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Page 4 J.E. UPSON was operated by Republic Steel Corporation. light. J. W. Walton acted as toastmaster and acquitted himself well. Naturally his opening remarks were a tribute to his partner whom he had known since boyhood and had never known him to betray a trust. He felt that he might be more free to speak were Mr. Upson absent and he could not propose any better toast to the ship than that she might steer as straight a course as her namesake. Mr. Upson, in responding, said that the Wilson Transit line had been organized as a corporation since 1890. Capt. Thomas Wilson was its guiding spirit until his death in the Holy Land in 1900. The conservative policy of Capt. Wilson has never been departed from by the company, it being practically alone among the steamship companies on the lakes in that it issues no bonds upon its new vessels but provides the total sum in cash for their construction. The company, while it has never tried to make a record in speed, carrying capacity, etc., does not fail to quiet its stockholders by an occasional dividend. Regarding the steamer J. E. Upson, however, with Capt. Joseph Wood in command, Fred Harmon in the engine room and Capt. Morton in the office, an exception might be noted, and that it is expected that the J. E. Upson will not be found at the tail end of any procession. He added that while the Wilson Transit Co. had lost ships it had never lost a crew. He proposed a toast to the success of the new steamer and hoped that she would get 60 cents on coal to Milwaukee, 3 cents on com from Chicago and $ 1 on ore from Lake Superior in 1908. Capt. Wood and Chief Engineer Harmon responded briefly to toasts and then Russel C. Wetmore, vice president of the American Ship Building Co., spoke. Mr. Wetmore stated that the launching marked the conclusion of nine years of existence of the American Ship Building Co. as an incorporated body. During the nine years ended Feb. 29, 1908, they had launched 271 vessels, an average of 30 a year. He could do no better than to wish that the one which they had just seen launched would be the most successful of them all. He proposed a toast to the sponsor, who responded quite wittily by saying that she thought she had already made at the launching the only speech that she was required to make. Rev. Dr. J. D. Williamson paid a very feeling tribute to the late Capt. Thomas Wilson. In fact the spirit of Capt. Thomas Wilson may be said to have animated the occasion as the references to him throughout the entire dinner, which were many, were