how Mr. Williams could fail to see its
falsity. The following figures show--what to most persons would be
sufficiently obvious on reflection--that the tonnage of ships launched
at our great yards varies largely from year to year. To pick out the
year 1889, as Mr. Williams does, and declare that since that year there
has been a decline in our sales to foreigners, is as grossly unfair as
it would be, on the other hand, to pick out the year 1885, and say that
since then there had been a fourfold increase.

SHIPS BUILT BY US FOR FOREIGNERS.

Thousands of Tons.

----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----
1881|1882|1883|1884|1885|1886|1887|1888|1889|1890|1891|1892|1893|1894|1895
----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----
108| 116| 124| 91| 36| 39| 70| 91| 183| 161| 139| 109| 89| 95| 128
----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----

WAR-SHIPS FOR FOREIGNERS.

The above figures include war-ships as well as merchant-ships built by
us for foreigners, and, noting this fact, Mr. Williams is distressed to
find what he calls a drop in our output of foreign war-ships. He
writes:--

"Still more remarkable is the drop in our supply of foreign
war-ships from 12,877 tons in 1874 to 2,483 in 1894."

What is even more remarkable still is the fact that Mr. Williams should
have dared to put such a statement before the public, knowing, as he
must have known, how completely it misrepresents the truth. I wonder
what he would have said of me if I had spoken of the remarkable
_growth_ in our output of foreign war-ships as evidenced by an
_increase_ from 14 tons in 1876 to 4,152 tons in 1895! Yet this
statement would have been every bit as justifiable as his own. The whole
truth of the matter of course is, that such an industry as the
construction of foreign war-ships must vary enormously from year to
year, and a comparison between any two single years can prove nothing,
except the folly or the _mala fides_ of the person who makes it. In
order that the reader may see for himself the source from which Mr.
Williams drew his "remarkable" statement, I append all the figures since
1870:--

WAR VESSELS BUILT FOR FOREIGNERS.

------------------+------------------+------------------
Years. Tons. | Years. Tons. | Years. Tons.
------------------+------------------+------------------
1870 970 | 1879 716 | 1