Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/795

UNITED STATES.  tons of foreign shipping in which American capital has held large interests. An American corporation has been established, which is the largest and most completely equipped steamship company, but only sixteen of its 136 steamers are entitled to the American flag. In the formation of this company—the International Mercantile Marine Company—the following companies were purchased:

. Since 1789 the American navigation laws have practically, and since 1817 absolutely, prohibited any but American vessels from participating in the coasting trade of the United States. Therefore the enormous domestic trade of the United States—the seacoast, lake, and river trade—has always been monopolized by American ship-owners and seamen. The facilities offered by the waterways of the United States greatly favor a large domestic shipping trade. There are 5200 miles of the United States frontier bordering on the oceans and the Gulf of Mexico, and an additional 2100 miles on lake and river. Furthermore, there is no other country in which rivers afford so great access to the interior as the United States. It is estimated that the United States has 18,000 miles of navigable riverway. On the Atlantic coast there are a large number of rivers, from the Saint Croix in Maine to the Saint John's in Florida, that are navigable from 50 to 200 miles inland; and there is no very considerable stretch of the coast that is not able to participate in the coastwise trade. The Gulf coast region is similarly favored with navigable rivers and with ports. The Mississippi River system gives water communication with the vast portion of the interior of the country. The Pacific coast is less favored with navigable rivers or with port sites, but the inlets at San Francisco, Portland, and Puget Sound have tributary navigable rivers, and are superior ports.

(For river and harbor improvements, see .) No other nation has a domestic seaboard or lake trade comparable with the American, or a river trade that equals that of the United States. In 1898 the United States had 3,959,702 tons engaged in domestic seaboard trade; while the United Kingdom owned only 846,008 tons that were engaged in its own coastwise trade. In the accompanying table it will be seen that the development of the coasting trade has made good the loss sustained in the tonnage engaged in the foreign trade and in fisheries.

In 1902, 2,347,977 tons of the sail vessels (including canal boats and barges) were of wood, and 273,051 tons of iron and steel. The steam vessels comprised 1,270,046 tons constructed of wood and 1,906,824 of iron and steel. The distribution of the shipping tonnage in 1901 is shown in the following table:

There are no statistics showing the amount of cargo carried in the coastwise trade, as there are in the foreign trade, and its magnitude is not known. The most extensive coast trade centres in New York, largely with Boston on the one side, and Philadelphia on the other. San Francisco is the largest centre of the coastwise trade on the Pacific coast, but Seattle plays an important part in the coasting trade with Alaska. In 1900 products to the value of $5,052,051 were shipped from New York to San Francisco via the Isthmus of Panama, and products to the value of $1,765,729 were shipped from San Francisco to New York by the same route. The shipping facilities afforded by the Great Lakes are of inestimable value. See.

. Prior to the Civil War the Mississippi River system played a much more important part in the development of the interior of the country than did the Great Lakes. While the freight tonnage carried upon it is greater than ever before, the nature of the traffic has greatly changed, and the competition of the railroads has affected the river shipping much more than it has that of the lakes. The river was but little navigated for purposes of commerce prior to 1778. For many years the river was of importance to its tributary region chiefly as a means of marketing the surplus products of the newly settled region, 