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Ocean Steam Navigation and the Ocean Post By: Thomas Rainey |
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AND THE OCEAN POST. BY THOMAS RAINEY.
NEW YORK:
D. APPLETON & CO., 346 & 348 BROADWAY.
TRÜBNER & CO.,
PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. 1858.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by
JOHN GLENN RAINEY,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for
the Southern District of New York.
DEDICATED, IN TOKEN OF RESPECT AND ESTEEM, TO THE HON. AARON VENABLE BROWN POST MASTER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES.
Reprinted 1977
by Eastern Press, Inc.
New Haven, Conn. Published by
Edward N. Lipson Distributed by
a Gatherin'
Post Office Box 175
Wynantskill, N.Y. 12198
PREFACE.
In offering to the Government and the public this little volume on
Ocean Steam Navigation and the Ocean Post, I am conscious of my
inability to present any new views on a subject that has engaged the
attention of many of the most gifted statesmen and economists of this
country and Europe. There is, however, no work, so far as I am
informed, in any country, which treats of Marine Steam Navigation in
its commercial, political, economic, social, and diplomatic bearings,
or discusses so far the theory and practice of navigation as to
develop the cost and difficulties attending high speed on the ocean,
or the large expense incurred in a rapid, regular, and reliable
transport of the foreign mails. It has been repeatedly suggested to the undersigned by members of
Congress, and particularly by some of the members of the committees on
the Post Office and Post Roads in the Senate and House of
Representatives, that there was no reliable statement, such as that
which I have endeavored to furnish, on the general topics connected
with trans marine steam navigation, to which those not specially
informed on the subject, could refer for the settlement of the many
disputed points brought before Congress and the Departments. It is
represented that there are many conflicting statements regarding the
capabilities of ocean steam; the cost of running vessels; the
consumption of fuel; the extent and costliness of repairs; the
depreciation of vessels; the cost of navigating them; the attendant
incidental expenses; the influence of ocean mails in promoting trade;
the wants of commercial communities; the adaptation of the mail
vessels to the war service; the rights of private enterprise; and the
ability of ocean steamers generally to support themselves on their own
receipts. While this is true, there is no work on this general subject to which
persons can refer for the authoritative settlement of any of these
points, either absolutely or proximately; and while a simple statement
of facts, acknowledged by all steamship men, may tend to dispel much
misapprehension on this interesting subject, it will also be not
unprofitable, I trust, to review some of the prominent arguments on
which the mail steamship system is based. That system should stand or
fall on its own merits or demerits alone; and to be permanent, it must
be based on the necessities of the community, and find its support in
the common confidence of all classes. I have long considered a wise,
liberal, and extended steam mail system vitally essential to the
commerce of the country, and to the continued prosperity and power of
the American Union. Yet, I am thoroughly satisfied that this very
desirable object can never be attained by private enterprise, or
otherwise than through the direct pecuniary agency and support of the
General Government. The abandonment of our ocean steam mail system is
impossible so long as we are an active, enterprising, and commercial
people. And so far from the service becoming self supporting, it is
probable that it will never be materially less expensive than at the
present time. It has been my constant endeavor to give the best class of authorities
on all the points of engineering which I have introduced, as that
regarding the cost of steam and high mail speed; and to this end I
have recently visited England and France, and endeavored to ascertain
the practice in those countries, especially in Great Britain... Continue reading book >>
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