The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

10 MARINE REVIEW. MARINE REVIEW. DEVOTED TO THE LAKE MARINE AND KINDRED INTERESTS. Published every Thursday at No. 516 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland, O. Chicago office, (branch), No. 726 Phoenix building. SUBSCRIPTION--$2.00 per year in advance. Single copies 1ocents each. Convenient binders sent, post paid, 75 cents. Advertising rates on appli- cation. The books of the United States treasury department contain the names of 3,761 vessels, of 1,261,067.22 gross tons register in the lake trade. The lakes have more steam vessels of 1,000 to 2,500 tons than the com- bined ownership of this class of vessels in all other sections of the country. The number of steam vessels of 1,000 to 2,500 tous on the lakes on June 30, 1893, was 318 and their aggregate gross tonnage 525,778.57; in all other parts of the country the number of this class of vessels was,on the same date, 211 and their gross tonnage 314,016.65. The classification of the entire lake fleet on June 30, 1893, was as follows: Gross. Class. Number. Tonnage. bE DLCAID VESSELS Ht csini cst cesestsecsencotstaeneccee 1,731 828,702.29 VWAitie VESSCIS i secesse estrone ss upesessasnneseendes 1,205 317,789.37 Casraleboats. ss ccsessssess eaerpmeessWae esis sasisnse 743 76,843.57 BOGS Ce enrages ea rts t sens sosrcecddeet ceo se ted 82 37;731-99 OPA Enters car tiiescersacceteesseeerten res 3,761 1,261,067.22 The gross registered tonnage of vessels built on the lakes during the past five years, according to the reports of the United States com- missioner of navigation, is as follows: Number. Net Tonnage. MOO wrt ceo sna cadeaseac iaccscatee tose vas asmecs 225 107,080.30 WOOO ieee doce cccisnesecsecutes sine veeeevesssees 218 108,515.00 TSOU sss cnoscenacess Recsesvewseetinnceavaestertee 204 I11,856.45 TSO QE ethcashibereseees eae liseeawe vee ves 169 45,168.98 OMB tener sou occas Mica esnecivetissataneecs cece 175 99,271.24 Pe Obaliscsvsnaetees (Ross snaveareseeees toes OOK 471,891.97 ST. MARY'S FALLS AND SUEZ CANAL, TRAFFIC. St. Mary's Falls Canal. Suez Canal. 1892. | 1891. | 1890. 1892. | 1891. | 1890. No. vessel passages 12,580] 10,191} 10,557 3,559 4,207 3,389 _ Ton'ge, net regist'd)10,647,203/8,400,685|8,454,435||7,712,028|8,698,777|6,890,014 Days of navigation.. 223 225 228 365 365 365 Eintered at Cleveland Post Office as Second-class Mail Matter. It 1s plain to everybody concerned that extreme measures must be resorted to in order to reduce the exorbitant charges that are made to vessels at Buffalo and other Lake Erie ports for shoveling grain. Man- agers of the affairs of the elevator pool undoubtedly encouraged the scoop- ers' union in its refusal to reduce shoveling charges, as the elevator man- agers claimed that they could not reduce the price charged for steam shovels unless the scoopers also made a reduction. As amatter of fact the elevator managers control the situation with their steam shovels, and have not at any time been disposed to make a reduction. A greater num- ber of men than is required in the hold of a vessel while the grain is being taken out is employed in the different gangs, and the boss scoopers in this way increase the revenues of their boarding houses, while the men are 'not overpaid. Itisin the steam shovel arrangement, however, that the vessels are "skinned." Under the pretense made by the elevator managers, that the steam shovels are rented to the boss scoopers at $1.75 per thousand bushels for steam vessels and $1.50 per thousand for sail vessels, the ves- sel owners ate forced to contribute $1,750 in a single day to an elevator that will readily unload 100,000 bushels from steam vessels. As the first cost of a steam shovel is but about $3,000, it will be seen that even under most liberal allowance for wear and tear, this kind of machinery is a great source of profit to the elevators. The vessel owners can break up this steam shovel arrnagement, arid the present is a most opportune time to do so. IN AN editorial dealing with the practicability of transporting un- broken trains of cars from Great Britain to the Continent by means of car ferries running between London and Paris, the New York Mail and Ex- press compliments the ship builders of the lakes upon the success of the car ferries of ake Michigan and the Straits of Mackinac, and suggests that with the experience to be had from the lakes the French and English railways that would profit by such a system of ferries could perfect the necessary arrangements in a very short period, The distance from Paris to London is but about one-third of the run made by the Toledo, Ann Ar- bor & Northern Michigan car ferries across Lake Michigan between Ke- waunee, Mich., and Frankfort, Wis. The Lake Michigan ferries and those at the Straits of Mackinac are, of course, not the only vessels of their kind now in service. In New York harbor there are several car ferry lines for both passengers and freight, and a similar service has been inaugurated by the Central Pacific at the Straits of Carquinez, where the ferry steamer Solano carries twenty-four passenger Cars or forty-eight freight cars, with the locomotive, across a strait in which the current attains a velocity of eight miles per hour, embarking and landing its trainin about fifteen minutes, and the New York, Philadelphia & Norfolk Railroad has for about ten years maintained a car ferry between Cape Charles and Norfolk, Va., a distance of thirty-six miles. It is evident that National President George Uhler of the Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association is determined upon encouraging educa- tional work in all of the local organizations. He returned to Philadelphia from Duluth a few days ago, after having completeda visiting tour to all of the lake associations. In all of his addresses he laid great stress on the advantages to be secured from discussion of engineering subjects at regu- lar meetings, especially during the winter .season when meetings are well attended. Although there has been no public reference to the question of wages in connection with the visit of Mr. Uhler to the lakes, he has brought up matters having a direct bearing upon the subject. He argues that the development of the marine engine from the single cylinder ma- chine of a few years ago to the high-powered quadruple expansion engine of the present time has greatly increased the responsibilities of the engineer and the skill required in the profession, and is the crowning fea- ture of advancement in the shipping business. DURING all of the discussion previous to the enactment, a few weeks ago, of the law providing for the detailing of assistant inspectors of steam vessels at steel mills to inspect boiler plate, it was held by the REVIEW that, although every effort should be made to facilitate the work of the manufacturers, the tests should be made away from the mills, where the inspectors would not in any way be influenced by the steel makers. The Carnegie armor plate fraud, which has come to light within the past few days, proves the wisdom of this claim. Officers of the Carnegie company are close as clams about the investigation of the government that caused them to give up $140,000, although it would seem that their patrons in the ship building business throughout the country would be very much inter- ested in an explanation of the so-called irregularities in their works. UNLESS officers of the Lake Carriers' Association hurry themselves at once in treating with the senate committee on commerce the south will get its seven millions or more for horbor appropriations in the civil sundry appropriation bill, while the lakes will be put off with' a few thousand dollars for many aids to navigation that have already been au- thorized by law. Stocks of Grain at Lake Ports. The following table, prepared from reports of the Chicago board of trade, shows the stocks of wheat and corn in store at the principal points of accumulation on the lakes on March 24, 1894: Wheat, bu. Corn, bu. CBICA SOc oaent cacermencteas ces seas sae 20,138,0C0 5,777,000 DD Ga rre ee oie smloce sie clorssl cele sie» weneems TI,208,000 261,000 MnIVAUTIKC CE ccecch orci acces citssp covacie se SG0LOCO" Se ARs DD GELOMUs sorerede annette sits cores ote 1,923,000 46,000 MOC AO wecsedacce enna es hoes vavsvech ew tine' 3,142,000 107,000 Bulfball Otay vesnerenqseeio ti sce ctsecasses e303 1,238,000 337,000 PI GLAM Ir cacccdee Sores eter ie ys vases 38,539,000 6,528,000 At the points named there is a net increase for the week of 762,000 bushels of wheat and a net decrease of 1,224,000 bushels of corn. Changes in Lake Lights. The light-house board gives notice that on the opening of navigation, 1894, the following changes will be made in aids to navigation on the lakes: The fourth order light at Eagle Harbor light station, northerly side of Keweenaw point, Lake Superior, will be changed from a fixed white light varied by a white flash every two minutes to a fixed white light varied by a white flash every minute. 7 At Raspberry island light station (Apostle group, Lake Superior the fifth order light will be changed froma fixed white light, varied by a white flash every 90 seconds, to a fixed white light, varied by a white flash every minute. The order of the light will not be changed. At St. Marys Falls canal, north pier light station, west entrance the light will be changed from a fixed red light of the sixth order to a fifth- order light showing fixed white varied by a red flash every minute. ' Geo. C. Baker, inventor of the submarine torpedo boat, died at Wash- ington, Friday, from appendicitis. The total war ship tonnage launched by the most active naval powers in 1893 was: France, 52,188; United States, 40,050; Great Britain, 28,920; Russia, 17,320.