In 1874, two pioneer steamers of an English company attempted to compete with those of the Pacific Steam-ship Company, but the promoters appear to have been unable to obtain sufficient capital to enlarge their service and maintain the opposition, as they consented, after a few months’ trial, to charter their vessels to the American company, which has also added to its fleet now engaged in this trade two new and large vessels, the _City of Pekin_ and the _City of Canton_.[160] As the Central Pacific Railroad was opened soon after the inauguration of the line of steamers to China, passengers as well as a large proportion of the teas and other Chinese produce and merchandise are now transported by it, instead of being conveyed as hitherto from China, by way of the Cape of Good Hope, or across the Pacific Ocean to San Francisco, and thence, viâ Panama, to New York, Boston and other ports on the north-eastern seaboard. [Sidenote: “Law line” of steamers.] That San Francisco was, in the opinion of the Americans, destined to become a great central depôt of commerce, and ought, therefore, to be encouraged by every means in their power, may be inferred from the circumstance that, in 1847, when the Pacific Mail Steam-ship Company commenced operations, another company, known as the “Law Line,” established by Messrs. Law, Roberts, and Company, of New York, received also a subsidy for carrying the United States’ mails between New York, California, and Oregon monthly, although there was not then sufficient trade for even one monthly line of steamers. [Sidenote: South American Steam-ship Company.] Running in connection with the steamers from New York to Aspinwall, the Americans have another line, consisting of twelve very fine steamers ranging from 500 to 2000 tons each, plying between Panama, Valparaiso, and the intermediate ports, rivalling the vessels of the English Pacific Steam Navigation Company, and largely sharing in the commerce between San Francisco and the South American Republic, a trade destined to become one of vast magnitude and of great public importance. Nor do they seem disposed to limit their operations to the shores of the Pacific, for besides the great line now traversing that ocean to China and Japan, they evidently contemplate at no distant date to run lines of their own steamers from San Francisco and Panama to our Australian Colonies. “One of the most pressing needs of the day,” remarks a writer in the leading San Francisco journal of January 1875, “is for the establishment of a permanent steam communication with Australia, and it is a disgrace to the public spirit of our community that it has not been satisfactorily effected.” [Sidenote: Mr. Randall’s projected large American steamer.]