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October, 1914 Our Merchant Marine By Judge C. C. Goodwin When our great Civil war came the tonnage of the ships of the United States exceeded that of any other power including Great Britain. Four years later it had been swept away, either through the privateers fitted out in England or by transfers to for- eign flags. In those four years, too, the material for building ships had been changed from wood to steel and the compound marine engine had so reduced the bulk and cost of fuel for ships, that even cheap products were carried in steamships and the wooden sail ship had become almost obsolete. Great Britain took her old place as the commanding power on the otean and has maintained it though in the mean- time Germany had become a_ strong rival. In the meantime, too, the Congress of the United States has refused to take THE MARINE REVIEW the world, it would be giving a million of men fair wages that would at once be going into the active money circula- tion of the country. Neither can our "statesmen" compre- hend that an ample merchant marine would place our people in direct accord with the nations, and all their oppor- tunities would be open to our people. But all that does not count with our statesmen. It is like the merchant that has a big store but refuses to own a delivery wagon lest the grain and hay merchant down the street might get rich selling hay and grain for his horses. Battleship California The navy department furnishes a sketch of the battleship California, con- struction of which was authorized by Congress on June 30th last. The limit of cost, exclusiyely of armor and arma- ment, is to be $7,800,000 and the total cost will be about $14,920,000. The gen- 389 for a big increase in passenger and also freight business. In the passenger business the Japanese lines have prac- tically a free hand, as the C. P. R. service has been completely upset by the charter of the Empresses for govern- ment service on the other side of the Pacific. Much of the trans-Pacific pas- senger travel that was formerly handled by the Nippon Yusen Kaisha and_ the Osaka. Shosen Kaisha. was diverted to C. P. R. channels following the advent of the ewer Empresses. With the larger Empresses temporarily out of commission, it is expected that this busi- ness, both European and Oriental, for a time at any rate, will revert back to the Japanese lines. Germany's Possessions Germany's possessions in China and the Pacific, threatened by the entrance of Japan into the European war, con- UNITED STATES BATTLESHIP CALIFORNIA AND CLASS 9 Sa ae one step toward restoring our ocean prestige, though it has logked on and seen our country pay to foreign ships in fares and freights a steadily increasing sum until it now reaches $300,000,000 per annum. In the past 15 years it has amounted to more than the whole wealth of any one power of Europe with perhaps four exceptions. It would seem as though the present would be an opportune time to begin the rehabilitation of our merchant marine, but we have no hope that any sensible steps to that end will be taken. At least up to date the examples of nations that have grown rich through their ships has counted for naught with our states- men; neither has the. fact that what is paid by our country to fereign ships 1s lost to our country forever, had any effect on our statesmen; neither has the further fact that had we a merchant Marine commensurate with our place in wwatertube type, oil-burning. eral dimensions are as follows: Length on water line, 600 feet; length over all, 624 feet: breadth, molded, 97 feet; draught, about 30 feet; displacement, about 32,000 tons; speed, 21 knots. The battery consists of 12 14-inch guns, four submerged torpedo tubes and 22 5-inch rapid fire guns. The propelling machin- ery will be turbines with boilers of the The com- plement of officers and men. is 1,056. Looking for Harvest All Japanese lines expect to reap a transportation companies whose services have become more or less demoralized since the declaration of war by England against Germany. Now that the ser- vices of other lines on the Pacific have been partially disrupted by the charter of vessels for naval service, representa- tives of the Japanese lines are looking sist of Kiau-Chau, a protectorate im northwestern China on the Yellow Sea;_ and in the Pacific, German New Guinea, composed of Kaiser Wilhelm's Land, the Bismarck Archipelago, the Caroline, Palau, Marianne, Marshall and_ the Samoan Island of Savaii and Upolu. These islnds, apart from the Samoan, have an area of 86,160 square miles and. a population of 357,800, while Kalu-Chaw has an area of 200 square miles and an estimated population of 168,900. The first of these possessions were acquired in 1884 and the last in 1899. The two Samoan islands belonging to Germany have an area of 1,000 square miles. These are the most important of the Kaiser's Pacific possessions, in conse- quence of their strategic position and the fertility of their soil. Apia, the principal port, has regular steam com- munication with New Zealand and Canada. ;