The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-11-28


the Liverpool docks on an electric Train
saw the Stars and Stripes flying at
tho neak of sailing ship TINS SO
+;ckled me that I broke ny journey ana
no1l,ed hack half mile to get closer
,ool, At the curiosity. Arriving at the
dock found the ship to be the Home
ward Bound. of San Francisco. Oh
questioning the dockmasteF as to the
romber of American ships he hao
hertbed he replied: "This is the first
American ship I have berthed IN my
twelve years experience on the DOCKS
This writer held that the American
merchant marine had "eeaseo 10
exist ,o
n the October number Of the same
MAGAZINE is published a reply 10 'ne
pr;3;sb officer. by Winthrop L. Marvin
which. an editorial note says repre-
80 90 abIv the views Of those who De-
,;eve in the stimulus of ship suosldleS
90 an essential remedy that 1t IS prlhe.
ID without regard to views upon tarih
reform which have been repeatedly eA-
pressed in the columns of the Atlah'
tie re-.
Mr. Marvin, while admitting that IL
;s GOOD sometimes to see ourselves "s
o+hars see us.'' and that 'the sharp
words of the friendly British ofheer are
..rta;n to intensity the determination
go manifestly rising in our country TO
xoeraate an American merchant marine
wortbv of the present wealth and
strength and the glorious traditions oi
the Republic,'' points out thae tne
author of "this really notable article
falls into error in suggesting that
"free-ship" poliey,-a wholesale pur-
chase of American ships from BRUSH
builders.-would have averted the loss
of onr oeean-carrying. The decline OF
the ocean trade of the American meF-
chant marine is due, he says, TO
situation which could have been only
partially and slightly modified by free
ships. -
"This loss of our shipping is due to,
and vet could have been prevented by,
the modern Republican system OF pro-
lection. When, in 1861 and the years
afterward, the statesmen OF the new
Rennbliean PARTY, not merely to meet
+ba exioencies of the Civil War, but
with deliberate, far-seeing purpose, SET
themselves to force the development,
through national aid of great national
industries, they left out OF the pro
taetive system what for three-quar-
tiers of century had been one OF the
greatest of those Industries, undehiapiy
the most successful, and IN the manner
of it's growth the most distinctly anu
enthusiastically American
The fact is generally forgotten that
in 1889 our merchant marine was al
most as shrunken as it is now, : mere
skeleton of $4,000 TONS" and that
then. as now. our commerce was carried
nv British shipping. But our states,
men. in their very first tariff act OF
that wear. embodied stalwart protec-
tion for American ships and sailors
through the form of discriminating TON
mage and customs taxes, which com
pelied American merchants to employ
the oeean-carriers of their own coun'
arv-and the law required that these
oeean-earriers should be built IN the
limited States This measure was
eminently successful. By 1900 our mer'
chant fleet had expanded to ton
maze of 667, 900, carrying SO per cent
of our imports and EXPORTS and ter
wears later to 1881 900 tons, carrying
81 per cent? These policies of shlI
protection "were not entirely with
drawn against Great Britain, our chief
competitor, until 1S49; and by that
time they were reinforced by gen
erous system of mail subsidies which
gave to our ocean steam feet growth
in quantity and quality far superior tc
that of fhe United Kingdom. Oui
merchant marine reached its zenith IL
1855, with $4,000 tons of shipping
launched that year in the United States
and this was the direct result of The
protection initiated in 1889.
In 1860 our shipbuilding dropped II
pa, 900 tons. one cause of the shrink
age being the withdrawal of the ocean
mail subsidies, "in retaliation on the
part of the leaders of the South agains
the abolition ports of the North. -
Not all the pluck and resource Of
Vanderbilt and Collins, the ablest ship
managers of their time, could sustain
The American steam lines, unsubsidized
against the treasures of Europe; an(
all but few of the splendid Yankee
steamships had vanished with the clip
per ships from the great trade route o.
the North Atlantic when the first shot:
of the war were fred at Sumter. Tht
Civil War did not begin the destruction
of our shipping, as is often but mex
actly stated; the destruction had begun
before. American ships, without thei
mail pay, though larger and taste
ships. could not compete with the Brit
ish Cunard line and its subsidy of 5000,
600 year"
Mr. Marvin claims that "it is tht
Solid South, aided by portion of thu
Middle West, that is directly response
BILE for the failure of the American
Government TO take some step to in
ciude the merchant marine within tn,
fortunate circle of protected indus
tries But the opposition of ''nearl,
al of the Southern Democrats and
faction of Middle Western Reputsi
eans' is becoming weaker year afte
year The propaganda for the Amer
ia, shin which has been SueceSSfuIT