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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 10 cents each. Convenient binders sent, post paid, 75 cents. Advertising rates on appli- cation. The books of the United States treasury department on June 30, 1895, contained the names of 3,342 vessels, of 1,241,459.14 gross tons register 1n 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. Number. Tonnage. Steam vessels.............. FGbseeeee Sear eehe 7 55 857,735.00 Sailing vessels...... pi peedeOeeeh saat stan se eee OO 300,642.00 Unrigged.......... erotic ndecee ceric nenneeeseceare 487 83,082.00 Mrotallisgttacag cece cteacts deidecidvevichecedse ss 3,342 I,241,459.00 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. Year ending June 30, 1891..........s0000 « 204 111,856.45 hd sf ef TSQ2i. servos sseceeee os 1LOQ 45,168.98 § &¢ s 1893...... aeesuete oer 5 99,271.24 S - s TOOAccesecsercoceesce, | LOO 41,984.61 g cs £6 TSQ5 coseces Ses ee 93 36,353-00 TOtalicc.cchscabs35. Spree eeesteees asses 747 334,634.28 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 3559 T'n'ge,net registd|13,110,366|9,849,754| 10,647,203] |8,039,106|7,659,068|7,712,028 Days of Navigat'n 234 219 223 365 365 365 _ Entered at Cleveland Post Office as Second-class Mail Matter. JUST Now the-vessel owners of the lakes, in their fight against the Detroit river bridge, are badly in need of statistics, absolutely reliable, regarding the traffic of the Detroit river, and yet many of them, on ac- count of a little inconvenience to themselves, stand in their own light in this matter. From what is known of the Sault canal traffic, as well as the general movement of iron ore, grain, coal and lumber throughout the lakes, it is certain that the commerce of the Detroit riveris more than one-fourth, and probably fully one-third, of the entire freight tonnage of the railways of the country. It is also quite certain that the cost per ton per mile of moving freight that passes the city of Detroit is not more than one-tenth of the average cost on all railways of the country; or in other words the average cost of moving freight that passes the city of Detroit by water is about 8% tenths of a mill per ton per mile, against 8% full mills for the railways throughout the country. Butthese figures, as regards the lake traffic, no matter how honest the convictions of ves- sel owners may be regarding them, are not backed up by official returns, on account of defects in customs laws that act against a complete compil- ation of data on the subject. Notwithstanding this condition, and the great demand for reliable figures covering the whole movement of freight on the lakes, there was adopted, at the annual meeting of the Lake Car- riers' Association in Detroit last week, a resolution calling for the repeal of all laws requiring vessel owners to make reports of any kind regardin g cargoes to collectors of customs or to engineers in charge of river and harbor improvements, The resolution was introduced by Capt. Alex Mc- Dougall of Duluth, and was undoubtedly prompted by the action of the United States engineer at Duluth last season, in requiring vessels enter- ing the ports of Duluth and Superior to make reports of their cargoes according tolaw. This requirement and the practice of reporting to customis officers are matters of some inconvenience to vessel masters, but if questions like the Detroit river bridge are to be met by vessel owners, and if the lakes are to receive their share of appropriations from the government for river and harbor improvements, aids to navigation, etc, their demands must be backed up by statistics that can not be questioned. Guess-work and estimates will not do. FORTUNATELY the lakes will be in no way concerned in future de- liberations of the International Marine Conference which is to reconvene shortly upon a call from the secretary of state. 'The White act of a year ago gives the lakes special rules for the prevention of collisions, ang aa 'all lake interests are satisfied with these rules, there need be no Worry over anything that may be done by the International Marine Conference It will be remembered that the conference of 1889 agreed on Certain rules of the road to prevent collisions at sea, which rules, as far as sea. going vessels are concerned, have been authorized by law by the Uniteg States and by every other power taking part in their construction, ex. cept Great Britain, the English seamen objecting to some of the fog sig. nals agreed on. For along time the matter has been held in abeyance, owing to the slow movements of Great Britain and her refusal either to agree to rules or suggest changes. The matteris to be brought before parliament by the London chamber of commerce at once, and it is ex. pected that the full approval of all the nations will be given to the rules, In case, however, the British government should suggest further amend. ments to the rules, the reconvening of the conference is authorized by a bill now before congress, and which will very probably be passed, go that the amendments may be speedily acted upon. GOVERNOR Morton of New York makes the matter of state canal im. provements a feature of his message. He says that the recent experi- ments with electric motors for canal boat propulsion, made at the west. ern end of the Erie canal, were so successful in character and results as to lead to the belief that when the system is applied to the entire canal it will increase its traffic capacity by at least 35per cent. The law provid. ing for an issue of $9,000,000 of bonds for canal improvements, which was approved at the last state election, requires the legislature annually to impose a tax of thirteenth-hundredth mills upon each dollar of valuation of real and personal property in the state subject to taxation, the pro- ceeds of which, after paying the interest due upon the bonds, shall be in- vested by the comptroller, under the direction of the commissioners of the canal fund, and together with the intgrest arising therefrom shall be devoted to the sinking fund created for this purpose. IN A conversation, a few days ago, relative to the action of the Lake Carriers' Association on the subject of a memorial to the late Gen. Poe at the St. Mary's Falls canal, Mr. M. A. Hanna of Cleveland, who is a lead- ing member of the memorial committee, expressed the opinion that it will be impossible to collect $10,000, the amount thought necessary for the erection of astatue. Mr. Hanna was not at the Detroit meeting, but he says he will assist the committee as far as possible in Cleveland, as he promised Gen. Alger that he would do so. He is not, however, in favor of trying to collect a fund sufficient to erect a statue and fail in the at- tempt. There are other vessel owners who agree with Mr. Hanna. It is fortunate, therefore, that the instructions given to the committee provide for a statue "or other suitable memorial." / FEW PEOPLE realize the immense power that is required to propela vessel of any kind when a speed above 20 knots is required. Take, for instance, the British torpedo boat chasers, which are mere racing machines, even from a naval point of view. The most perfect specimens of vessels of this class, which have attained 30 knots speed, carry sixty tons of coal, which is full one quarter of their entire sea-going displace- ment. They burn 3% tons of coal per hour. To attain the three knots over twenty-seven, which is the highest speed of ordinary torpedo boats, it was necessary to increase the fuel expenditure full 50 per cent. ACCORDING to the annual report of the New York state superintendent of public works the whole number of tons carried upon the canals of the state during the season of 1895 was 3,500,314 tons, of which 2,327,481 tons was in transit toward tidewater and 1,172,885 tons was moved westward. Of these amounts 1,762,663 tons were through freight and 1,797,651 tons were way freight. The amounts carried by the several canals were as follows: rie canal, 2,356,084 tons; Champlain canal, 966,335 tons; Oswego canal, 64,691 tons; Black River canal, 64,154 tons; Cayuga and Seneca canal, 49,050 tons; total, 3,000,314 tons. Cd SENATOR BRICE's efforts to settle, if possible, through investigations to be made by competent engineers, the questions of regulating lake levels by means of dams is undoubtedly prompted by an honest intention of serving the entire lake shipping interests inthis matter. Mr. Briceis directly interested in this question, however, as he owns the Duluth South Shore & Atlantic Ry. and isa leading stockholder in Ohio lines that are gradually coming into a heavy business from terminals on Lake Erie. SS Itis difficult to understand that high or low water in connecting channels of the lakes should be charged tosuch a great extent to heavy rainfall or to the absence of rain, It is important to note inthis con- nection, however, that an inch of rain falling upon an area of one square mile is equivalent to nearly 17,500,000 gallons, weighing 145,250,000 pounds, or 64,844 tons.