The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1902-03-26
Can He i.aswer the Puzzle 2

Editor lntelligencer: Open s.nd free =
exchange OF ideas has made it possible
for tho world to detect error, and ac- !.
cept only rs truth" that which cannot :.
be successfully contradicted. There
seems to be an idea prevailing that tho
Ship Subsidy bill which, has recently ,
passed the Senate is q "stear' and a
piece OF highway robbery. Elimina-
ting mere opinions OF mon who are
either bought to write sach articles, or
through Ignorance" repeating what
some political demagogue states for
the sake of being ON the other side, let
us examine records rather than follow
these blind leaders.
in early colonial times American
shipbuilders and merchants became
such dangerous commercial competi-
tors, from the superiority of their ships
and the greater efficiency of their sail-
ors, that the British Government, by
the Navigation Acts, beginning in
1645, prohibited importations into the
colonies except in En- glish or colonial
built vessels. While tho Navigation
Acts restricted trade, they fostercd
ship building. The merchant marine
continued to thrive after the Revolu
tion. Between 1850 and 1897 the regis
tered tonnage increased 3S4 per cent.
From 1887 to 1S47 the tonnage rose
from $4,000 to 1,241 900, to 9, ,2Gs, 900 in
1857 andculminated with a,40G, 900 tons
in 1861.
"Thc maximum tonnage Of the Uni
! ted States at any one time registered
and enrolled Cor engaged IN foreign
and domestic trade) and in fisheries
was. i'll 1861, reaching 5,539,Sl3 tons. 1t
thus nearly eQualled tho tonnage of the
whole OF the rest of the maritime world,
excepting Great Britain, whose tonnage
was slightly greater. But since this
time, from various causes, the Ameri-
can merchant marine service has do
cllned until it is now wholly insigniti-
can't. This is due largely to tho fact
that, when iron and steam vessels be-
gan to be used, the facilities for con-
structing them were limited. and the
navigation laws prohibited merchants
from taking advan tage of British su-
periority in construction. Income taxes
and heavy taxes on gross receipt, es-
pecially since the Civil War, have
greatly handicapped shipowners. The
coastwise trade, too. has fallen largely
intc the hands of Foreigners"
| The above is taken from American
history which is accepted as authentic,
Il true and reliable in every respect, COW
| ering a period from 1492 to 1895. Ex-
a.;:;.iDiGS more recent reports furnished
by the Commissioner Of Navigation Of
the United States, we find the entire
shipping fol, the year 1901 to be only
4,5S2,045 tons against 5,580,813 tons in
1851 and our population since has gain
ed nearly 100000 souls, while the
British merchant marine has grown
from 5,710,069 tons in 1851 to 14,372, 900
tons in 1900 and the German from
nothing, 30 to speak, in 1870, has grown
to 2,S00,00O tons, all in less than 80
years.
| Now, why is it that OIL: merchant
marine has not kept pace with England,
Germany and other progressive DOW
ers?
Another stubborn fact Of the decline
OF our merchant marine is the ratio of
agricultural exports in 1860 being 81. Ia
per cont, while in the year 1901 it fell
to G4.G2 per cent.
Despite the enormous aggregate of
our export trade for the year 1901, we
1 nf II, \
make if American products were car
ried in our own vessels and under our
own flag. ls it to be presumed that a
dozen ormore State Legislatures would
have passed resolutions and sent mem
orials to Congress to the effect that:
eve memorialize tho Congress of
the United States to aid, by appropriate
and liberal laws, the effort of the
American line to maintain place in
the merchant marine Of the world, and
by legislative action to extend still fur.
thes encouragement to our merchants
in their efforts to recover our lost COM
mercial supremacy in the.carrying trade
of the oceans, putting an end to our
present dependence upon ships of for
eign nations for the carriage of the
products Of our own country. That
bothNational pride and National in
terests demand the hundreds of mil
lions of dollars yearly paid by our
people of ti,e United States to foreign
ships for ocean freight shall be paid to
our own vessels built and navigated by
our own citizens and flying our own
flag"
Space will not permit quoting hun
dred or more similar resolutions from
all parts of the country, but since the
editor of The Daily Mail was 80 sure
that Senate McLaurin of South Caro-
lima was the only Democrat in favor of