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40 Build Up a Marine (Continued from Page 12) and Europe. Sr. Louis, St. Paut, and New YorkK were practically all we had last year on the North Atlantic.” After the free admission of ships under the Panama canal act of 1912 and the act of August, 1914, and even before the entrance of the United States into the World war there was some increase, namely, from 1912 to 1917. Since that time, of course, statistics have little value by reason of the abnormal conditions under which the American merchant marine increased. According to Lloyd’s Reg- ister for 1905 and 1906, of vessels above 100 tons, engaged in foreign trade, England and her colonies had a tonnage of over 17,000,000; Ger- many, 3,500,000; France, 1,725,000; Italy, 1,190,000; the United States, less than a million. From 1901 down to 1907 it appeared that not a single vessel for the foreign trade was laid down in an American shipyard. The reasons for the decline of American foreign shipping since the departure from the protection policy in 1830— leaving aside the few subsidy meas- ures to be mentioned below—are vari- ously described by different authori- ties, but can probably be brought down to the following grounds: Reasons for Decline 1. The change from wooden to iron and later to steel ships. The advan- tages which the United States had in cheap wood and skillful building was overcome in the late thirties by Eng- land’s advantage with iron. The United States devoted its chief atten- tion to wooden ships as late as 1848, although the iron ship had then estab- lished itself firmly. While the de- mand for wooden ships was stimu- lated by the gold discoveries of 1849 in California, that demand was tem- porary only. By reason of tariff re- strictions the United States was not able, at least until recent times, to overcome Great Britain’s advantage in the building of iron and steel ships. A further reason for the decline of wooden ships was the discrimination of Lloyd’s against wooden vessels. They were put into a less favorable class, making it to the advantage of a shipper not to use the American- built wooden ship. Since 1860 the advantage in cost of ship construction has been with Great Britain, while before this, by reason of the popu- larity of the wooden ship, it lay with the United States. 2. The Civil war and the inroads of the Confederate cruisers brought The mail steamships . MARINE REVIEW about not only a destruction of much American shipping but an inducement to transfer a larger part of it to a foreign, principally the British, flag. Nevertheless, until 1870 American ships were still carrying about one- third of the Nation’s foreign com- merce, the proportion since then hav- ing rapidly declined. 3. Both labor and capital have been attracted to other more lucrative fields of employment. The opening of the West took the interest of the United States away from naviga- tion to the internal development of the country. Railways, manufactur- ing, and industry generally commanded high rates of return without apparent risks, which were considered unavoid- able in shipping. Shipping offered a less attractive investment for capital after 1860 than before that time. ' 4, A most effective cause for the decline was the protective tariff, which by stimulating American manufactures had induced capital to enter that field. The unprotected shipping indus- try naturally suffered for lack of capital. The price of shipbuilding materials was naturally increased by the tariff. Steel plates in 1903 were selling for $41.40 in America, $25.50 in England, and $30.23 in Germany. In 1904 the price in England was $27 and in the United States $35 to $40 per ton. Even the more recent free admission of shipbuilding materials hardly helped American foreign trade, because until August, 1912 when the Panama canal act was. passed, it ‘was a condition of the free admission that the vessels could not be used in the coastwide trade more than two months in any one year, except on payment of the duty. Moreover, that condition made the ship difficult to sell. After 1912 the vessel built of foreign materials could be em- ployed all the year in the coastwise trade, but the effect of the amendment upon shipbuilding has probably not been great. The provision was re- pealed by the tariff act of 1922. The tariff has restricted the num- ber and amount of cargoes that Amer- ican ships could bring from foreign ports. That condition will always be present in the face of a high tariff. The price of labor has also been higher in the United States, but the testimony introduced before various commissions would indicate that the increased cost of manning an American vessel has been greatly exaggerated, amounting to not more than 10 per cent. In- creased costs of labor in shipbuilding, of course, exercise a more material influence on the total cost of con- struction, and that has been a handi- September, 1926 cap to American shipbuilders. There is no evidence of superiority of the American over the British worker in shipbuilding. 5. The American registry law, which until 1912 prohibited free ships, necessarily operated to further the decline of shipping under the Amer- ican flag. The law, of course, was prompted by the apparent necessity and desire to maintain the American coasting trade for American-built ships and to preserve that trade for the shipbuilding industry. The effect of the seamen’s act and prior pro- visions regarding a proportion of American officers and the maintenance of certain food scales has probably been exaggerated. Large Dry Dock Ready (Continued from Page 16) of 12 feet per minute. The large cap- stan at the head of the dock gives a line pull of 65,000 pounds at a speed of 12 feet per minute. Machine shops and modern repair facilities are provided on the prop- erty, as this dock will be the Pacific naval base for the Royal navy. Es- quimalt harbor is land-locked with good deep water, having an area of approximately two square miles, and possesses exceptionally good holding ground. Adjacent to the dry-dock is the ship repair plant of the Yarrows Ltd., equipped to do repairs on any class of vessels. Opposite the new dry-dock is the old dry-dock. This was originally con- structed in 1887 by the joint efforts of great Britain, Canada and_ the Province of British Columbia. This dock is in excellent condition for serv- ing commercial vessels. It is 450 feet long and 65 feet wide and has a depth of 29 feet: of water on the sills at high tide. Powerful Crane Equipment The contract for the electrically-op- erated. traveling, revolving boom hammerhead crane for the new dry dock was awarded to the Colby Crane & Engineering Ltd. of Vancouver, B. C. which is associated with the Colby Steel & Engineering Co. of Seattle. The crane will have a clear height over the coping wall of 50 feet and a reach of hook over the dock of 99 feet 2 inches. This carries the 25-ton hoisting hook 5 feet beyond the center line of the dock. An auxiliary hoist- ing unit is provided on the crane hav- ing 5-ton capacity. The 5-ton auxil- iary hoist will reach 9 feet from the center line of the dry dock. This gives the crane ample power.