more rapidly than that of steam- decline is graphically shown in the ships. There was also a slight in- following table: Total Shipping in the Foreign Trade. crease in the number and tonnage of canal boats. The aggregate ton--The total shipping entered in the nage distributed among the leading customs districts is as follows: foreign trade in the fiscal year 1910 exceeded that of 1909 by 1,177,668 tons, and the total shipping cleared showed an increase of 1,509,377 tons. Its geographical distribution was as follows: Entered. Cleared. Philadelphia. Boston. Baltimore. Buffalo Creek, N. Y Detroit. Bath, Me. 472,799 Atlantic Ports.. Ports.. Gulf Ports. 166,370 191,194 No re Total. 22,188,791 21,109,082 Lake 40,235,806 39,705,858 This was divided among the leading ports as follows: Port. Northern Ports.. Undocumented Craft.-A considerable portion of the American merchant marine consists of undocumented vessels not included in the New York. above statistical returns. liable returns of these vessels has been made since 1906, at which time the United States Census Office reported a total of 19,497 vessels with a gross tonnage of 6,579,402 tons. A more detailed statement was made in the YEAR BOOK of 1910. Relative Decline of American Deep-Sea Shipping.-For the fiscal year 1910, the proportion of the foreign trade of the United States carried in American vessels declined to 8.7 per cent., as compared with 9.5 per cent. in the preceding year. and from 66.5 per cent. to 92.5 per cent. prior to the Civil War. The Boston.. Puget Sound. San Francisco. Norfolk and Ports Vessel Accidents and Tonnage De- rapid than in the United Kingdom. stroyed. Each year the merchant It is now anticipated that during marine suffers through an appalling 1911 fully 400,000 tons will be connumber of accidents. In 1910, the structed. This would still be far American merchant fleet recorded below the construction of the year 1,443 wrecks as compared with 1,341 1908, when 614,216 tons were built in 1909. Of these, 564 occurred on and documented, but would approxithe Atlantic and Gulf coasts, 415 on mate the average of the previous the Great Lakes, 198 on the inland period from 1900 to 1907. It is exrivers, 143 on the Pacific coast, and pected that the construction on the 123 at sea and in foreign waters. Great Lakes will be but moderate The following table shows also the because of "the large output of renumber of vessels and tonnage to- cent years and the higher efficiency tally lost, the tonnage damaged, the of the carriers built in that reknown loss to vessels and cargoes gion."* and the loss of life: 1909. 127,684 Steamers, Size and Speed.—The two largest ocean steamers built in the United States in 1910 were the Wilhelmina and Kentuckian, with gross tonnages of 6,974 and 6,606 1,341 tons respectively. As in the pre344 ceding year, therefore, the largest 1,584,206 American registered steam vessel is $9,555,825 still the Minnesota, with a gross ton$2,152,155 374 nage of 20,718. The registered merchant fleet now contains but nine vessels with a tonnage in excess of 10,000 gross tons; seven in excess of 8,000; and nineteen in excess of 5,000. The maximum size of American vessels compares unfavorably with the 32,500 gross tons of the Tonnage Built.-During the fiscal year 1910, 1,361 documented vessels of 342,068 gross tons were constructed in American shipyards as follows: Of this aggregate, which exceeds the tonnage constructed in the previous year by 103,978 gross tons, 53 vessels had a gross tonnage of 1,000 tons each, and a total of 234,706 tons or 70 per cent. of the aggregate. The steel tonnage of the year comprised 250,624, as compared with 136,923 in 1909. Of the total documented tonnage built in 1910, moreover, 257,993 tons were steam vessels, 58,997 barges, 5,720 canal boats, and 19,358 sailing vessels. The recovery over the preceding year was even greater than was anticipated, and was on the whole more 1.247 238,090 1,361 342,068 Mauretania and Lusitania of the Cunard Steamship Company; and the 45,000 gross tons of the Olympic and Titanic (the latter now under construction) of the White Star Line. There has been no change in the size of steamers engaged in the coastwise and Great Lakes trade, and reference is therefore made to the YEAR BOOK for 1910 (page 525). There has likewise been no material changes in the speed of American vessels. * Annual Report of U. S. Commissioner of Navigation, 1910, p. 14. Ship Subsidies and Mail Payments. -The total amount paid by the United States Government for the transportation of the foreign mails in the fiscal year 1910 was $3,204,129, as compared with $2,943,849 in 1909. The mail subsidies paid under the contract act of March 3, 1891, amounted to $1,114,603 in 1910, as compared with $1,189,204 in 1909. There were no changes in the rates of pay over the seven routes on which the mails are carried under contract, and the terms of the contracts will therefore not be repeated. Several changes were made in the various additional ways in which the United States Government aids the merchant marine: (1) The tariff act of Aug. 5, 1909, reduced tonnage taxes from 3 to 2 cents per ton imposed at five entries during any one year on vessels coming from nearby foreign ports; and it repealed the reciprocal exemption law of 1884 and 1886. The act of March 8, 1910, exempts from tonnage taxes all vessels entering otherwise than by sea from foreign ports at which no tonnage or other equivalent taxes are imposed on American vessels. (2) An act of Aug. 5, 1909, changes the law permitting the free importation of shipbuilding material so that it now applies to vessels which do not enter the coastwise trade for more than six months annually. The previous act specified two months of coastwise trade. Renewed effort was made in Congress to enact a ship subsidy law. In contrast with the far-reaching provisions of the subsidy bills which appeared in Congress but a few years ago, the recent bills have been narrowed in scope. The bill which passed the Senate in the regular session of the last Congress provided for increased mail pay to lines on routes to South America, Panama, the Philippines, Japan, China, and Australia, under the contract act of 1891. In effect, it provided that American ocean mail steamships of 16 knots or upward and of 5,000 gross tons or over, if they carry mail to these destinations, shall be paid $4.00 a mile on the outward voyage, instead of $2.00 permitted under the law as it now stands. Even should this bill become a law, the total sum paid would be small beside the large subsidies paid by foreign countries. At present Great Britain, France, Japan, Italy, Spain, Austria-Hungary, Germany and Russia each pay more in subsidies than the United States. All foreign nations in the aggregate pay approximately $46,707,000 annually, in addition to the various other methods of aiding their shipping. Since there were no material changes in the subsidy laws of these foreign nations during the current year, the detailed summary of the sums paid will not be repeated. (See AMERICAN YEAR BOOK, 1910, pp. 525-26.) 40.98 per cent. in 1909. Their total value was $909,962,664. As to the remainder, 35.33 per cent. of the total consisted of crude materials for use in manufacturing; 13.97 per cent. of foodstuffs, partly or wholly manufactures; 5.13 per cent. foodstuffs in crude condition and food animals; and 0.38 per cent. miscellaneous mer The export trade of 1911 was the greatest in the history of the foreign trade, and exceeded that of the previous year by $304,336,479. This increase was very general throughout the commercial world. The only markets of considerable importance in which there were slight declines were Denmark and Portugal; in the latter the decline was due to in-chandise. ternal political troubles, and in the The largest individual items were: former it was a continuation of the cotton, $585,318,869; iron and steel, decline which was more serious in not including ore, $230,725,351; 1910. There was an increase even meat and dairy products, $149,389,in China and Japan where the ex- 737; breadstuffs, $124,913,537; copport trade of the United States had per, not including ore, $103,813,110; been lagging since 1905. The ex- mineral oil, $98,115,516; lumber and port trade with the former increased wood manufactures, $92,255,951; from $16,320,612 in 1910 to $19,- leather manufactures, $53,673,057; 287,836 in 1911, and that with the tobacco and tobacco manufactures, latter from $21,959,310 to $36,- $43,638,904; cotton manufactures, 721,409. The exports to the United $40,851,918; and agricultural imKingdom, which declined during plements, $35,973,398. It is notable 1910, also showed a recovery of from that there was a further decline in $505,552,871 to $576,613,974. the exports of breadstuffs. Ports of Export.-The leading individual ports of export in 1910 and 1911 were: New York... The relative proportions to each of the continental divisions in 1911 were: Europe, 63.84 per cent.; North America, 22.30 per cent.; South America, 5.32 per cent.; Asia, 4.17 per cent.; Oceania, 3.22 per cent., and Africa, 1.15 per cent. The export trade with Europe in 1910 com- Galveston. prised 65.1 per cent. of the total export trade, so that in spite of the heavy increase of the European trade in 1911 the increase was relatively less rapid than in the non-European markets. The exports to the leading individual markets are shown in the following table: New Orleans. Ports. Buffalo Creek, N. Y. Detroit. Puget Sound. Boston.. San Francisco. In 1911, 45.19 per cent. of the do- In addition to the exports of mermestic commodities exported, not in-chandise, gold valued at $22,509,653, cluding prepared foodstuffs, con- and silver valued at $64,749,958 were sisted of manufactures, as compared exported to foreign countries with 44.85 per cent. in 1910, and 1911. in Imports from Foreign Countries.In contrast with the increased export trade, imports in 1911 decreased by $29,721,325, as compared with the preceding year. With the exception of 1910, however, they were greater than in any previous year. The following table shows that the decline in imports lies in the trade with Europe, North America, South America and Oceania. The imports from Asia and Africa increased rapidly. The relative proportions imported from each continental division in 1911 were: from Europe, 50.30 per cent.; North America, 20 per cent.; South America, 11.96 per cent.; Asia, 13.98 per cent.; Oceania, 1.98 per cent., and Africa, 1.78 per cent. |