Los Angeles herald., 1910-11-05

pretty nearly crowded Off the we'll trav-
eled lanes Of the north Atlantic, is a
familiar sight in many ports. She
follows no fixed route, but goes where
ever the call of trade is heard. In this
respect she is like the Yankee clipper
and those other earlier ships of sail
which she has displaced. The tramp
may start from a British port with a
load of machinery for Brazil, proceed
next to New York with cargo of cof-
fee. run in ballast to New Orleans.
and there take on a consignment or
cotton that will carry her back to her
starting point. Or she may traverse
all the seven seas in her trade perez
grinations before turning her PROV
toward her home port. Captain and
crew seldom know when they start on
q voyage what remote parts of the
world they may not visit before they
see their homes and families again.
The influence that Is forcing the
tramp steadily into less and less con-
spicuous and important part as a car
rier of the worlds trade is The tre-
mendous development within recent
years of the modern ocean liner with
her great speed, her huge carrying ca
pacity and her regular routes and sail
ing dates.
A HUNDRED LINERS
Some kinds of LrdiIlc can wait on
time and tide, but other kinds must
go straight through regardless of all
other conditions except the necessity
of reaching the appointed goal in the
shortest possible time. The tendency
of modern business is to include lar
ger and larger pro portion of thu null
tiplying objects of international ex-
change within this classification AS
trade and wealth have increased the
number of persons from any one coun-
try who desire to travel to other coun-
tries for pleasure or profit has grown
tremendously. To meet these demands
the present fleet of great ocean liners
has been developed, growing larger,
swifter and more numerous. A hun
dred swift liners comprise the 1ieet
that regularly plies between New York
and the ports of northern Europe and
the Mediterranean. Half as many
more run from this city to other parts
of the world. OF the vast commerce
passing through this port scarcely
one-tenth is carried in tramp steam
ships. Great liners carrying hundreds
of passengers and thousands of tons
of freight travel on all the important
trade routes. The shipper prefers
them, for he knows when his goods
are to leave port and when they will
arrive at their foreign destination.
Their rates are as low as the tramp
can give, their course in transit is faT
swifter and more certain and time
means money to the shipper under
such circumstances.
MORE SWIFT AND CERTAIN
Thus the tramp is crowded off the
main highways and must seek liv-
ing in ports less we'll supplied with
transportation facilities or in lines of
trade where time is a negligible fac
tor.
There are some who affect to see in
the passing of the tramp a threat to
the freedom of the sea. They say that
it is all very fine for the big steam
ship companies to give more frequent
and regular sailings and to put ocean
commerce on a more stable and salts
factory footing, but that already there
are agreements of rates and that ulti-
mately there will be a monopoly that
will exact eXorbitant rates and make
ocean freights as costly as land car
rage now in sections where competi-
tion is lacking.
Experienced shipping men believe
that there is no likelihood of any such
development as this. If railway
charges exorbitant rates it is not pos
sible to set up a rival line on short
notice, but the ocean is a free high
| way. Probably there are agreements
| among the great lines to MAINTAIN sta
BILE rates, but these rates must be kept
low or the hawk-like tramp, ever on
| the alert for a profitable opening, will
swoop down and gather in the busi-
ness. Thus the tramp, while fallen
| from it's former estate, still fulfills a
useful purpose in covering the un-
beaten paths of ocean trade, in hand
ling certain classes of cargo and as a
check upon the liner herself. For this
reason she Is likely to survive for
many years to come.