Del.. iron sailing vessels can be built here at a cost not exceeding 8 per cent.. such firstclass passenger steamers as cross the Atlantic at a cost not exceeding 12 to 15 per cent.. and steamers intended more for freight than for passengers at a cost not exceeding 20 per cent. of that for similar vessels on the Clyde. Shipbuilders express entire confidence that if any means can be devised to create a demand for American vessels by making it profitable to sail them. within ten. if not within five. years they can build iron and steel steamers as low as they can be built in England. provided they are not broken down in the start by the free introduction of foreignbuilt vessels. They point to the fact that notwithstanding our labor costs more than that of Europe. yet American genius can and does largely overcome this by laborsaving inventions. and by the tendency of even immigrant workmen to accomplish more under the stimulus of our climate. of our more generous living. and of the ambitions aroused by our free institutions. The first and most obvious duty of Congress is to devise measures that will tend to make it as profitable to sail an American vessel under American laws and conditions as to sail a British ship under British laws and conditions. on the assumption that the first cost is the same. This problem successfully solved. and the problem of the construction of vessels will be easily mastered.
Identified stereotypes
Immigrant workmen accomplish more under the stimulus of our climate.