Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 86.djvu/354

350 Having thus outlined present conditions, it may be pertinent to refer very briefly to the causes which have brought them about. In the early days of the nation nearly all of our foreign commerce was done in American vessels—in 1821, for example, 89 per cent. of it. Up to the civil war there was a slow but steady decline, the proportion being 86 per cent. in 1831, 83 per cent. in 1841, 73 per cent. in 1851, and 65 per cent. in 1861 (fractions omitted). Then came a rapid drop—32 per cent. in 1871, 16 per cent. in 1881, 12 per cent. in 1891, and 8 per cent. in 1901. With all the tremendous increase in our foreign trade in the last fifty years, the American tonnage carrying it is now only 40 per cent. of what it was 50 years ago. What is the explanation? The size of vessels had been increased, and iron and steel had taken the place of wood in construction. Instead of being built in a sort of local cooperative way, the construction of vessels had become a specialized form of industry. Construction had been subjected to the inevitable results of our protective tariff policy, and operation had been subjected to both these results and to the effects of our Navigation Laws. We had made ships about 60 per cent. more expensive to build in American than in foreign ship-yards, and from 20 per cent. to 35 per cent. more expensive to operate after they were built. Having thus bound a ligature around each leg of our Merchant Marine, we have watched the legs atrophy, and have for forty years confined ourselves to eloquent regrets that our bound and shackled victim did not run and dance, and to expressions of fervid hope that he soon would. We can grant a monopoly of coastwise commerce. We can give a practical monopoly to a public utility company, or a limited monopoly to a line of land transportation, but, on the broad ocean, which is the highway of all the world, there can be neither monopoly nor preference, by nation, race, or creed. There all comers meet on equal terms, and "the race is to the swift, the battle to the strong." In that unrestricted competition the weak, the overburdened, and the handicapped can not even hope for success. Is it not about time for a people as intelligent as the American people to alter their attitude upon this all-important subject? There are certain economic or industrial changes which could be made to advantage. I believe that the high cost of vessels built in American ship-yards is largely due to the fact that they are finished with an unnecessary degree of elaboration, and that there is an utter lack of standardization. An ocean "tramp" built merely to carry bulk freight does not need to be highly finished. She should be strong and seaworthy, but neither speed nor appearance is material. Many of the modern freighters constructed abroad are mere steel boxes, pointed at the ends, with an engine, a propeller, and a rudder. Our lake-freighters are sometimes described as being "built by the mile and sold by the foot," but their effect upon transportation costs has been little short of