The _Jupiter_ disgorged most of her passengers at Cherbourg and
the descent upon Paris had scarcely begun when the good ship steamed
away for Antwerp, Bremen and Hamburg. She was one of the older
vessels in the vast fleet of ships controlled by the American All-
Seas and All-Ports Company, and she called wherever there was a port
open to trans-Atlantic navigation. She was a single factor in the
great monopoly described as the "Billion Dollar Boast." The United
States had been slow to recognise the profits of seas that were free,
but when she did wake up she proceeded to act as if she owned them
and all that therein lay. Her people spoke of the Gulf Stream as
"ours"; of the Banks of Newfoundland as "ours"--or in some instances
as "ourn"; of Liverpool, Hamburg, London, Bremen and other such
places as "our European terminals"; and of the various oceans, seas
and navigable waters as "a part of the system." Where once the Stars
and Stripes were as rare as hummingbirds in Baffin's Bay, the flags
were now so thick that they resembled Fourth of July decorations on
Fifth avenue, and it was almost impossible to cross the Atlantic
without dodging a hundred vessels on which Dixie was being played,
coming and going.
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