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The C om m ercial M a rin e of
the U n ited States,
[“ BELFOBD’s MAGAZINE.''j
T he United States, with its 15,000
miles of sea coast, w ith all its wonderful
natural resources, w ith its enormous
wealth, with a population nearing sixtyfive
millions of active, energetic workers
gTe&t manufacturing nation - a nation
whoBe production of food products
astonishes the civilised world—one to
whose mineral resources there seems to
be no end should not be dependent upon
Europe for the shipping to convey to
other countries onr surplus products, and
to bring back to onr shore* the merchandise
of other countries W hy should we
be dependent upon foreign nations for
shipping facilities to freight our own
exports and im ports? Why slnuld we
pay foreign shipowners 200,00u.000dols
annually tor what we can do ourselves?
W h y should we be at this time in the
eondition to be taunted with the lamentable
fact that our beautiful “ Stars and
S trip es" are driven from the ocean?
There are, or have been, some reasons
why we hare allowed Europe to monopolise
our foreigmcarrying trade, b ut some
of them do not now e x ist; others ure not
so pressing, and we can properly at this
time give some atieMton to tli? regeneration
of this im portant interest. This
country has been .-o busy developing its
internal rrso n n ci, building 160,000
miles of railron':*. opening up our magnificent
domain, lighting to preserve our
country as & uait, stamping out the
curse of slavery, that we have wholly
neglected our commercial m arin.\ W e
have not protected ibai interest as we
have our manufacturing interests; which
by so doing we have msdc the United
States the largest manufacturing nation
in the world. W e have not deteriorated
as a nation since 182". True it is that
ships must now be built of iron instead
of wood; that they zrust be propelled by
steam instead of by canvas spread to
catch the favoring wiuds. B ut has
Europe any more mines of iron ore and
coal than wc haTG? Has she greater
genius in the building of ships? N o?
Then wc must look to the rcai and only
reason : and that is, the policy of our
Government in relation to the enconragem
ent of that industry. Time after time
I have been told by capitalists (when
soliciting them to invest m'jney in a
steamship line): “ You cen’t succeed
when the policy of the Government is
against you W ait until the tide tu rn s;
some time our law makers will see the
necessity of doing as European nations
are doing.” It seems to me th at “ the
tide has tu rn ed "; that our people are
beginning slowly to see that a producing
and manufacturing nation th a t is the
largest in the world must not depend
upon foreign nations for her transportation
on t!.e ocean, and are beginning to
realise that we can build iron vessels
as well as wc did wooden ships; that
we can sail them by the power of
stenm ae well as we did our “ American
clippers," by the aid of canvas. I
earnestly hope th a t the time has nearly
arrived when our people will demand
from Congress th a t this im portant
industry snail have the attention and
encouragement th at it deserves; that our
flag may again be seen floating at the
m ast head on every se a ; th at a t every
commercial port in the world the “ Stars
and Stripes" will be a frequent and
welcome visitor. The great statesman in
the world, Prince Bismarck, of Germany,
said, “ The m erchant service is the handmaid
of all other industries, of agriculture,
of commerce. On the day when the
freight trade is given over to foreigners
a mortal blow will be dealt to all the
industries of the cjuntry." Those were
not idle words, Germany in the last 15
years has made wonderful strides in
increasing her shipping interests, and is
now running England a Bharp race for
the carrying trade on the ocean. She
passed protective tariff laws th a t have
increased her m anufacturing interests,
and at the same time provided mail end
transportation facilities to foreign
countries by tb r same methods that
enabled England to secure so large a
preponderance in the world's commerce.
T his country can have its fnll share ; but
we need not expect that our mercbaots,
shipbuilders, and shipowners can make
headway with a Government policy
opposed to them, when every European
nation is assisting and encouraging its
commercial marine.
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