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ro | MARINE REVIEW. MARINE REVIEW. DEVOTED TO THE LAKE MARINE AND KINDRED INTERESTS. a ae a ee PROPRIETORS. Be VE; ; ; HOMER J. CARR, "Associate Editor and Manager Chicago Office, Western Union Building, 110 LaSalle Street. Published every Thursday at No. 516 Perry-Payne Building, Cleveland, O. The books of the United States treasury department contain the names of 3,600 vessels, measuring 1,154,870.38 tons in the lake trade. In classification of this fleet the lakes have more steamboats of 1,000 to 2,500 tons than the combined ownership of this class of vessels in all other sections of the country. 'The number of vessels of 1,000 to 2,500 tons on the lakes ont June 30, 1891, was 310 and their aggregate gross tonnage 512,- 787.58; in all other parts of the country the number of this class of ves- sels was, on the same date, 213 and their gross tonnage 319,750.84. The classification of the entire lake fleet is as follows: Class. Number. Tonnage. - Stearn wvesselGinscces cscs verte oeeoecerscenearuceres 1,592 756,751-53 SailimiouyGSSGls sat. ses etcweons. cevemvecatdeserels 1,243 325,131.06 CartaleDOatsesateteapses tovete' cs actueosecs vem cnules 703 72,515-42 SASS eemacenn ee tsceiie -aemet osecereetementanci tre rene 62 20,472.37 SRO CAL cscstecavatiicspee gine wecausies Sesame 3,600 1,154,870.38 Tonnage built on the lakes during the past five years, according to the reports of the United States commissioner of navigation, is as follows : No. of boats. Net Tonnage, MG emcee sestine sere ea oral access sere: 152 56,488.32 POO Oss ce seer case fens sees ocennirsde isco aeisle sls 222 IOI, 102.87 MOO Ost, scien Retteprctabeee ec ereasectcreteceseechisn + 225 107,080.30 TOM ON eres Meena seor ne rcedcs ee cece cst 218 108,515.00 MSG lit eal eee eaciea ee piaemieneciiceen antec eter 204 111,856.45 ARO LAL SE ces iiintcce ves shueosametecasioes 1,021 / 485,042.94 St. Mary's Falls and Suez canal traffic: Number of boats through St. Mary's Falls canal in 1890, 228 days of navigation, 10,557; tonnage, net registered, 8,454,435. Number of boats through Suez canal during 1890, full year, 3,389; tonnage, net registered, 6,890,014. Number of boats through St. Mary's Falls canal in 1891, 225 days of navigation, 10,191; ton- nage, net registered, 8,400,685. Number of boats through Suez canal dur- ing 1891, full year, 4,207; tonnage, net registered, 8,698,777. Entered at Cleveland Post Office as Second-class Mail Matter. AT A MEETING of the Duluth Chamber of commerce a few days ago, a committee, of which Secretary Thompson is a mem- ber, was appointed to consider the advisability of holding in the near future a convention to take dicisive action on a deep water outlet from the lakes to the seaboard- We earnestly hope that the committee will recommend a postponement of such action on the part Duluth's commercial organization. The time is not ripe for another waterways convention. 'Too many of such con- ventions are not wanted, and Duluth would not be supported by other lake cities in another movement of this kind following | so close after the great gathering in Detroit, which resulted in the adoption of a 20-foot channel for the entire chain of lakes. The northwestern interests in the Detroit convention were there for the furtherance of the proposed great seaboard outlet as well as the 20-foot channel. 'They gained a victory over the railway interests of Buffalo in securing in the memorial adopted by the convention a clause calling for a survey on the seaboard canal project. No appropriation was secured for the survey, and now it is evident that these northwestern interests are grow- ing restless. They will make a mistake, however, if they renew their demands too soon. Another convention without co- operation from lower lake cities would injure rather than help the cause. The endorsement given the seaboard canal project by the Detroit convention should be enough to secure the pass- age in the next congress of the bill for a preliminary survey, if the matter is rightly pushed. In due time the convention which Mr. Thompson and his associates now seem to advocate a little hastily will be held, and a united lake marine (barring the railway interests of Buffalo) will join with the people of the northwest in enforcing consideration of this greatest of all canal projects. SECRETARY FOSTER still allows the case of Col. Ludlow and Commander Heyerman to rest, and the vessel owners of the lakes who have entered unanimous and emphatic protest against the grave injustice done these officers can not quite make out whether or not he has committed himself to one side or the other. The*oly reference to the case in Washington 'recently is the so- called report of Professor 'I. C. Mendenhall, superintendent of the coast and geodetic survey. Professor Mendenhall is one of the civilian members of the board who has lost all sight of the judicial relations of members to the case and has turned his for- tunes with the executive officers. The so-called report to the secretary is nothing more than extracts from a similar document submitted at the meeting of Sept. 5 last by Members Greer, Cof- fin and Mahan, who have all along been acting as prosecutors and judges in the matter. The headlines of this report are, as one who has taken great interest in the case puts it, very fero- cious, but the substance, as the darkeys would say, powerful weak. 'To say the least, Professor Mendenhall shows malice and personal hostility quite unbecoming the conduct of all contro- versy relating to the case. He substitutes assertion for argu- ment and personal vituperation for calm discussion. Now that Secretary Foster has acted in such a strange manner regarding the important questions involved in the removal of these officers from the light-house service, it is not probable that any further action will be taken by the vessel owners for the present. As far as Col. Ludlow is concerned the matter is in very wholesome shape to go to the war department for investigation. NOTWITHSTANDING the active part taken by the Marine REVIEW in opposition to the action of the executive officers of the light-house board in the case of Col. Ludlow and Commander Heyerman, it must be admitted that in all our dealings with the board Commander George W. Coffin, during his term as naval secretary, has been most courteous and obliging,and we wish him ~ more agreeable service and advancement in the navy. The light- house service bears very close relations to the business of lake vessel owners, and it was evident from the beginning of the trouble growing out of the lighting of the St. Mary's river that Commander Coffin was for some unknown reason unfavorably disposed towards lake shipping interests. Then, too, he had tried to do the work of the district officers instead of holding them responsible for how the districts are run, and it is to be hoped that the new naval secretary, Commander Robley D. Evans, will not fall into this error. GENERAL DumMon'r of the steamboat inspection service © recommends a non-partsan personnel for the service below the grade of supervising inspector. The generalis himself a good deal of a political acrobat but at the same time very shrewd in his conduct toward the political powers. We have no hesitancy, however, in accepting this recommendation as intended entirely for the betterment of the service, and feel sure that asa starter it will receive the endorsement of owners of steam vessels on the lakes. If the party about to take control of the government means to deal with the merchant marine of the country along lines suggested by the International Marine Conference, which was brought about under a similar administration, it will remove politics from all departments of the steamboat inspection service. RATHER than pass another season without reciprocity in wrecking on the lakes, vessel owners should urge the present administration to concede to Canada control of wrecking matters in the Welland and other canals of the dominion, which it was thought would be covered by the term "waters contiguous to the United States." United States interests have little or no use for wrecking privileges in the Canadian canals, and the humane feature of this wrecking question, which is most important, does not apply to canals. It is a matter of no credit to the executive officers of either government that the legislators should agree upon a measure for the protection of life and property, and then find its enforcement delayed through a dog-in-the-manger policy that is at the same time extremely trivial.