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- | MARINE REVIEW. f treasurer to make a most gratifying statement. By the 15th of January all the obligations of the association for the current year will have been paid and there will be a small sum in the treasurer's hands with which to commence the new year. This is the first year in the history of the asso- ciation that some deficit, large or small, has not been carried over, and in view of the decreased receipts for the year just closed the board of man- agers congratulates the members of the association upon its financial condition. OPERATIONS OF THE SHIPPING OFFICES. Shipping offices of the association have been maintained during the past year as heretofore at Cleveland, Chicago, South Chicago, Buffalo, Ashtabula and Toledo. The very general use whichis made of these - offices is shown in the following condensed report taken from the annual ~ report of Chief Shipping Master Rumsey for the season of 1894: Number of men shipped by shipping masters: IPMiROM BOAGC ALICIEVCIANG. .: nccmscssdscensreressanse Gisciihestsee . 2897 Sent from Cleveland to other points..............0006 ae ceeaee . 409 Put on board at Chicago....... Set ce saneas eit sanitetsesipenpes 2833 Sent from Chicago to other points............. peepee scott 67 EO me bOALGeat SOUtH I CHICAZO.... c.cccrseas-rssscasepessecesnne . 1089 ENO EDOALG ALU BUT AlOssc.ss1s+cucaessssdanssuoscentreetecserne cms ses 1300 Put on board at Ashtabula......... Prcatede Sannideee: Beene aces ee 1109 BU One Oat duateMOled O,escctcasmceeqectesavnnsersnessecessscsees 352 ROLE leant tit occ oeie steer ace cowe Wrenn iea er sinicases ose .. 10056 The service given by the shipping masters has been satisfactory and no complaints from members have been received. COMMITTEE WORK DURING THE PAST YEAR. Atthe last annual meeting of the association a number of special committees were appointed to secure, if possible, some reduction which would enure to the benefit of vessel owners in tke cost of loading and un- loading cargoes. It was foreseen that the year 1894 would necessarily be a year of low freights; that vessels would do business on the smallest possible margin, and that every slight reduction inexpenses would be appreciated to a greater extent than ever before. Committees were ap- pointed to use their best efforts to secure reductions in the cost of trim- ming and unloading ore cargoes. -These committees went industriously to work and conferred with the railroad, ore and dock companies at the various ports of loading and unloading. After numerous conferences, reductions in the charges of unloading ore from 16 cents to13% cents per ton, and inthe charges for trimming ore from 4 cents to about 2% per ton, were made by the companies employed to load and unload car- goes. It would perhaps not be fair to give to the lake Carriers' Associa- tion all the credit for these reductions, since the reductions were made by the companies performing the service, and the companies could not have been compelled to make the reductions had they not chosen to do so. It is, however, fair to say that the conferences between the commit- tees of the association and the loading and unloading companies contrib- uted materially towards the satisfactory result obtained. Altogether, the vessels secured a reduction of about 4 cents per ton on seven million tons of ore. It will perhaps be a surprise to vessel owners who have not figured the matter to find that this has effected a saving to vessels during the season just closed of $280,000, A committee was also appointed at the last annual meeting to confer with the Elevator Association at Buffalo with a view tosecuring reduction -- in the shoveling charges on grain cargoesat that port. Aftera protracted negotiation which was very skillfully conducted by the association's com- mittee, a reduction of shoveling charges amounting to 25 cents per thousand bushels was obtained. A little over 100,000,000 bushels of grain was unloaded at Buffalo during the season of 1894, and the shoveling charges thereon were $25,000 less than they would have been had the rate of 1893 remained in force, The committee appointed to secure a reduc- tion in the price of unloading lumber at Cleveland secured a reduction from 28 to 25 cents per thousand straight, (all other classes in same proportion). They also secureda change in the old rule by which the vessel paid 5 cents per thousand for every foot depth of hold over 12 feet, upon the whole cargo. In place of this charge, a uniform charge of $5.00 per vessel exceeding 12 feet depth of hold was made. This reduction in cost of unloading lumber at Cleveland was also extended to several other lumber ports. Members will, therefore, see that the committees secured excellent results, and while: the general tendency of compensation for services rendered has been downward in all branches of business, so that some reduction might have been looked for during the present season without action by the association, and your board of managers has no disposition to claim credit for the association to which it is not entitled, still a saving of several hundred thousand dollars has been effected to lake carriers, and in securing this saving, this association has done its full share and served its members well. LEGISLATIVE MATTERS. In legislative matters, the work of the association during the past year has not been so extensive as heretofore. A large number of the pe RRS Ee cate ee a eT ie see aed 5 8 Te By me arm rey i Y 1 ~ ena legislative projects to which this association was strongly committed have become accomplished facts. The important results aimed at have been secured in these cases, and this year no new projects of equal im- portance have come forward to take their places. For the past two years also the condition of the national treasury has been such as to make it extremely difficult to secure the support of congress in matters requiring the expenditure of money. With a decreased revenue, and a large annual deficit, the tendency of the committee on appropriations has been to ex- clude every possible item. The last session of congress was devoted so largely to the discussion of partisan and political questions that even the appropriation bills were hurried through during the last few days of a long session, and little opportunity was given to secure any legislation except where a matter had the united support of committees in both houses of congress. Nevertheless, some important results have been secured. Congress appropriated at its last session $156,000 for new lights - and aids to navigation on the great lakes, a larger amount than has been appropriated in any recent year. Provision was made for lighting the ~ new Hay lake channel, and appropriations were made for a light and signal at Forty-Mile point, Lake Huron, at Big Bay Point, Lake Su- perior, at Round island, Lake Huron, and on South Bass island, Lake Erie, together with some less important aids. THE IMMIGRATION BILL Another legislative matter which kept the attention of the assciation during the last session of congress was the bill known as the "lLockwood immigration bill." Certain sections of this bill applied solely to the em- ployment of seamen on the great lakes. The bill made it unlawful for vessel owners or masters to employ men on lake vessels unless the per- -- sons so employed were citizens of the United States who had had a per- manent domicile here for six months prior to their employment. To en- force this provision the bill contained a further provision making the owner as well as the master of a vessel employing any person not a citizen and not domiciled six months in this country punishable by fine and im- prisonment. A vigorous opposition to this bill was made by the associa- tion, and the counsel of the association appeared before the committee of congress which had this measure under consideration. The objections made to the bill were two-fold:--First: That it unjustly discriminated against vessel owners as employers; that while manufacturers and other classes of employers are permitted to choose their own employes without reference to citizenship or domicile,vessel owners were by this measure to be restricted in this respect. Our counsel argued that any man who came to the United States to work should be entitled to choose the employment for which he was best fitted, and that to forbid him to accept employment on lake vessels, and to forbid the owner of such a vessel to employ him, were a tyrannical interference with the rights of both parties for which no justifiable ground could be given. The second ground of opposition to this bill lay in its penal clauses. We regarded as an outrage legislation which would make a vessel owner guilty of c1ime and liable to fine and imprisonment for crime when circumstances were such as to make violation of this immigration law a matter entirely beyond the own- er's control. In the first place, it is a well bnown fact that the owners of vessels do not employ the seamen who man them; and in the second place, neither the owner nor the master who does employ them can possi- bly know whether the lawas to domicile of the employe has been com- plied with. Nothing can be easier than for evil-disposed persons to use this law to cause inconvenience and possibly to inflict arrest and punish- ment upon innocent persons. The purpose of the act was apparently to compel the owners and masters of vessels to employ only a certain class or set of men, and to make it difficult, if not impossible for vessel owners and masters desiring to employ others to carry on their business without inconvenience and delay. Although there was considerable pressure brought to bear on congress to pass this bill, the injustice which was so apparent in its provisions prevented its favorable consideration in com- mittee, and it has made no headway in either branch of congress. As less than eight weeks remain of the fifty-third congress, it is not considered likely that any serious attempt will be made at this session to force this measure through. Should such an effort be made, however, members may be certain that it will meet with vigorous opposition at every point. THE RAFT BILI,. The disappointment of the year has been the failure of the association to secure the passage of a bill properly regulating the towing of rafts. At the last session, legislation carrying into effect the recommendations of a board of United States engineers, appointed to consider this subject, was introduced in the house in the river and harbor bill. This bill passed the house with this restrictive legislation attached and it was hoped that it would pass the senate also. In the senate committee, however, the inter- ests opposed to the regulations of raft towing succeeded in having these provisions radically amended and practically deprived of all that was good in them. When the river and harbor bill emerged from the senate committee on commerce the raft towing provis- ions bore no resemblance to the recommendations of the board of engin- eers, On the St. Mary's river, for example, where raft towing has been