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Marine Review (Cleveland, OH), 28 Jun 1900, p. 15

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1900} MARINE REVIEW. 15 tageous on the forward and after bridges, and on the superstructure deck forward and aft. There will be two submerged torpedo tubes situated forward, and the firing station, well protected from guns up to the 6- pounder, will be directly above the torpedo room. The motive power will be two four-cylinder triple-expansion engines, actuating twin screws, and working in separate water-tight compartments. The cylinders will be: High-pressure, 35 inches; intermediate pressure, 57 inches, and two low-pressure cylinders of 66 inches, with a common stroke of 48 inches. The engines are expected to make 120 turns a min- ute when developing the required 19,000 indicated horse power. Steam at a working pressure of 250 pounds will be supplied by twenty-four straight-tube water-tube boilers, having a heating surface of 56,000 square feet, and a total grate surface of 1290 square feet. There will be six fire-rooms. There will be the usual blowers in each fire-room ar- ranged to provide an ashpit pressure not exceeding 1 inch of water when running under forced draft. The engineer-in-chief has been particularly insistent that the engine-rooms and fire-rooms should be as comfortable as possible, and in the stowage of coal he has seen to it that there are no troublesome pockets. The electrical generating plant will consist of ten units, each unit to be composed of an engine and dynamo mounted on a combination bed- plate. Two units will have a rated output of 1250 amperes at 80 volts, while the eight other units will have a rated output of 625 amperes each at 80 volts; the total weight of the ten units complete not exceeding 166,000 pounds. Besides lighting the ship inside and out, controlling the turrets and raising the amunition, the blowers ventilating the hull and turrets will be run electrically; the air compressor for the torpedo flasks will be under electrical control, as will also the machine shops and the machinery of the laundry. The laundry will be able to handle daily the wash of seventy-five persons. All principal water-tight doors will be fitted with power devices for closing from a central operating station, and there will be the usual indices showing which of these doors are open or closed. The pilot house will be of bronze, with a conning-tower of hardened steel, 9 inches thick, underneath it, and there will be a signal tower 5 inches thick on the superstructure deck just abaft the mainmast. There will be a dense-air plant for refrigerating purposes, having the equivalent of a daily output of three tons of ice. Pipes from this plant will lead to the principal mag- azines, enabling them to be kept at any desired temperature. The mag- azines will also be insulated by some approved non-conducting material. Tanks for fresh water holding quite 10,000 gallons, and an evaporating plant of four units, each equal to a daily output of 4,750 gallons, and a distilling apparatus having a per diem capacity of 10,000 gallons will be provided. The accommodation includes separate cabins for an admiral and a commanding officer, a state-room and private bath for the admiral's chief of staff, and forty-two other state-rooms, most of them without the armor protection, so that they can have the advantage of natural ventila- tion and daylight. The maximum freeboard of 20 feet runs from bow to stern. Thirty-six months is the maximum time allowed for the building of these ships, which will bear the names of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Georgia. INDUSTRIAL ASCENDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES.* The industrial ascendency of the United States is established by a comparison of the magnitude and character of her industries with that of her great rivals, Great Britain and Germany. It is evidenced alike Dy the larger aggregate and per capita value of her industrial products and iby the much greater collective and individual earnings of her peo- ple. It is emphasized 'by a rapidity of growth unparalleled in the world's history. American manufacturers have not only retained their hold on the home market, 'but they have successfully invaded foreign markets and secured a constantly increasing proportion of international trade, as is clearly shown by the remarkable growth of our manufactured exports. It is the character of international trade and not its extent that determines the measure of benefit to a country. Under modern condi- tions manufactures are not only necessary for successful industrial or- ganization, but they also furnish the most satisfactory basis for profitable foreign trade. This latter fact is established 'by the experience of Great Britain for half a century. The remarkably successful efforts of Germany to extend her foreign trade through the protection and consequent pros- perity of- her manufactures furnish another striking illustration of the accuracy of the statement. The foreign trade most desirable for the United States to promote is that which provides for the exchange of her manufactured or partially manufactured products, those requiring the greatest amount of skill and labor in production, for the products of other countries which, from climatic or other 'causes, can not lbe produced here, or which we can not produce with an equal expenditure of labor or skill. Foreign trade of this nature builds up domestic manufactures. It is quite natural that our people, with a productive capacity in excess of their requirements, should seek an outlet for the disposition of their surplus, 'but in our commendable search for new markets for American iproducts we should not forget, however, that it is still neces- sary for the continued prosperity of American manufacturers that they should retain the American markets and that there should be no diminu- tion in the purchasing ability of the American consumers from the pres- ent high level. This retention of domestic markets is rendered all the more imperative from the fact that under existing conditions many of our manufactures are only profitable when conducted on a lange scale. We can not overlook the 'fact that the strenuous contest for markets, enforcing a demand for cheaper methods and greater economies in pro- duction, is bringing about revolutionary changes in manufacture. A margin of profits is secured only iby the savings in cost of administration and distribution, and 'by the use of better methods and stimulated im- provements in machinery, rendered possible throwgh largely increased production. : While the growth of the foreign commerce of the United States is very creditable to her enterprise it does not furnish the best indication of her real position as a commercial nation. There is a class of people in this country who are inclined to follow the theories of British econo- *From an Address by Hon. Nelson W. Aldrich, United States senator from Rhode Island, delivered in Philadelphia recently, under the auspices of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. mists and exaggerate the importance of international trade. These theories had their origin in geographic rather than economic conditions. The comparatively small area of the leading commercial nations of Europe gives a character to their foreign commerce which finds no analogy in a country of continental proportions like the United States. In one case the transportation of 'products a short distance across a river, a mountain ranige, or some less tangible boundary, constitutes foreign commerce, while in our country the exchange of the manufactured products of New England for the fruits of California or the cotton of Texas is classed as domestic trade. The value of the merchandise which crosses the English channel, the North sea, the Adriatic, or the Mediter- ranean, swells the vast sum of European international trade, while the much greater value of American products transported across our great lakes or the gulfs and bays that stud our coast are not taken into con- sideration in estimating the foreign commerce of the United States. A large portion of the internal commerce of the United States is analogous in every respect to the international commerce of Europe, and no com- parison which seeks to determine the relative commercial importance of the nations of the world can be fairly made which does not take this fact into consideration. Mr. Mullhall estimates the value of the internal trade of the United States in 1894 at $14,466,000,000. I believe that this estimate is a very conservative one. He estimates the internal trade of Great Britain for the same year as $5,794,000,000 and that of Germany at $5,500,000,000. If to these respective sums we should add the foreign commerce of each of these countries for the last year for which the statistics are available we should have this result: The total domestic and international trade of the United States would amount to $16,367,000,000, that of Great Britain would amount to $8,900,000,000 and that of Germany to $7,603,- 000,000. It will 'be seen that the total trade of the United States is ap+ proximately equal to that of Great Britain and Germany combined. When we consider that the population of Germany in 1895 was 52,000,000, and that of Great Britain in the same year was 39,000,000, or a total for both countries of 91,000,000, while the population of the United States for the same year was less than 70,000,000, we can better form some idea of the pre-eminence of the United States as a commercial nation. The array of statistics which I have presented disproves the teachings of that class of political economists who confidently assert that there can be no normal igrowth of either domestic production or foreign trade. in a country which has adopted a protective policy. Those who make the assertion are forgetful of facts and do not comprehend the nature of the policy. It is not a policy of exclusion but of discrimination. It does not seek to arrest foreign commerce but to direct its flow into profitable channels. It is not a policy of restriction but of expansion--expansion through a better diversification of national industries and a more thor- ough organization and development of national forces. It should be the primary purpose of our protectionists to aid through intelligent legisla- tion in the great work of American industrial evolution and to encourage such agencies as will contribute to this result. Intelligent advocates of the protective policy have no programme to enforce except such as con-. forms to the demands of our national interests from time to time. The creditable record of the past adds to our sense of responsibility for the future. We shall, however, enter upon the new century better prepared than ever before for industrial conquest, and with many condi-: tions favorable to our continued success. We have reason to believe that recent legislation has settled the policy of the United States in re- gard to its currency and standard of value for the next generation. This will give confidence to enterprise and do much indirectly to aid in in- dustrial development. The tariff policy of the country may also be looked upon as settled 'for many years to come, and this fact should also give a feeling of security alike to employers and employed. I do not mean that 'changed conditions will not necessitate an occasional revision of tariff rates; 'but we may confidently expect that these adjustments will be made with a view to protect and conserve our national interests. To secure any considerable increase in our foreign trade in domestiic products in the face of the fierce competition we are certain to encounter will, however, under any possible circumstances, make serious demands upon the resources of American producers. Every community interested in manufactures must furnish to its people better means for thorough technical education, having special reference to the demands of local in- dustries. Our manufacturers and merchants must study more carefully the requirements of foreign markets. They must profit by the valuable experience of their rivals. They must acquire a better knowledge of the habits, demands, and language of their customers. In styles and in preparation for transportation they must 'be 'governed by the wishes, or prejudices, if you please, of their customers, and not 'by their own pre- conceived notions. Our capitalists and merchants must establish banking and commercial agencies wherever an extension of our trade is possible. Equally exigent demands rest upon the National government in this connection, which can be met, first, by affording our people better facilities for transportation through the encouragement of frequent and direct steam service with the countries that are our natural customers; second, by the adoption of commercial treaties or reciprocity arrange- ments looking to the extension of our trade with our South and Central American neighbors and the countries of the Orient; and, third, by pro- viding a more efficient consular service. : We enter upon the great industrial contests of the future with the prestige of unparalleled achievement. We have unequaled natural re- sources. Our productive forces are fully developed. Our industries are thoroughly organized. We have unrivaled wealth of soil and inex- haustible mineral deposits. Better than all, we have a vast army of intelligent, alert, and self-reliant producers, who are receiving a con- stantly increasing proportion of the benefits derived from our superior industrial organization. With such resources and such a people the in- dustrial ascendency of the United States is secure. Three high-speed triple expansion engines of inverted marine type are offered for sale elsewhere in this issue by the Electric Boat Co., No. 100 Broadway, New York City. One engine is of 8, 12 and 18 inches cylinder diameters and 9 inches stroke; 300 horse power. The other two are each of 600 horse power. Their cylinders are of 10, 16 and 25 inches diameter and 15 inches stroke. This machinery was built to equal United States navy requirements and is in excellent condition.

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