Seven-masted Schooner Thomas LawsonSeven-masted SchoonerTHOMAS LAWSON
Seven-masted SchoonerTHOMAS LAWSON
A feature of these ships to be considered is that they are all built for passing through certain shoal channels, the Welland Canal, and the canal at the rapids at the outlet of Lake Superior, for example. These channels have compelled the designers to adopt one cross-section of hull for all ships (at least below the water-line), and that cross-sectionis the largest that will pass through the channels. Because of this similarity of models the lake builders have been able to carry specialization in the work of construction as far as any builders in the world, and much further than it is carried in the Atlantic coast yards, where builders may have a battleship, a harbor tug, and a side-wheel passenger boat on adjoining ways. The lake ships can be built for the lowest price of any in the United States.
Contemplation of these facts, and upon the further fact that lake engineers seemed to be about the best the world had ever seen, led the lake capitalists to organize the American Navigation Company, which built two large cargo carriers, sent them down to salt water, and entered the general cargo trade. Those vessels were among the most economical ever built in the United States, all things considered,but they were unable to compete with the European ship.
A story told by A. B. Wolvin to the Merchant Marine Commission is significant here. A company of which he was president operated a line of steamers from Duluth and Chicago to Montreal and Quebec. The steamers numbered ten of the maximum size for passage through the Welland Canal—250 by 42 feet large, with a draft of fourteen feet, and a carrying capacity of 2200 tons. The cost of these ships, built under the best American conditions of specialization, was $140,000 each, and the operating expense was $135 a day each. While the company was engaged in its work, a steamship man fromSweden came and offered to put on twelve ships of the same size, each at a charter price of $2900 per month. His ships cost but $90,000 each, and the wages of crew and other operating expenses were so much lower than the American standard that he could make money at a charter price of $1000 a month less than the cost of operating the American ships. Having used these Swedish ships long enough to know them (for it was necessary to accept the offer to keep the Swede from starting in opposition), Captain Wolvin testified:—
"They are better from the standpoint of construction.... The vessels carry well; they run well. We have no trouble with the crews."
The crew of the Swedish ship numbered seventeen; that of the American, twenty-two. And the Swedish wage was far less.
The bearing of these facts in any consideration of the power of the ship-owners who are now in control of the deep water traffic of the world is obvious.
Other views of the world's carrying trade are of interest here. The Hamburg-American Company runs steamships in sixty-eight different lines. There is a line of its ships from Europe to each port of importance from Montreal to Newport News. It maintains other lines to the important ports of the West Indies, to Ports Limon and Colon on the narrow mainland, and to every important port on the north, the east, and the west coasts of South America. It reaches nearly every port of importance onthe coasts of Europe, and down the west coast of Africa. Indeed, on the west coast of Africa the natives see two German steamers to one under the British flag. It sends other ships through the Suez Canal to skirt the coast of Asia as far as Vladivostok; it maintains cargo gatherers among the islands along shore, and then, from Japan, it reaches across to Portland, Oregon, where it connects with our Northern Pacific Railroad. It runs every kind of ship from the 23-knot passenger packet to the economical cargo carrier that uses perhaps little more than ten tons of coal a day. The traffic of the world is, in a way, within the touch of this one corporation. The worldwide tides of commerce are felt and noted daily in the home office, and while losses are suffered, here and there, through depressions in business,or through competition, the profit made by the vast fleet as a whole is sufficient to yield regularly the modest dividends that satisfy the owners.
The fact that the powerful North German Lloyd is allied with the Hamburg-American in all matters that affect German commerce and trade is also a matter of interest in this place.
To show now how an effort to force a new company into an established trade affects freight rates, it is necessary only to refer to such an instance as the "war" that prevailed in the trade from New York to South Africa in 1902. As Smith notes inThe Ocean Carrier, the rival steamships lost from $10,000 to $15,000 on every trip.Moreover, the low rates were of no advantage to commerce, for commerce demands stability first of all. It is worth noting, too, by the way, that in the course of this war, goods were carried by English steamers from New York to Africa for less than was charged by the same companies on ships from London to the same destination.
When American capitalists tried to establish a line of ships from New York to Brazil some years ago, the venture failed. One reason for this was the higher cost of American ships and crews. Another was extravagance, especially in providing terminal facilities at Rio de Janeiro. Old merchants in Brazil still smile when they talk of what the American line did in that way. But the most important reason for failure was the advantage enjoyed by British rivals in the triangular line route followed by their steamers. In the currents of commerce on the Atlantic the British manufacturer ships large quantities of goods to South America, the South American producer ships large quantities of coffee to the United States, and the American producer ships large quantities of food-stuffs to Great Britain. The British ships had profitable cargoes from home to Brazil. At Rio de Janeiro and Santos they cut the rates far below cost, and then on arrival in the United States they secured cargoes for home at a profitable rate. The profits on the two trips enabled them to endure the cut on the middle passage. But because American manufacturers had little to ship to Brazil the American ship lost money on both passages.
Every business man understands the advantages of one who is well-established in any trade, over one who is just beginning, but one method by which established lines of ships hold their trade must have mention. The merchant who sends all his goods by the established line receives a rebate of 10 per cent on the amount of his freight bill, the rebate being calculated once in six months, say, and the payment being made six months later. If the merchant ships an ounce of stuff by a rival line he loses all the rebate, and he may be punished in addition, if the rival is a new line. The merchant, having rivals in trade, feels the loss of the rebate seriously; his rivals by loyalty to the established line continue to enjoy the rebate even when rates are cut below those of the new line, and below cost. In such trades as that between New York and Rio de Janeiro, where a number of lines are plying, the established lines unite their entire resources to kill off a new line trying to enter the trade.
When the American people have before them any proposition for the revival of the American merchant marine, they should keep in mind that ships designed for the purpose and at least in sufficient numbers, are afloat in every trade of the world; that the freight rates are maintained at a point where the profits are as low as any afforded by any branch of the world's work; that the men doing the work have been developed with the steam carrying trade, just as the splendid American sailor of the sail was developed by his environment, and they are thereforeat once well-informed, alert, enterprising, resourceful, persistent, and merciless. Observe, too, that in the work of the high seas man faces primeval conditions, brute force prevails as nowhere else, and the fittest survives.
Perhaps a definition of terms is needed here. By fitness we mean the ability to do the world's work on the terms which the world offers. We have learned to build bridges and locomotives on those terms, but, in spite of the fact that our ship-builders and ship-owners are fully protected in the "home market," they have not yet learned how to combine the locomotive and the bridge into a ship fit to compete with the unsubsidized ships—the cargo carriers—now in the world's traffic.
In connection with the known degree of efficiency of the world's merchant marine, as now afloat, consider a statement that can be found on page 1248 of theReport of the Merchant Marine Commission. It is, perhaps, the most discouraging statement that has been made in connection with our merchant marine.
"The statistics of loss of ships at sea afford matter for reflection.... They show, as the United States Commissioner of Navigation has summarized them, that out of every 100 American seagoing steamships over 100 tons, for the past seven years, on the average 2.24 have been lost each year; that out of every 100 foreign seagoing steamers over 100 tons, for the same period on the average 1.98 have been lost each year." (See also An. Rep. Com. Nav., 1904, p. 19.)
Modern Clipper Ship and Modern BrigA Modern Clipper Ship and a Modern BrigBy courtesy ofMunsey's Magazine
A Modern Clipper Ship and a Modern Brig
By courtesy ofMunsey's Magazine
When American ships were supreme they were insured at a less rate than those of any other nation, and the insurance was placed, to a large extent, in England. Because the American sailor of the sail, who had been evolved by 200 years of American environment, was able to handle his ship better than any other, he paid lower premiums to the underwriters. But if this be true (and no one disputes it), it follows that the higher percentage of losses among modern American steamers proves that the American environment, since the steamer era, has produced a steamship sailor who is less efficient in his work than our old-time sailor of the sail was in his, and less efficient, too, than the foreign steamship sailor of the present day. It is an important fact that a man may win laurels upon the weather yard-arm in reefing topsails and yet be of no particular value as an oiler or an assistant engineer in the engine-room. At any rate, any effort to revive the American merchant marine will have to be made in the face of the record of American losses, and the influence of that record upon insurance rates.
Then in spite of the "boundless resources of our country," and "the intelligence of the masses," and a "protective tariff" of twenty-five cents a bushel, the farmers of "the overcrowded nations of Europe" are able to sell potatoes in New York at a profit. And millions of dollars' worth of factory goods made in Europe pay ocean freights, pay the tariff tax, pay the commissions of agents, pay the freight rates on our railroads, pay the margin of our retailmerchants, and are then sold at our doors in competition with the products of our workmen.
The fact that the tariff wall fails to keep out foreign goods is a matter for serious attention in every point of view, but it seems especially necessary here to consider the influence of "protection," as it is called, upon those features of American character which we call self-reliance and the spirit of enterprise. Under the prevailing system how is it possible for the American people to develop the aggressive manhood that is needed?
One other feature of the opposition that will be encountered in any effort to create a new American merchant marine is yet to be described—the support which the existing carriers will receive from their governments during the conflict; but before that is considered it may be well to review the means by which it has been proposed to increase our shipping.
Naturally a people accustomed to "protection"—a people who make boast of a system that is at best a confession of a lack of ability to meet open competition—have turned, first of all, to "government aid."
Among the first provisions of Congress for the benefit of American shipping after the adoption of the Constitution was a 10 per cent discriminating duty on all goods imported in foreign ships. It is asserted that this discriminating duty supplied our ships with cargoes from foreign ports to American, and was thus a feasible and satisfactory "protection." A 10 per cent duty amounted then, and itwould amount now, to more than the whole freight, upon some goods. It is also asserted that this discrimination was made in order to "protect" our shipping. But in an extended argument, which was made before the Merchant Marine Commission (in theReportof which the curious reader can find it), by Hon. E. T. Chamberlain, Commissioner of Navigation, it was proved that "in the minds of those that applied" it (Jefferson, Clay, Gallatin, John Quincy Adams, etc.), the law was provided as a means of retaliation only—for the purpose of preventing discrimination against American shipping. The fact that our government anxiously strove from the first to secure fair reciprocity confirms this view. Further confirmation is found in the fact that our old-time ship-owners were unanimous in their support of the government in its efforts to secure reciprocity.
Those who advocate the policy of discrimination for modern application assert that our shipping reached supremacy at sea while the discriminating policy prevailed as to Great Britain, and that is true, because the British did not accept our offers of reciprocity until 1849. But the assertion that our shipping became supremebecauseof this policy is made only by those who are unable to appreciate in full the facts of the case. For our ships that were engaged in the trades between foreign countries, beyond the reach of any "protection" afforded by "discrimination" or any other artificial stimulation, at one time measured a million tons. Why were those shipsfavored beyond all others by the merchants who loaded them? Why did merchants of rival nations—why did the British merchants, for instance—charter these "Yankee" ships, if it were not because they were the most efficient in the world?
It is a slander upon the American sailor of the sail to say that he won the long pennant through coddling.
As a system for modern adoption "discrimination" is objectionable for three reasons. One is that it provides at best for keeping our ships in trades between home and foreign ports only; it does not provide for trade between foreign ports. Next it is a system for supporting ships that are confessedly inferior to those already in the trades—it places a premium upon inefficiency. Last of all it is a system that must excite all foreign governments to retaliation; and that those governments will be eager to retaliate, and that they will find ways enough for doing so, is beyond doubt. In connection with this statement it is necessary to keep in mind that we shall soon cease to export wheat in any form, and the growth of population is so great that we shall soon cease to export other, perhaps all other, food products. Before inviting retaliation we must look ahead.
Indirect discrimination has been proposed. Under this the ships of any country were to be permitted to bring in without discrimination goods produced under their flag; but goods brought from any other country were to be subjected to a discriminating tax. Any analysis of our imports, however, shows that if British goods were taxed whenbrought here in any but British ships, all such goods would be forced into British ships at once, to the great advantage of the British shipping. They could not at present, nor for years to come, be forced into American cargo carriers. As the system would in like manner help German shipping, the policy would but make our task the harder.
Before considering the policy of paying direct subsidies a glance at the oft-repeated assertion that our shipping is "our one unprotected industry" seems necessary. What does "protection" provide for any industry, or what does it pretend to provide? Simply the home market—this and nothing more, at best. This is done by laying a tariff upon imports. But the American shipping is now and always has been protected that far—absolutely protected, in fact, by prohibition. The importation of ships has been forbidden, and the use of foreign ships in the "home market" has been reserved to home-built ships for nearly 100 years. If "protection" could enable any industry to expand from the "home market" to the foreign, then the coasting trade industry should have expanded long since over all the world. Unhappily, however, the profit found in well-protected industries does but tend to make the beneficiaries contented, and willing to let well enough alone.
Ever since the Civil War efforts have been made to induce Congress to modify the navigation laws far enough to enable Americans to buy ships in the cheapest market and sail them under the flag. It is said that this would giveour shipyards so much employment in repairing the foreign fleet so to be purchased that our builders would soon learn how to set afloat ships as cheap as any in the world. It is not easy to treat seriously one who supposes that repairing tramps would develop the distinctive type of ship able to produce results in ton-miles, which is imperatively needed; but when it is remembered that free trade in ships quickly drove the British from the sailing ship to the screw steamer, the proposition looks attractive. For free trade—the necessity of swimming unaided in rough water or drowning—might compel the American builder to produce the revolution-making ship for which we are to hope.
We now come to the policy of paying direct bounties as a means of creating a merchant marine; and nowhere are candor and accuracy of statement more important.
Bounties were paid in the colonial days. Virginia gave a subsidy of tobacco to induce her people to build ships, and they built one ship. When the whale fishery was depressed, just after the Revolution, Massachusetts gave a bounty on Massachusetts oil, with the result that the market was flooded, and the fishery was depressed more than ever. In spite of a bounty paid on oil by Rhode Island, her sailors continued to favor the slave-trade. For some reason those who favor subsidies as a means of reviving our shipping never quote these facts.
Of the effect of subsidies upon the Collins Line and of other subsidies, something has already been said. The first grant to the Cunard Company was made for militaryand diplomatic purposes only, but when subsidized American ships appeared, the Cunard grant was increased to maintain the British flag in the trade. That is a fact beyond dispute.
It is manifest that the subsidy was of benefit to the receiver. It helped the company to build improved ships. It gave the builders some experience. It provided schools for the instruction of seamen in the art of handling steamships. The subsidizing of the Royal Mail, and of the lines to other parts of the world, where private enterprise was unequal to the occasion, created an increase of commerce as well as some addition to the shipping of the country.
With equal candor the evils of the system apparent in those days ought to be told. The subsidized Cunarders not only drove off the American subsidized lines but they drove away the unsubsidized Great Western line.They depressed all British shipping that entered the trade to New York and Boston.If they had had a larger subsidy they would have spread to Philadelphia, and thus would have prevented or delayed the establishment of the Inman Line. The British shipping in the trade to the northern ports of America was not increased by the subsidy to the Cunard Company; it was, on the contrary, restricted. Paying a subsidy to establish a line where no steamers had traded before, and none could trade without government aid, was a very different thing from forcing a new line of steamers into trade already supplied with shipping, and even congested. Paying a fair price per pound to a ship for carrying the mailought not to be confused with paying a subsidy. The first Cunard mail pay was not a subsidy; it was a low price for the work done. Senator Rusk declared, in the document already quoted, that the British Post Office Department "derived aclearincome of no less than $5,280,800" from the contract in the first six years it was in force. After Collins began running his ships by aid of a subsidy the British subsidized Cunard to enable him to compete.
When the Collins Line reduced freights from £7 10sto £4,commercewas certainly benefited, but the reduction was ruinous toshipping. It was especially injurious to the American packet lines. The advent of the subsidized Collins Line did more to injure the Americanshippingof its day than any other influence except that of the iron screw steamer.
Then the effect of admiralty supervision upon the subsidized ships was an incubus upon progress. Naval men are usually conservative, and conservatism often means stupidity. Thus, after the BritishDreadnoughthad demonstrated the efficiency of the turbine engine our American naval engineers provided one battleship with turbines and another of the same model with reciprocating engines in order to learn whether the turbine was worth installing in future ships! The Cunard ships were built of wood, long after iron was known to be a better material, because of naval stupidity. Worse yet, when the requirements of the merchant service became imperativethe rules of the admiralty were evaded—ships were reported to be fit for war cruisers when in fact they were useful as transports only.
After the Civil War, Congress provided subsidies by which a line from New York to Rio Janeiro, another from San Francisco to China and Japan, and a third from San Francisco to Hawaii, were established. Under these contracts the policy did not have quite a fair trial. The beneficiaries by activity in politics created so much opposition that the subsidies were withdrawn before the effect was fully apparent.
By the Act of March 3, 1891, a subsidy was again provided under the thin disguise of paying for carrying the mail—a reprehensible plan, because if subsidies are justified, they ought to be paid openly. The fact is that the methods of indirection employed by the advocates of subsidy have done much to discredit their system. Under this act ships of 8000 tons and a speed of 20 knots receive $4 a mile "by the shortest practicable route for each outward voyage." Ships of 5000 tons and a speed of 16 knots receive $2 a mile. Ships of 2500 tons and a speed of 14 knots receive $1 a mile, while those of 1500 tons and a speed of 12 knots receive "two-thirds of a dollar a mile." This act was designed to maintain lines of ships which would be useful as scouts, transports, etc., in time of war.
Before stating the effect of this law upon American shipping, certain facts in connection with the subsidizing of ships by the continental nations of Europe will be useful. Itis a curious fact that while the annual reports of our Commissioner of Navigation have for years given much space to the "progress" of the British, the German, and the Japanese shipping, nothing has been said about the "progress" of the shipping of France, of Italy, or Austria. The progress of the shipping of England, Germany, and Japan is stated because government aid is given to shipping in those countries and shipping makes progress; but in the other countries, where still more liberal aid is given to shipping, no progress worth mention is made. The annual report of the Commissioner of Navigation is made a vehicle for the dissemination of arguments in favor of the subsidy policy.
A candid examination of the policy of Germany shows that some aid has been given to lines of ships in the form of liberal pay for carrying mails. The North German Lloyd receives $1,330,420 per annum for its service to China, Japan, Australia, and the German possessions in the Pacific. The Germans thought it better policy to subsidize a line of merchantmen than to maintain a line of transports to its colonies as the United States has been doing in connection with the Philippines. The payment to the North German Lloyd is properly called a subsidy; to give the name of subsidy to all payments made to German steamers for carrying the mail is to misrepresent the facts in a way that injures the cause of the subsidy advocates materially in the eyes of all who know the facts.
The German railroads, which are owned by the government, not only give low rates on goods intended for export, but extremely low rates are provided for all materials used in building ships. The fact that special rates on railroads are used to promote the German merchant marine is worth serious consideration in the United States, even though such rates are here viewed with suspicion. The national laws governing our railroads, as enforced now (1910), are in some respects an incubus upon legitimate and praiseworthy enterprise. Through ignorance and prejudice the efforts of our transportation lines to increase our export trade have been seriously hampered.
Unquestionably subsidies and special rates were provided to extend German influence by means of shipping. The payment of bounties has been one feature of the expansion of German shipping. To assert that the bounty has been the sole, or even the chief, cause of that expansion, however, is to misstate the facts. The experience of France, for instance, shows conclusively that a subsidy in itself is not enough to create a merchant marine. Although the French subsidy is so liberal that French cargo carriers are able to sail half-way around the world in ballast to get a cargo at rates that would be less than cost of maintenance for any other ship, the French merchant marine grows so slowly as to justify the assertion, made by the late Captain John Codman, that the French mariners are working against a fiat of nature. The tonnage of 1881, 914,000, was but 1,952,000 in 1908.
Further than that the German subsidies have been less than those paid by the British (especially those paid to the Cunard Company), and yet German steamers are steadily encroaching upon those of the British. The reason for the progress of German shipping is readily found in the spirit and habits of the people. Consider the work of the patient, spectacled scientist in his laboratory—his methods and his aims; consider the growth of the factory system; consider the effect of the training which all men receive in the army or navy—how the whole people learn to move as one man, and as comrades, for the attainment of a worthy national object; consider how all the people—the men with the hoe as well as the men behind the guns—are stirred by an attack, or a seeming attack, upon the Fatherland.
The effect of government bounties upon German shipping is like that seen when the spectacled German professor of agriculture applies inorganic fertilizers to crops planted in well-cultivated, humus-filled soils. The effect in France, and other nations not well prepared for expansion, is like that when those fertilizers are applied to arid, acid, uncultivated land. In Germany the soil for the production of shipping was in excellent condition before the fertilizer was applied. What is the condition of that soil in the United States?
The American subsidy law has been in operation since 1891. For the service rendered it provides more liberal compensation than that given to any German ship. The American Line (now operated as a part of the fleet of theInternational Mercantile Marine Company), owns two American ships that were built for the line and two British ships that were placed under the American flag by special act of Congress. The subsidy maintains this line in existence but does not increase it. The Mallory line has been extended somewhat since the subsidy was given to it. Elsewhere ships that were maintained under the subsidy have been driven from their route by foreign competition. The ships run in connection with the Great Northern Railroad, for instance, were unable to compete with the Japanese line between the same ports, partly because the Japanese subsidy was more liberal, and partly because of the greater expense of running American ships. In short, the law of 1891 has failed to provide an American merchant marine.
Further measures for providing subsidies have therefore been proposed. The Merchant Marine Commission, after a lengthened inquiry, offered a bill to Congress which was to provide a line from "a port of the Atlantic coast of the United States to Brazil," with "ships of not less than fourteen knots speed," at a subsidy rate of $150,000 a year, "for a monthly service," or $300,000 for a fortnightly service. A similar line to the River Plate was to receive $187,500 and $350,000 according to the service. The same subsidy was to be paid to a 12-knot line to South Africa. Three lines from Gulf ports to Cuba, Brazil, and Mexico were to be paid sums in proportion to the service rendered, and three lines were to be provided for the Pacific on similar terms.
In addition to providing these lines an attempt was to be made to set afloat cargo carriers by giving an annual bounty of $5 a ton gross measurement to all cargo ships continuously in service. On the whole ten new lines of ships were to be established at an expense of $2,590,000, and it was supposed that $10,000,000 might be the necessary limit of the subsidy for the tramps. In the meantime it was supposed that the existing lines working under the law of 1891 would continue in the service for the compensation provided.
Passing over the claptrap in the bill about the use of these liners as scouts,—fancy a 16-knot merchantman scouting around a squadron of Dreadnoughts!—the bill ought to be considered on its merits because it sets forth the amount of subsidy supposed to be sufficient to create a real revival of our shipping, and thus gives an idea, perhaps, of what sum would be adequate.
Accepting the Commission's statement that the subsidies would prove sufficient to place the more expensive American ships upon an equality with the foreign, and "a little more," as was said, it may be assumed that the new lines would eventually employ sixty or seventy ships. At $5 a ton the $10,000,000 might put afloat from 300 to 400 modern cargo carriers. Thus we should, at best, about double our present registered fleet, which, in 1908, numbered 478 ships. But if we compare that fleet with the German, which now numbers more than 2500 ships, or with the British, which now numbers more than 4000,we shall see that even under the best circumstances we should yet be a far cry from the supremacy of which we made boast in other days. Indeed, the fleet of liners would not number as many ships as the Standard Oil Company now employs to carry abroad its products, while the fleet of cargo carriers could not be compared, with any satisfaction, to the fleet now in use by the allied German companies of which mention has been made.
And the ships thus to be set afloat, as they crossed the seas, would proclaim to the world that they were in the carrying trade, not by right of efficiency, but by grace of a subsidy.
But now we are to consider whether any subsidy heretofore proposed would really be sufficient to sustain either liner or tramp. The effect of such ships upon freight rates, for instance, was stated before the Merchant Marine Commission, by B. N. Baker, formerly president of the Atlantic Transport Company, and an advocate of the subsidy system. He said:—
"If you added any more to the open sea traffic (the foreign traffic) of the United States than 100,000 tons a year you would so demoralize the general carrying business in rates, both as to freight and passengers, it would be so unprofitable that no one could go into it,unless you would double, and triple that compensation."
The effect of that building programme upon the organized mechanics of our shipyards—the strikes for higher wages, and the consequent increase of prices—need only be mentioned.
Then figure up the expense of the war between the lines from New York to South Africa in 1902, wherein ships lost $15,000 in a single voyage. Manifestly the American liners would need all of their subsidy ($15,625, per voyage) to meet the reductions in freight rates which the opposition would make. They would thus be no better off than they would be if they were permitted to enter the trade on even terms with the present lines—without war and without subsidy. The line to Brazil would yet have to face the disadvantages due to the triangular service which British ships maintain, though the decreasing exports of American food products would reduce those disadvantages somewhat.
In short, one may well doubt whether the proposed subsidy would enable our ships to overcome the opposition of the powerful foreign interests that are already in the trade. But if we suppose it to suffice that far, we have yet to inquire what the governments behind those powerful corporations would do. Recall the story of the CunardersMauretaniaandLusitania. The British government gave those two ships to the company outright on the understanding that it should operate and maintain them in a condition fit to cross the Atlantic at a speed of 25 knots an hour. This was done at the time that American capitalists acquired control of a number of British lines, under the name of the International Mercantile Marine Company, and formed a working agreement with the two leading German companies. This combination threatened British supremacy on the North Atlantic, or was believed tothreaten it, and the whole British nation rose up to defend, figuratively speaking. If that were possible under those circumstances, it is certain that the "subventions" now given to the British lines would be increased the moment any American subsidized ships began to cut into the British carrying trade. Increased subsidies would then be needed by the American ships. If the American people were to enter into a subsidy war it is likely that they could endure the strain longer than any other nation; but is such a war worth while to secure a part in a traffic that pays the well-subsidized Cunard line no higher profit than 2.8 per cent a year?
The LusitaniaCunard S. S.LUSITANIABy courtesy of the Cunard Steamship Company
Cunard S. S.LUSITANIA
By courtesy of the Cunard Steamship Company
One more argument in favor of subsidy is yet to be considered. With the Panama Canal and the Monroe Doctrine to defend, it is necessary to provide sufficient transports and colliers for the exigencies of war. The spectacle of our splendid war fleet steaming around the world with its fuel carried in ships under foreign flags, was humiliating to the nation. Congress should build auxiliaries more rapidly by direct appropriation, or it should give ample subsidies, however great the sums needed, to maintain auxiliary ships in the merchant service. Many Americans would gladly pay their share of the tax for the pleasure of seeing the American flag above a ship's taffrail, now and then on salt water, in spite of the humiliation of the fact that it was the tax and not efficiency that kept the flag in place. A merchant fleet so provided would be a kind of insurance against the exigencies of war, and even againstwar itself. With a thousand American merchant ships afloat on deep water there would be less danger of an aggressive nation of Europe invading Rio Grande do Sul or menacing the Panama Canal.
Whether to provide the auxiliaries by direct appropriation or by subsidy is, or should be, a question of relative expense and efficiency. Such a question, one would think, might be solved by the rules of arithmetic; at any rate it is not necessary in the discussion to misrepresent the attitude of senators from Southern States, nor to say that the former American supremacy was due to "protection" instead of the ability of the sailor of the sail.
There are excellent and perhaps imperative diplomatic and military reasons for maintaining at least one line of swift steamers from the Pacific coast to the coast of Asia and the Philippine Islands. The ships of this line, if established, should be fitted, as battleships are, for a cruising speed of say sixteen knots, with a reserve of power for an emergency, when they should be able to develop real scout speed—should be able to run away from the modern twenty-one knot battleships. The value of a fleet of ships of this kind, in a military point of view, and especially upon the Pacific, is obvious. A dozen ships of the kind would not be too many. A fleet of smaller ships, fit for use as naval colliers, might well be maintained to gather and distribute cargo along the Asiatic coast and among the islands. We have undertaken the work of developing civilization in the Far East, and we need to do everythingpossible to prevent an attack upon our position there. After squadrons of war-ships nothing will create a higher respect for our flag among the people of that region than a fleet of superior merchantmenavowedly maintained for diplomatic and military reasons. In fact a fleet so maintained would impress other peoples than those of the Far East.
The same argument may be made for the maintenance of swift lines to both coasts of South America, where we have the Monroe Doctrine and the Panama Canal to defend. If we establish these lines, a war of subsidies is to be expected, and the well-established and powerful companies already in the trades will be wholly unscrupulous in their opposition, not because their present profits are high, but because they are low; a division of the traffic will still further reduce the profits which are already too narrow for comfort. We may be sure, too, that extravagance and inefficiency of the Collins kind will be found in the management of some of our companies; but as a diplomatic and military measure the experiment seems to be worth making. We have a very good precedent in the action of Germany in establishing a line to its Pacific possessions by a subsidy of a million a year, which is given for the precise reasons urged herein. It will cost the United States many times as much as it does Germany, but one who looks at the matter broadly may well suppose that such an increase of expenses, avowedly made as a measure for increased military efficiency, might be worth while, inthe end, as a peace measure. For we shall be obliged in any event, to go on increasing our naval budget to keep even with the growth of European navies, until the war burden becomes intolerable in Europe as well as in the United States; and then we shall have measures for preserving peace more rational than those now in vogue. The sooner the burden is made intolerable the better.
But while we can provide an ample fleet of naval auxiliaries by means of subsidies, if we are willing to pay the price, let no one suppose that such a measure will give the country any share of the world's traffic worth consideration, not to more than mention supremacy upon deep water.
One method by which the Merchant Marine Commission thought to increase American sea power is memorable. A heavy tonnage tax was to be laid upon all ships coming from foreign countries to American ports, and the money so raised was to be paid to American ships in the foreign trade in return for carrying a certain proportion of American citizens enrolled as members of a corps of naval volunteers. The measure looked toward an increase in the number of American seamen, but it did not become a law.
The communities that have supported nautical schools (New York and Boston, for example) have had the end in view for which the measure of the commission was designed. Graduates of these schools are among the best officers in our merchant marine, and this, too, in spite ofthe fact that antiquated ships of the sail formerly served as school rooms, and the boys were taught to handle the obsolete marline-spike instead of the throttle. But, at best, these efforts to turn ambitious young Americans from the opportunities they find on land are inadequate. Congress might have turned the naval academy into a splendid nautical university for the education of all Americans who wish to learn the ways of the sea. We appropriate millions a year for the farmers, not as bounties on their products, but to teach them,through experiment stations, how to do their work. No one seems to have thought it worth while, however, to make a national appropriation for the education of merchant seamen.
To confess the truth we have done nothing adequate to the situation since the Civil War, nor has anything adequate been attempted; but the people who have promoted the work of our nautical schools have seen dimly what the whole story of the American merchant marine proclaims. The pretty pinnaceVirginiathirty feet long, as she crossed and recrossed the Atlantic; theTrialin the Azores and the West Indies; theMount Vernonas she dodged pirates, privateers, and war fleets in her seventeen-day passage from Salem to Gibraltar; theEmpress of Chinain her venture to the Far East; the sealers among the icy rocks of the Antarctic; the whalers beyond Bering's Straits; the packets of the sail as they crossed from New York to Liverpool; and the clippers that flaunted the Stars and Stripes off the weather beam of every ship they met on the SevenSeas,—in short, the whole story of the American merchant marine has been worth consideration here because it sets forth unmistakably that the superior intrinsic efficiency of the American sailor of the sail, during the contest that culminated with the perfection of the ship of the sail, gave supremacy to the American flag. We can buy ships—whole fleets of them—if we are willing to pay the price, and we can maintain them upon the high seas in like manner; but we shall never again see the Stars and Stripes triumphant upon the high seas until the American environment evolves, once more, by natural process, the nautical unit as efficient for the modern day as was our ship of the sail in the days long past.
Footnotes[1]This board was created by an Order in Council dated July 4 (nowhere mentioned as "a beautiful coincidence"), 1660, "to receive, hear, examine and deliberate" upon all matters concerning the colonies, and report the facts and their conclusions to the king.[2]The Story of New England Whalersgives a satisfactory history of the American whale fishery.[3]Many vessels went out without cannon, expecting to capture guns from the enemy.[4]The following is the inventory of the cargo of the sloopCharming Sally, which "cleared out from Dominica to Newfoundland," and was eventually considered as a prize by the Continental Congress: "1300 bushels of salt; 14 hogsheads of molasses; 120 gallons of rum; 65 reams of writing paper; 1 hogshead and 27 demijohns of claret wine; 27 bottles of French cordials; 5 cases of oil of olives and anchovies; 4 ankers of brandy; 150,000 pins; 24 pairs of wool cards; 10 pieces of linen and checks; 500 pounds of shot; 1 cask of powder; 150 pounds of coffee; 4 umbrellas; 100 yards of osnaburghs; 4 beaver hats; 1 Negro man; 1 suit of velvet; 1 suit of black cloth; 1 suit of light-colored cloth; 1 suit of purple cloth; 2½ dozen of shirts; 2 dozen of neck cloths; 3 dozen of handkerchiefs; 4 dozen of silk and thread stockings; 3 dozen of linen waistcoats and breeches; 2 chintz nightgowns; several short coats; great coat and cloak; ½ piece of cambrick; 8 yards of crimson silk; 1 dozen pair of French laced ruffles; bedding; table linen; musket sword; pistols; 2 blunderbusses; quadrant and other instruments; small library of books."[5]The sea letter given to Captain Green read as follows: "Most serene, most puissant, puissant, high illustrious, noble, honorable, venerable, wise and prudent emperors, kings, republics, princes, dukes, earls, barons, lords, burgomasters, councellors, as also judges, officers, justiciaries, and regents of all the good cities and places, whether ecclesiastical or secular, who shall see these patents or hear them read:"We the United States in Congress assembled, make known, that John Green, captain of the ship called the Empress of China, is a citizen of the United States of America, and that the ship which he commands belongs to citizens of the said United States, and as we wish to see the said John Green prosper in his lawful affairs, our prayer to all the before mentioned and to each of them separately, where the said John Green shall arrive with his vessel and cargo, that they may please to receive him with goodness, and treat him in a becoming manner, permitting him upon the usual tolls and expenses in passing and repassing, to pass, navigate and frequent the ports, passes and territories, to the end, to transact his business where and in what manner he shall judge proper, whereof we shall be willingly indebted."This letter was signed by the president and the secretary of Congress.[6]SeeJames Rogers and His Descendants, by James Swift Rogers, Boston, 1902. There is also other evidence that it was Captain Moses Rogers, but the New York papers of the period do not give the first name of the captain in what they say about this first passage. Captain Rogers left theClermonton reaching Albany.[7]To show what the packets carried, here is the invoice of theDreadnought'sfirst cargo: 3827 barrels of flour, 24,150 bushels of wheat, 12,750 bushels of corn, 304 bales of cotton, 198 barrels of potash, 150 boxes of bacon, 5600 staves, 60 tons of ballast, a total dead weight of 1559.65 tons.The ship was 200 feet long on deck, 40.25 feet wide, 26 feet deep. With this cargo on board she drew 21½ feet of water aft and 21 forward. Her main yard was 79 feet long.
Footnotes
[1]This board was created by an Order in Council dated July 4 (nowhere mentioned as "a beautiful coincidence"), 1660, "to receive, hear, examine and deliberate" upon all matters concerning the colonies, and report the facts and their conclusions to the king.
[1]This board was created by an Order in Council dated July 4 (nowhere mentioned as "a beautiful coincidence"), 1660, "to receive, hear, examine and deliberate" upon all matters concerning the colonies, and report the facts and their conclusions to the king.
[2]The Story of New England Whalersgives a satisfactory history of the American whale fishery.
[2]The Story of New England Whalersgives a satisfactory history of the American whale fishery.
[3]Many vessels went out without cannon, expecting to capture guns from the enemy.
[3]Many vessels went out without cannon, expecting to capture guns from the enemy.
[4]The following is the inventory of the cargo of the sloopCharming Sally, which "cleared out from Dominica to Newfoundland," and was eventually considered as a prize by the Continental Congress: "1300 bushels of salt; 14 hogsheads of molasses; 120 gallons of rum; 65 reams of writing paper; 1 hogshead and 27 demijohns of claret wine; 27 bottles of French cordials; 5 cases of oil of olives and anchovies; 4 ankers of brandy; 150,000 pins; 24 pairs of wool cards; 10 pieces of linen and checks; 500 pounds of shot; 1 cask of powder; 150 pounds of coffee; 4 umbrellas; 100 yards of osnaburghs; 4 beaver hats; 1 Negro man; 1 suit of velvet; 1 suit of black cloth; 1 suit of light-colored cloth; 1 suit of purple cloth; 2½ dozen of shirts; 2 dozen of neck cloths; 3 dozen of handkerchiefs; 4 dozen of silk and thread stockings; 3 dozen of linen waistcoats and breeches; 2 chintz nightgowns; several short coats; great coat and cloak; ½ piece of cambrick; 8 yards of crimson silk; 1 dozen pair of French laced ruffles; bedding; table linen; musket sword; pistols; 2 blunderbusses; quadrant and other instruments; small library of books."
[4]The following is the inventory of the cargo of the sloopCharming Sally, which "cleared out from Dominica to Newfoundland," and was eventually considered as a prize by the Continental Congress: "1300 bushels of salt; 14 hogsheads of molasses; 120 gallons of rum; 65 reams of writing paper; 1 hogshead and 27 demijohns of claret wine; 27 bottles of French cordials; 5 cases of oil of olives and anchovies; 4 ankers of brandy; 150,000 pins; 24 pairs of wool cards; 10 pieces of linen and checks; 500 pounds of shot; 1 cask of powder; 150 pounds of coffee; 4 umbrellas; 100 yards of osnaburghs; 4 beaver hats; 1 Negro man; 1 suit of velvet; 1 suit of black cloth; 1 suit of light-colored cloth; 1 suit of purple cloth; 2½ dozen of shirts; 2 dozen of neck cloths; 3 dozen of handkerchiefs; 4 dozen of silk and thread stockings; 3 dozen of linen waistcoats and breeches; 2 chintz nightgowns; several short coats; great coat and cloak; ½ piece of cambrick; 8 yards of crimson silk; 1 dozen pair of French laced ruffles; bedding; table linen; musket sword; pistols; 2 blunderbusses; quadrant and other instruments; small library of books."
[5]The sea letter given to Captain Green read as follows: "Most serene, most puissant, puissant, high illustrious, noble, honorable, venerable, wise and prudent emperors, kings, republics, princes, dukes, earls, barons, lords, burgomasters, councellors, as also judges, officers, justiciaries, and regents of all the good cities and places, whether ecclesiastical or secular, who shall see these patents or hear them read:"We the United States in Congress assembled, make known, that John Green, captain of the ship called the Empress of China, is a citizen of the United States of America, and that the ship which he commands belongs to citizens of the said United States, and as we wish to see the said John Green prosper in his lawful affairs, our prayer to all the before mentioned and to each of them separately, where the said John Green shall arrive with his vessel and cargo, that they may please to receive him with goodness, and treat him in a becoming manner, permitting him upon the usual tolls and expenses in passing and repassing, to pass, navigate and frequent the ports, passes and territories, to the end, to transact his business where and in what manner he shall judge proper, whereof we shall be willingly indebted."This letter was signed by the president and the secretary of Congress.
[5]The sea letter given to Captain Green read as follows: "Most serene, most puissant, puissant, high illustrious, noble, honorable, venerable, wise and prudent emperors, kings, republics, princes, dukes, earls, barons, lords, burgomasters, councellors, as also judges, officers, justiciaries, and regents of all the good cities and places, whether ecclesiastical or secular, who shall see these patents or hear them read:
"We the United States in Congress assembled, make known, that John Green, captain of the ship called the Empress of China, is a citizen of the United States of America, and that the ship which he commands belongs to citizens of the said United States, and as we wish to see the said John Green prosper in his lawful affairs, our prayer to all the before mentioned and to each of them separately, where the said John Green shall arrive with his vessel and cargo, that they may please to receive him with goodness, and treat him in a becoming manner, permitting him upon the usual tolls and expenses in passing and repassing, to pass, navigate and frequent the ports, passes and territories, to the end, to transact his business where and in what manner he shall judge proper, whereof we shall be willingly indebted."
This letter was signed by the president and the secretary of Congress.
[6]SeeJames Rogers and His Descendants, by James Swift Rogers, Boston, 1902. There is also other evidence that it was Captain Moses Rogers, but the New York papers of the period do not give the first name of the captain in what they say about this first passage. Captain Rogers left theClermonton reaching Albany.
[6]SeeJames Rogers and His Descendants, by James Swift Rogers, Boston, 1902. There is also other evidence that it was Captain Moses Rogers, but the New York papers of the period do not give the first name of the captain in what they say about this first passage. Captain Rogers left theClermonton reaching Albany.
[7]To show what the packets carried, here is the invoice of theDreadnought'sfirst cargo: 3827 barrels of flour, 24,150 bushels of wheat, 12,750 bushels of corn, 304 bales of cotton, 198 barrels of potash, 150 boxes of bacon, 5600 staves, 60 tons of ballast, a total dead weight of 1559.65 tons.The ship was 200 feet long on deck, 40.25 feet wide, 26 feet deep. With this cargo on board she drew 21½ feet of water aft and 21 forward. Her main yard was 79 feet long.
[7]To show what the packets carried, here is the invoice of theDreadnought'sfirst cargo: 3827 barrels of flour, 24,150 bushels of wheat, 12,750 bushels of corn, 304 bales of cotton, 198 barrels of potash, 150 boxes of bacon, 5600 staves, 60 tons of ballast, a total dead weight of 1559.65 tons.
The ship was 200 feet long on deck, 40.25 feet wide, 26 feet deep. With this cargo on board she drew 21½ feet of water aft and 21 forward. Her main yard was 79 feet long.