“In fact, it was this craze for the walking-beam engine and side-wheels in New York which ruined us as a steamship building country, and was one of the many causes for the supremacy in ocean commerce that Great Britain ultimately attained. “After the government had stopped the subsidy, the Collins Line, which was run at an enormous expense, was withdrawn. We were completely out of the business. The influence of Philadelphia, as we had no large ships or large steamship companies, was not listened to. “Rather than adopt the propeller and go to Philadelphia to have the engines built, steamship owners in New York permitted the whole steamship business, together with all the foreign trade, to go to foreign countries. The British began early to establish large machine shops and to perfect the propeller engine. Though slow, they were sure. “There was not a time in the history of steam navigation that we did not feel that we could equal or even excel the English builders of propeller steamships that were coming to this country. But, as I said before, we could not induce the New York merchants to embark in the enterprise. “I am sure that if we had abandoned the side-wheel and commenced with the propeller at the time the British did and continued with steadfastness, we never would have lost it. “The ships of this country were right, of the best form and model, and they were in advance of anything in Great Britain, as far as hull construction and design were concerned; but, while the ship-builders in New York were among the greatest in the world, the builders of marine engines there were the poorest in the world. “When it was discovered that the propeller steamship was in every respect the best and had come to stay, it was too late to try to recover our trade. “The construction of monitors and machinery during the latter end of the war was very demoralizing, and had its effect upon naval constructions long after the war was over. “The Construction Department, which had not shown much enterprise during the war, had become very much deteriorated, and the system was inaugurated, principally by Mr. Isherwood, which exists at the present day, of dividing the executive department into many bureaus; and, to strengthen their heads and give them power, it was also provided that the appointment of these heads of bureaus should be made by the President and confirmed by the Senate, thus making the Senate a coördinate factor in their existence, and the heads of bureaus independent of the Secretary of the Navy.