CHAPTER XX
THE GREATNESS AND THE DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE
THE year 1851 is memorable in our maritime annals, because at that time the United States was at the zenith of her power upon the ocean, and had completely outstripped her rival Great Britain in the efficiency and extent of her oversea carrying trade. It is true that the total tonnage of merchant shipping owned in the United States in this year, including steam, was only 3,718,640 tons, against 4,332,085 owned by the British Empire with all its dependencies; but these figures, like many statistics of this nature, are somewhat misleading. The primary reason for the existence of a merchant ship is, of course, her ability to pay her way and earn money for her owners. When a ship ceases to be able to do this, the sooner she is converted into a hulk or broken up, the better. So the true measure of a nation's merchant marine is its earning capacity, not merely the number or tonnage of its ships; and judged by this standard, the merchant marine of the United States was at this time far in advance of the merchant shipping of the whole British Empire.
In the first place, the merchant ships of the Brit-
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