The Republican journal., 1922-02-16
Our Shipping History.

nited States adorned every port In the
orld. We had the makings of splen-
did maritime race in the English OF New
England, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Nir-
einia and the Caroinss, the Dutch OF
New York, the Swedes of Delaware, and
their descendants who had migrated to
the Pacific Coast-the worlds best sea
faring stock. ShipbuildIng is the most
ancient of American Industries, as old as
jamestown and older than Plymouth.
The first vessel was launched at the
mouth of the Kennebec in 1907, the first
decker was built on the Hudson by
Adrian Block in 1914 The father OF
American maritime policy was Governor
John Winthrop OF Massachusetts,. The
growth of our shipbuilding industry was
SO rapid that il soon excited the leal-
ousy of the mother country, England,
which began to pass laws to handicap It,
AS for the part our ships played IN the
Revolutionary War, you may read the
record of John Paul Jones during that
period.
In 1888, after we had gained our inde-
pendence, British hostility to our ship
ping was illustrated by letter from
Benjamin franklin relative TO the effect
of the Barbary pirates preying on our
commerce. in which he quoted London
merchants as saying: IF there were no
Nleiers it would be worth England :
while 10 build onep' The first Act OF
fhe first Congress OF the United States,
passed July 4, 1889. was a protective
tariff laW--to protect our new industries
from the fierce competition OF european
comb nations. That law allowed reduc-
ton of ten per cent of thetariff duties up
onimports brought to this country IN snlps
built and owned by American citizens.
In l794 this clause was changed so that
an addition of 10 per cent was mace 10
the duty rate on goods brought over In
foreign ships. This law worked wonders
in aiding our merchant marine, ana not
withstanding all that England coulo 90
to impair it, by 1907 we were carrying "
Der cent of our entire foreign trade IN our
own ships. The seizures OF Napoleon
after that year, and the war OF 1917,
which paralyzed our carrying trade, mao
reduced it in 1915 to IA per cent OF our
total foreign trade.
We made peace with Great Britain in
1915. Soon after, Great Britain induced
us to sign a commercial treaty which was
our first great mistake so far as our ship
ping industry was concerned, for we
thereby bound ourselves to impose no
discriminating duty on ships or products
in the trade between this country and the
United Kingdom. Immediately thereafter,
Great Britain excluded American ships
from her West India possessions, which
placed in idleness 80, 600 tons of Amer :
can shipping; while the repeal OF the as
eliminating duty rates enabled British
shippers to regain their ascendency IN
our ports, Since that time we have ne
Qotisted 80 or 40 treaties with foreign
powers abandoning discriminatory duty
rights.
Shut out of the West Indies we began
to develop a carrying trade elsewhere,
and during the decade l820-30 we were
again carrying 90 per cent of our foreign
trade, In 1928 the Reciprocity Act was
passed which proved another blow to our
shipping. Great Britain awaited herself
of that act but gave nothing of conse-
uuence in return, while Spain exacted
large charges on our tonnage IN Cuban
and Porto Rican ports.
In 1881 the steamship became factor,
and until the mercantile panic Oh 1887
there was a steady growth in American
shipping. Along about 1910 Great Britain
began heI policy of giving subsidies, that
ia. the payment of bonus to packets for
carving mails The Cunard line received
over a million dollars annually for about
20 years This line laid hold of the choic-
est passenger and freight trade. About
this time William Wheelwright, native
of Massachusetts, conceived the idea OF q