Semi-weekly herald., 1915-03-18
A SAILOR IN THE SENATE.

All the world is talking of ships
now. Ocean commerce is the vital
thing. On it our commercial pros
perity depends, we are told. Through
it serious international problems have
arisen. The history of Americas ship
ping has been repeatedly reviewed,
and its future has been outlined.
Linked to the story of the United
States of the past on the high seas,
when more than a half century ago,
it stood second to no other country,
is that of the romantic life of sailor
lad who blazed way from the mast
to the United States senate.
On March 4th George C. Perkins
Of California ended his twenty second
year of continuous service in the Unit
ed States senate and retired from pub
lie life. In 1853 he crossed the Allan
tic with cargo of cotton from New
Orleans and drew wage of 81 per
month as sailor boy. At the age
of II he landed an able bodied sea-
man in California and has since made
that state his home.
Twelve full-rigged ships flying
the stars and stripes were tied to the
docks at that time," he said recently
in describing his landing on the Pa
cific coast.
"The ships" he went on to relate,
were loaded with the products of
this country and goods from other
corners of the earth. Only two Brit
ish vessels were there. Every evening
the military bands of the men-of- war
at anchor played the Star Spangled
Banner
THAT was the golden age of the
American merchant marine. Steamers
of the Collins line, outsailing the
British Cunarders across the Allan
tic, were freighted with the most val
liable merchandise and carried the
best-paying passengers.
British naval officers actually
American ships surpassed their own
in speed, power and efficiency. Young
came to this country to learn why
men were proud to be sailors in those
days. Fortunes were made by ship
builders and ship owners along our
northeastern Atlantic coast.
81 followed the sea, first as cab
in boy and then as a man before the
mast, going on voyage out of New
Orleans and Mobile to Great Britain,
Norway, Sweden and France Two of
the ships in which l served brought
cargoes of iron rails to the United
states. One cargo was loaded in Swe-
den and the other in Wales.
"We brought salt from Liverpool
to New Orleans and carried lumber
from New Brunswick to Ireland.
American vessels transported three
fourths of the oversee commerce of
this country and did II large business
with foreign nations besides.
I'm 1857 was cabin boy then
255 sailing ships and barks, intended
for the foreign trade, were built in
the United States. Three hundred and
eighty-one were built in 1855. Steam
lines afterward ran TO West Indies
and northward in the Pacific from the
lsthmus of Panama.
There was day when merchant
men from Boston and other New Eng
land ports took American merchan-
disc to China and returned with tea
and silk. Men grew rich in that very
profitable business. The Sovereign of
the Seas, an American vessel, made
the voyage, under sail, from Honolu-
lu TO New York, 1870 miles in so
days.
IL have lived in the time when the
United States and Great Britain were
side by side in the race for the mas
terry Of the seas. Also have watch
ed the American flag gradually dis
appear from all the ports of the
world. Today our flag is rarely seen
abroad and American ships for years
have been engaged almost entirely in
the coasting trade-that is, in trade
between American ports.
Our own vessels, in 1856, the year
left the sea, carried rs per cent Of
the products and merchandise we sold
to and bought from other countries.
The transportation of our foreign
commerce then was in our own hands.
Thirty years later, in 1886. we carried
but 10 per cent Of our exports and
imports Putting the figures in an