The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-02-28
WHY WE CANNOT DELIVER OUR GOODS TO OUR CUSTOMERS
Senator George G. Perkins Discusses
the Reasons Why American Vessels
Cannot Compete With Foreign
Bottoms in Oversee Traffic

co. Water ~freights, until the opening
Of the Panama Canal, had to be car
ried around the lower end of South
America. Nevertheless our coastwise
fleet is one of the finest in the world"
Although he said nothing about il
HIMSELF Senator Perkins helped to
create the coastwise fleet. The COM
pany in which he was once the prin-
cipal owner and officer, operated TWEEN
ty-seven steamers in the Pacific and
carried on a regular trade from Mexico
To Alaska, touching at ports in Cali
fornia oregon. Washington and Brit
ish Columbia. He sent the first steam
whalers to the Arctic Ocean. Whale
bone then was S. a pound and whale
oil was very valuable. Substitutes for
bone and oil have since made whaling
Improbable.
Young George Perkins arrived at
San Francisco in the clipper ship
Galatea. built at Chelsea, Mass. He
sailed from New York in May, 1855, a
hoy OF l6, but nan enough TO take his
turn at the wheel and go aloft during
the rfiercest storm. II was october
when he went ashore with his kit
across his shoulder.
Buying a shotgun, a pepper box re-
volver and a roll of blankets. he
worked his way up the Sacramento
River on a boat and, reaching the end
OF his water journey. walked $50 miles
over the mountains into Butte county.
He meant to dig gold until he had
money enough to buy a schooner and
go trading on his W account among
the islands of the lower Pacific.
Il operated a w~heelbarrow for a
time" he told me. land then got a
place in a store. By the hardest kim
Of drudgery and the closest kind of
economy gathered up $500"
Twenty-one years ago. on entering
Congress, Senator Perkins. quoting
his own language. separated himself
from all business interests which
could in any way be affected by Con-
gresstonal legislation. excepting that
general legislation which relates to
the whole country" So, taking into
account his personal experiences as a
sailor, a ship owner and a business
man, he is we'll qualified to talk about
the merchant marine. the causes of
its decline and the measures neces-
sary for its restoration. 1t should be
stated, however. that he Is a Repub-
lican and holds tenaciously to the
protective doctrine.
why" he was asked. has the
coastwise shipping Of the country
grown and ~prospered?"
Because that particular branch of
the marine industry has been reserved
for American vessels" Senator Per-
kins replied. The coasting trade of
the United States from the Atlantic
to the Pacific and along both coasts
can be conducted only in American
vessels. A German ship cannot carry
freight from New York to New Or
leans. A British ship 20 not be
permitted to load a cargo at Chicago
destin,d for Milwaukee,, Detroit, Cleve-
land or Buffalo.
THE principle of reserving the
coastwise trade for our own vessels
was established by the fathers OF the
republic, by jefferson and Madison
and by Franklin and Hamilton. No
Congress has denied the wisdom of
that policy. And as a result Of the
policy some OF our coastwise shipping
companies rank among the largest.
strongest and most ably administered
steamship organizations in the world.
Our coasting fleet to-day has a
tonnage of nearly 1000, 600, and next
to that of Great Britain is the largest
mercantile fleet on the globe, surpass-
ing as it does the entire mercantile
fleet of Germany and being three times
greater than the tonnage of Norway,
France or Japan. These facts. | sup
pos, will be surprising to many per-
sons.
Though we have almost lost our