hich is not the case with
steamers.

Thus, it frequently takes a week for a sailing vessel to do the work
that a steamer will readily do in twenty-four to thirty-six hours. Say
that it takes the sail four times as long as the steamer to accomplish
a given voyage. To do as much business as the steamer would do in the
same time, would require four sailing vessels; four times as many men
as one sail requires, or probably twice as many hands in the aggregate
as the steamer would have; and would incur at least twice the expense
of the steamer in feeding them. Now, there is also a much larger
aggregate sum invested in these four sail, and the owners pay a much
larger sum of interest on their prime investment. Or, in other words,
the steamer with but a few more men, but little greater expense in
living, a small coal-bill, an engineer and firemen, and a prime outlay
of not more than double the capital, will carry four times the freight
and passengers, without incurring probably so much as three times the
expense of one of the sail. After the prime cost the most important
item of expenditure in one of these small steamers is the coal; but
the distance run being so short, and getting into and out of the
harbor and docks being so easy, the vessel does large execution at
little expense. The two most essential benefits, however, of her short
voyage are, that she is not compelled to carry much fuel, and
consequently occupies nearly all of her space with freight; and that
the prices of freight on these short voyages are much larger in
proportion than they are on long voyages. Sailing vessels charge very
little more for a thousand miles than they do for five hundred; but a
steamer may have to charge nearly three times as much; especially if
she run fast, consume much fuel, and occupy her cargo-room with coal.
There are distances at which steamers, however large, can not carry a
pound of freight; but occupy all their available space with the power
that drives them. In these long voyages sail becomes much cheaper.

It is by no means essential that these small coasting vessels shall be
propellers; for to acquire the same speed they expend the same power
and have the disadvantage of being deeper in the water, and not being
able to go into all harbors with much freight. They have also the
advantage of carrying more sail, and being generally better able to
stand coast storms than a side-wheel of light draught of water. They
are not quite s