Notwithstanding the failure of the United States law to regulate the carriage of passengers on steamships, steerage conditions on such ships were immeasurably better than on sailing vessels. In the absence of control by the United States, competition and the laws of foreign nations were forces which made for better conditions, but the introduction of steam was the fundamental cause of the passing of the steerage accommodations which, in earlier days, were a disgrace to civilization.

In the report of the Secretary of the Treasury to the Senate, previously quoted, interesting comparisons are made between conditions on sailing vessels and those on steamships, at a time when sailing vessels had almost ceased to be a factor in ocean passenger traffic. The following table compiled from the report referred to shows the relative mortality in the two classes of ships in 1867 and 1872:

TABLE 3.-Passengers carried and relative mortality on sailing vessels and on steamships arriving at the port of New York during the six months ending December 31, 1867, and the six months ending December 31, 1872.

In 1860 Congress amended the act of 1855 with a view to the better protection of female passengers. This amendment provided that any seaman or other person employed on a ship of the United States, guilty of seducing or having illicit connection with any female passenger during a voyage, should be imprisoned for not more than twelve months, or fined not more than $1,000. It was further provided that officers, seamen, or other persons employed on any vessel bringing emigrant passengers to the United States, should be prohibited from visiting parts of the vessel assigned to emigrant passengers, except by the direction or with the permission of the commanding officers. Commanders directing or permitting such officers, seamen, and other persons to visit parts of the ship assigned to emigrants, except in the performance of duty, were to be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and subjected to a fine of $50 for each offense.

a Steerage Passengers on Emigrant Vessels. (Ex. Doc. No. 23, 43d Cong., 1st sess.) Appendix A, p. 395.

TRANSITION FROM SAIL TO STEAM.

The period from 1855 to 1872 was marked by two important changes in the emigrant carrying trade the almost complete substitution of steamships for sailing vessels, and the practical elimination of American ships from the business.

a

Writers on the history of sail and steam navigation agree that steamships played no part prior to 1850 in the transportation of other than cabin passengers. In that year the Inman Line of steamships, only recently established, began to compete with sailing vessels by providing third-class, or steerage, accommodation. The effect of this competition for the next ten years was very slight, clippers and packet ships continuing to carry the bulk of emigrants. In 1853 the Inman Line was advertising accommodations for only a limited number of steerage passengers, while other steamship companies did not offer any until several years later. The HamburgAmerican Line, organized in 1846, traded for nine years with sailing vessels, their first steamers being added to the fleet in 1856. The North German Lloyd was formed by a consolidation of all steamship lines-local and otherwise-in Bremen, and in 1859 began a steam service to New York, which eight years later became weekly. Up to 1862, the Cunard Line, which had been in operation for twenty-two years, did not carry steerage passengers."

Once established in the emigrant carrying trade steamships quickly monopolized the greater part of the business. This fact is illustrated by the following table and chart, which show the number of immigrants landed at Castle Garden, New York, from sailing vessels and steamships in the years 1856 to 1873 inclusive:

TABLE 4.--Passengers landed at Castle Garden, New York, from sailing vessels and steamships, 1856 to 1873 inclusive.

a Our Ocean Railways, A. Fraser Macdonald; The Ocean Carrier, Joseph R. Smith. American Navigation, Henry Hall; History of American Shipping, William Schaw Lindsay.

Passengers landed at Castle Garden, New York, from sailing vessels and steamships, 1856 to 1873 inclusive.

= STEAMSHIPS

= SAILING VESSELS

it was not long until steamships had a complete monopoly of the passengers carried on sailing vessels and steamships after 1873, but No consistent data are available to show the relative number of

business.

Meanwhile the second change referred to was going on rapidly. American vessels had for many years carried more steerage passengers than had those of any other nation. There is reason to believe that there were periods when more were carried to United States ports by American vessels than by those of all other maritime nations combined. From the beginning of January to the end of June, 1847, for example, the amount of tonnage employed in the carriage of emigrants from Europe to the United States was about 421,750, twothirds of which was under the American flag."

With the introduction of steam, England quickly took and held first place in the transportation of the mails, cabin passengers, and the more valuable freight. Her position assumed the character of a monopoly, which was successfully assailed by American enterprise for a brief time only. The competition with sailing vessels for a share of emigrant traffic began in 1850, and it found a clear field for foreign enterprise. During the period of transition from sailing vessels to steamships several unsuccessful attempts were made to establish transatlantic steamship lines under the American flag, but, as is well known, they failed in competition with the lines of other nations. The part played by American steamships in emigrant transportation from 1856 to 1870, inclusive, in comparison with the ships of other nations, is shown by the following table, compiled from annual reports of the commissioners of immigration for the State of New York. This table shows the number of voyages made by steamships sailing under the American and other flags which landed passengers at Castle Garden in the years specified.

TABLE 5.-Number of voyages by United States and other steamships landing passengers at Castle Garden, New York, 1856 to 1870 inclusive.

a Sickness and Mortality on Board Emigrant Ships. (Rep. Com. No. 386, 33d Cong., 1st sess., p. 47.) Includes steamers from Aspinwall, Havana, Rio de Janeiro.

c Including Bremen and Hamburg.

In 1880 the United States had fewer than 15 steamers crossing the Atlantic and Pacific, while foreign nations had 200 in their trade with the United States alone." So, soon after the disappearance of the sailing vessels from emigrant traffic, came the transfer of the vast bulk of ocean trade, including the mails, freight, cabin passengers, and emigrants, to vessels carrying foreign flags.