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M A R I N E R E °V "4 7B oy UPBUILDING THE MERCHANT MARINE. Mr. W. D. Sayle, president of the Cleveland Punch & Shear works, addressed the Merchant Marine Commission during its sessions in Cleveland upon the up-building of the merchant marine. As it is the purpose of the Review to give the addresses in full from time to time Mr. Sayle's address, which was exhaustive and thorough-going, is printed as fol- lows: "I have been requested to place before your honorable commission a few facts pertaining to our merchant marine and the interests which naturally depend upon its growth and maintenance, "It might be proper for me to state to -you that I am neither a builder of ships, nor to any extent a shipper, nor MR. W. D. SAYLE. have I a dollar invested in any of the great steel carrying ships that touch our shores, but I am greatly interested as a citizen, a manufacturer and a banker, and as one who has given some little thought to this subject. "One of the commonest arguments of those who are in- different to the condition of our merchant marine is that it makes no difference in what manner our trade goes abroad so long as we enjoy rates as low as our competitors. "This, to my notion, is only a half view of the subject. If we are to regard the mere crossing of the ocean as all, it really makes no difference, whatever, whether the goods go in American bottoms or in foreign bottoms, provided they go as cheaply; but if we are to consider the multiplication of American houses in foreign ports, the promotion of American trade in foreign countries, the loss of trade to our own steel and machinery manufacturers, the establishment of American banks in all the quarters of the world; if we are to have within ourselves the means of over-sea transportation in times of war, then we must look to it that American ex- ports go abroad in American ships. "We cannot hope to establish American trade through for- ee eign branch houses and branch banks in foreign countries until the avenues of transportation between the parent houses and their offspring are entirely independent, absolutely American, and not subject either to the sanction or the for- bearance of any nation. "This was well expressed by Thomas Jefferson when he said that it is not to be by moderation and justice of others that we are to trust a fair and equal access to market for our product, or for our due share in transportation of them, but to our own means of independence and the firm will to use them. "It were a great pity, indeed, if this question should be made a party one. In its nature it is wholly non-partisan. It is a national question and it affects equally the manufac- turer, the farmer and the banker. "Certainly at the beginning of our life as a nation these points were well understood. Washington three times applied to congress on behalf of shipping and got what he desired-- the advantage of discrimination in tariff rates and tonnage dues to American shipping. "As a branch of industry shipping was declared invaluable, but as resource of defense, imperative. "Under beneficent legislation shipping flourished for over half a century. Then congress began gradually to tear away the bulwark which had been constructed around shipping until now it is left naked to its enemies. "Figures are dry and | shall not quote them except to point the moral. The authenticity of my figures are based on cur- rent issues of the Marine Review, the acknowledged authority on marine statistics. "In 1821, when our foreign carrying trade amounted to $127,000,000, we carried 88 per cent of it; now that it amounts annually to two and one-half billion dollars, we carry only a little more than 8 per cent of it. The carrying charges of this enormous volume of business are estimated at $200,000,000, of which $184,000,000 goes into foreign coffers, and most of it to Great Britain. "T believe no one will deny that the great industries of this country have been built up under the policy of protection. Shipping flourished while it had the benefit of this policy. It will flourish again if it is protected, but it will never flour- ish if it is left unprotected, while at the same time all other industries are protected. "The policy of extending protection to all industries and denying it to one, places the industry so discriminated against under a frightful handicap because it has to overcome not only foreign competition but the protection afforded to other industries as well. "It is well known that the policy of protection has enhanced the plane of living in this country; it is well known that, owing to it, it costs more to build a ship in this country than it does abroad; it is well known that, owing to it, it costs more to operate a ship after it is built in this country than it does abroad. It is also well known' that 'the cost of operating our ships is greatly increased by our own marine laws and licenses, issued by our government to certain crafts pertaining to our merchant marine. "Therefore, when an American ship gets out into the high seas it is subjected to a competition that is absolutely merci- less. "We have a graphic instance of this on the great lakes to- day. The great bulk of traffic on the great lakes, of course, is under the coastwise laws because it is traffic from an American port to an American port. The iron ore deposits, which are the mainstay of lake trade, are all in American territory. Therefore, on account of natural resources and wise coastwise laws, practically 96 per cent of the commerce of the great lakes, as shown by the records at the Soo, is carried in American ships, while less than 8 per cent only the foreign commerce that rightfully belongs=to American ships is carried by them.