The herald., 1918-03-28
Revival in Shipping Brings Pros
perity to American Sea-
board Towns.
ONCE BUSY MARTS OF TRADE
Same Spirit That Made Old Salem
Rich Now Seen In Merchant Ma
rines's DeveIopment-New
Ports Sprinoino Up.

merchant marine Is a sudden and IN
precedented revival Of business at GER
tain American ports which few years
ago were thought to have passed their
zenith.
Bath, Me-, is cited as an example.
In the prosperous nineteenth century
days of sailing ships Bath was the
eountry's leading shipbuilding port. 1t
declined steadily after the introduce
don Of steel as building material.
Now Bath, building both steel and
wood vessels, is so prosperous that the
housing Of the workmen taking jobs
there is a pressing problem. The same
is true of several other North Atlantic
ports, while In other sections ports
are springing up where none existed
before.
Close observers Of the present re-
uvai in shipping say that before the
United States shipping boards present
construction plan is completed-a plan
by which a vast new merchant fleet Is
to be brought into being-the develop
ment Of American ports will parallel
on a larger scale that which took
place In the good old days Of the
square riggers."
In earlier times, as at present, every
body in port touched by the pros
perity Of seagoing was keenly inter
ested in shipping. Present-day secre-
ey about contracts, sailings and divi-
dends, had its prototype In the secrecy
that enveloped such matters more than
hundred years ago, in a score Of
American ports. notably in Salem,
Mass.
In those days, we are told, rival
merchants sometimes drove the work
Of preparation for voyages night and
day. Ships which set out for foreign
ports were watched when they slipped
their cables and sailed away by night"
Personal Touch In Voyages
In those times there was q more per-
sonal touch in voyages than now, as
every man making a voyage was al
lowed a certain space in the hold for
goods of his own. People in the home
ed their savings to their seafaring
neighbors for ventures In far coun-
tries.
This spirit Of commercial adventure
is finding expression today on a larger
and less personal scale, say the experts
Of the shipping board; and these stu
dents of conditions trace the present
enthusiasm Of the nation for seafaring
to beginnings in definite periods in
which our old-time ports were at the
height Of their prosperity. In so do
ing, they cite Salem as a good exam
pie Of what a venturesome people may
gain upon the sea.
Salem at one time stood at the head
Of the cities Of the United States In
the value Of its imports.
In 1912 It had 125 ships in the deep
water trade, and of these, So were
East Indiamen. These vessels brought
home cargoes of fabulous richness
silks, indigo, spices, ivory and other
products Of the far East.
There are old people living in Salem
who remember when the city's ancient
warehouses were full of hemp from
Luzon, pepper from Sumatra, coffee
from Arabia, palm oil from the west
coast Of Africa, cotton from Bombay,
duck and iron from the Baltic, tallow
from Madagascar, salt from Cadiz,
wine from Portugal and the Madeiras,
figs, raisins and almonds from the
Mediterranean; teas and silks from
China rum, sugar and molasses from
the West Indies; ivory and gum-copal
from Zanzibar; rubber, hides and wool
from South America, whale oil from the
Arctic and Antarctic, and the sperm
from the South Seas"
Pioneers In Commerce.
Salem ships were pioneers in open
ing new routes of commerce. Salem
merchants were the first to bring pep
per from Sumatra, rubber from South
America and coffee from Mocha. The
Salem ship Recovery, Capt. John
Ropes, was the coffee pioneer, and be-
tween the landing Of her first cargo of
the fragrant berry in 1893 and 1905,
Salem imported not less than 1000
600, pounds of Mocha coffee.
Salem men were perhaps no more
active than other American deep-water
sailors Of the period but their records
were better kept. They abound in
stories Of their adventures.
Examining the causes Of Salem's
great fame won upon the sea, a recent
historian Of the merchant marine found
that 1t was mot in her harbor nor In
her store Of shipbuilding timber.
It was Salem men. Americans
Of the Americans who built up the 70
mantle commerce that left no sea un-
visited, no land unexplored.
Their business required iron will and
iron nerve, a noble Imagination, belief
In themselves and in their fellow man."
Thu case Of old Salem, and of the
newer ports now fiourishing under the
impetus Of the country's present COM
mercial expansion, convinces the mari
time specialists that the quality which
won in both cases is a constant one.
being nothing less than American en-.
terprise.