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

10 MARINE REVIEW. DEVOTED TO THE LAKE MARINE AND KINDRED INTERESTS. Published every Thursday at No. 516 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland, O SUBSCRIPTION--$2.00 per yearin advance. Singlecopies Io cents each. Convenient binders sent, post paid, 75 cents. Advertising rates on appli- cation. The books of the United States treasury department on June 39, 1'95, contained the names of 3,342 vessels, of 1,241,459.14 gross tons register in the lake trade. The number of steam vessels of 1,000 gross tons, and over that amount, on the lakes on June 30, 1894, was 359 and their aggregate gross tonnage 634,467.84; the number of vessels of this class owned in all other parts of the country on the same date was 316 and their tonnage 642,- 642.50, so that half of the best steamships in all the United States are owned on the lakes. The classification of the entire lake fleet on June 30, 1895, was as follows: Gross Class. =e Number. Tonnage. WLEAMNVESSE]6 2:15.00 .5oeccegiesshasnsvedtees Mevears 1,755 857,735.00 BUT UNE SSC Seteserscccsescccsseaccsssc-caarisees 1,100 300,642.00 Unrigged......... Mosecceceecretnecnereroarecmee creak 487 83,082.00 Total....... Sess Sote'ssedstsunhectde castes ee 3,342 I,241,459.00 The gross registered tonnage of vessels built on the lakes during the pee five years, according to the reports of the United States com- missioner of navigation, is as follows: Number. Net Tonnage. Year ending June 30, 19 pmo stones sues 208 Tee 5 TOO 2eesessese cicsenss 169 45,168.9 - i TGQ Reesarccsetsoccsces 175 99,271.24 TSQAverdedsseteveates 21106 41,984.61 es s 1805 ...006 eeetiaes a 93 36,353.00 PROLA eer seecesectacancstseersescrseres. 7A°7 334,634.28 ST. MARY'S FALLS AND SUEZ CANAL TRAFFIC. (From Official Reports of Canal Officers.) St. Mary's Falls Canal. Suez Canal. 1894. 1893. 1892. 1894. | 1893. 1892. No.vessel pass'ges 14,491] 12,008 12,580 3,352 3,341 3,559 T'n'ge,net registd/13,110,366/9,849,754|10,647,203||8,039,106|7,659,0687,712,028 Days of Navigat'n 234 219 223 365 365 365 LEintered at Cleveland Post Office as Second-class Mail Matter. If THE LATEST report regarding the conclusions of the Nicaragua canal commission are found to be correct, it would seem that the pro- jectors of the big enterprise have encountered aserious set-back A New York paper publishes an extensive synopsis of the report, which is said to have been secured froma stenographer of the commission. It has been stated that the commission favored the route proposed by the canal company, and placed the cost of the canal at about $110,000,000, but this latest version of the report declares that it is neither practical nor advisable to attempt the construction of the canal upon the data at pres- ent available,and that the undertaking would be fraught with hazards too obvious to disregard. That the necessary knowledge may be had of the physical and topographical conditions affecting the construction and maintenance of the canal across Nicaragua upon which to form a final judgment as to the feasibility, permanence and cost, the commission rec- ommends an appropriation by congress of $350,000 for extensive addi- tional surveys and examinations, covering a period of eighteen months. With the data at hand, however, the commission makes a provisional es- timate of the cost of the canal, placing the amount at $133,472,893, or nearly double that of the Maritime Canal Co's. unconditional estimate of $69,893,660. The general trend of the entire report is very unfavorable to the canalcompany. The commission presents tables comparing its own estimates of the cost of the canal project with the estimates pre- sented by the company. The figures indicate that the project will be at least twice as expensive as the company has all along maintained that it would be. To THOSE who do not already file the REVIEW we would suggest the advisability of doing so in the future. The papers will prove valuable to you. Information which they contain is often absolutely necessary in the conduct of business. Within a few days past we have received orders for back numbers by long distance telephone from Chicago and by tele- graph from Detroit. Hardly a day passes without inquiry, either through the mails or by personal request, for information regardin g some matter that has appeared in the REVIEW. The statement may seem strange, but it is a fact, nevertheless, that a prominent vessel owner called at the office of the REVIEW recently to learn the number of hatches in his own steamer. He was a little in doubtas to this feature of a vessel that was being built for him, but he knew that a full description of the steamer could be found in our files. As information of all kinds is sought from the office of the REVIEW, so also is information obtained from those who seek it. The news is at all times from first hands, in every way reliable, and this is why we are enabled to print a great deal of valuable reading matter that can be secured only through an information bureau like the office of the REVIEW, It is the kind of information that can not be gathered with scissors and paste pot. ' IT wILt, be admitted on all hands that the life saving service is one of the grandest institutions of this country, and that the example of the American people in supporting and enlarging the service might well ke followed by other maritime nations, but reports sent out from Washing- ton each year regarding the operations of the service are ridiculous and unjust to the men themselves. These reports are unjust for the reason that everybody interested in shipping understands full well that the life savers did not, for instance, save 5,382 lives out of 5,402 lives that were imperilled within the scope of the service during the year 1894. Neither did they save $9,000,000 worth of property out of $10,000,000 worth im- perilled, as might be implied from the latest reports. Property to the value of the first named figure undoubtedly was endangered within the life saving districts, but it was saved through wrecking expeditions, salvage companies, harbor tugs, and in various other ways, and reports regarding the loss or salvage of it should not be bulked together and given out as a statement of operations of the life saving service. GEN. CRAIGHILL, chief of army engineers, says that some time ago he talked over Gen. Poe's successor with the general himself, when the matter of the Detroit engineer's retirement was under consideration. He adds that the views expressed by Gen. Poe at that time will now be con- sidered in the appointment of his successor. If such is the case, Col. Mc- Kenzie will certainly be appointed to the Detroit position, as there is no question regarding the choice made by Gen. Poe before his death. But a big effort is still being made in behalfof Col. S. M. Mansfield of Boston, who has the support of Don M. Dickinson and others of influence with the administration. ; Timely Quotations. Our fleet of merchant ships on the great lakes now outnumbers alone the seagoing fleet of any nation except England and Germany.--FE. T. Chamberlain, United States Commissioner of Navigation. . Senator Quay's desire to devote part of the wealth of this country to the improvement of its waterways stamps him as a statesman who sees the great work of his time. The railroad system is so far developed that we know its limits. Now comes the day of improving the natural waterways with which the continent is blessed, and in some cases of making new waterways. In my opinion the growth of natural prosper- ity can by no other means be so accelerated and maintained. It should be the next work to which the public puts its hands in earnest. It is much more important, even, than the Nicaragua canal, important as it is also --Andrew Carnegie. Outside of engineering circles James Watt is little more than a name with nothing about it to inspire admiration, and if he had not had the good fortune to be a Scotchman, and thus become the object of a clannish | admiration, he would be as nearly forgotten now asthe Welshman Trevi- thick. Yet every man, woman and child of this and the last generation in the civilized world is the better for his inventions. Take a contempo- | rary name of Watt's, that of Burns, and we find it known and admired \ wherever the English tongue is spoken, and far beyond the limit. He \ provided nothing new to help widen the scope of intellectual vision ; | the things he sang about were in the field and in the town, full in the | sight of all, and only became bright from the charm and beauty of his | setting. Yet, when touched by his inspiration they became a treasured possession of mankind, never.to be abandoned or forgotten until human nature changes, of which there are no signs. The magnificent benefits that have resulted from Watt's inventions being material, do not touch the heart of mankind, and therein lies the difference.--George W. Dickie. For ten years or more past, since steel was first used in the construc- | tion of lake vessels, the custom has been to equip the best vessels with a steam windlass forward and steam capstan aft. Although the size of vessels has been steadily increasing during this time, from 250 feet to 400 feet or more in length, the steam windlass and steam capstan has been depended upon for the various purposes to which they are applied. Improvements have, of course, been made in these machines, but on the 400-foot steel ships that will be quite common next season extra ma- chinery for use at docks and in port generally is being adopted. The big steel freighter Zenith City has two extra steam dock capstans on deck, and the more progressive managers of the modern steamers, who realize the great advantage of time gained in port, will probably follow suit in this matter. A dividend of $2 a share was paid yesterday, the 27th, by the Lake Superior Iron Co. ;