| the ships now plying between this port
and Australia were originally built for the
| Australian meat trade and intended to
land at the E<ISllSu poi L. A'o iiAS N4Ss'AS
| ton between tramp and liner Is not
| always a hard and fast one.
1t must not be supposed from the facts
| inst cited that there is no longer a place
| in the worsu's commerce for the little
| cargo boats" ready to be chartered any
where at any time. and carrying any com
| moditses In point of fact there are no"
| many more trap steamers In commission
| than there ever were before. New ana
| large ones are being built in good num-
| bers. The problem is for these poats'
! crowded off, as they are from traihc
| between the most important routes. to
| find new routes and new trades. For the
| new boats. of course there Is no appre-
| bepsion. If trade were not waiting Tor
| them they would not have been oulit
| But the older and smaller tranps are
having a harder and harder time to gain
n living. and men in the shipping busi-
| ness predict that more of them Will be
| withdrawn this year than in any year for
| a long time As one steamship agent ex-
pressed 1t:
BY rights. tramp steamer ten years
old Is now good only for the scrap heap
The South African and Philippine wars.
however, withdrew a great many ships
from the regular lines. and for the time