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ie mere ee ¥ MARINE REVIFNW. 13 Abuse of Power in Iron Combinations. The tendency in all recent combinations in the iron industry has been in the direction of adopting vigorous measures designed to tie down the individual members rigidly to a plan which shall give the organization complete power over the industry with which it deals. The great danger of such a system is the temptation to abuse that power. Its very strength encourages the establishmtnt of fresh competitors who start deliberately to force the associated producers into buying themcff. It brirgs into the industry an element which has been foreign toit. On the whole, those who have entered the different branches of the iron trade have gone into itas a life work, their ambition being to leave to their successors a prosperous manufacturing enterprise. There are in the trade very few concerns which have anything to do with stock jobbing. Practically, there has been no element which has rushed into the iron trade with the deliberate purpose of selling out to the public, or of blackmailing rival makers. An abuse of power invites this class of competitors and leads to ultimate disintegration of the associations formed, leaving the industry in a state of almost hopeless collapse from which only years of suffering to allcan drag it. Those who look beyond the immediate future, with its extravagant gains, and count the cost of the subsequent demoraliza- tion, must use their efforts to prevent that dangerous abuse of power which finds its most ardent supporters in the weakest members of every pool.--tIron Age. Baltimore's Submarine Boat, Acompany has been organized in Baltimore to build a submarine boat of a type invented by Simon Lake. The corporation is to be known as the Lake Submarine Co., and if the efforts of its promoters to obtain money for the enterprise are successful the boat will very probably be built by the Columbian IronWorks of Baltimore. The design has special reference to a vessel for raising wreckage and also for discovering coral sponage and other valuable submarine deposits. The boat will be cigar- shaped and of steel. It will be propelled by steam on the surface and by electricity from storage batteries under the surface. According to the plans, it will be possible to work it at a depth of 150 feet. The trial ves- sel will be about 40 feet long and 10 or 15 feet in diameter. Itis to be made small in order to be transported easily to Europe on a steamer after atrialin the port of Baltimore. It will carry a crew of six men, and will be capable of staying on the bottom forty hours without renewing the air. These details represent, of course, the expectations of enthusiasts who are connected with the new company. The openings, where the divers will go out to work, will be on the bottom, and the water will be kept out of the apartment by which they will leave the boat by air pres- sure. Powerful electric lights will illuminate the ocean bed 300 feet around the vessel. An ordinary propeller will be located aft, but when the boat strikes bottom it will run on three wheels, two of which will be provided with claws, so they may be used as additional propellers. The operator will be located in the bow, behind the electric lights. The rel- ative air and water pressure will be shown by guages. A derrick fastened in the bow will be used in lifting wreckage. Detroit River Mail Service. Postmaster John J. Enright of Detroit says, in a letter to the REVIEW, that although no marked changes have been made this season in the Marine service on the river, the Detroit office is constantly on the look- out for anything that may improve the service. "Within a few days," he Says, "our marine post office will be supplied with a telephone and all the advantages accruing from its use will, of course, be applied for the bet- terment of the service. There is one suggestion I would like to make to you in order that your readers may profit by it and save our men consid- erable annoyance, and the addressees as well, if the suggestion is followed. It would be well for the public in addressing mail matter to go through the service to prepay it in full, sothere will be no postage to collect upon delivery by the carrier. Again there are a large number of the patrons of this service who fail to state the name of the vessel in connection with the address, and very many letters fail of delivery through the absence of this important part of the address." Here isa splendid opportunity of visiting the west. The Nickel Plate toad has authorized low excursion rates to Ottawa, Kansas, on May li, 21 and 22 for the annual convention of the Dunkards, which convenes at Ottawa on May 26. Tickets may be extended thirty days from date of Issue by depositing them with the joint agent at Ottawa. The uniform Courtesy of employes, the best of roadbeds, and the splendid modern 'quipment of thisMine has made it the popular low rate line for all points west, | 74-May 21 The new yacht for the emperor of Russia is a boat of 5,200 tons dis- Placement. Her length is 370 feet, breadth 50 feet 6 inches and depth 33 feet 6 inches. Shehas been fitted with engines of 10,600 horse power, and 1S valued at $2,300,000. . Story of a Break-down. The Engiteer's Gazette, one of the leading marine publications of London, has been offering prizes for accounts of break-downs at sea and has received quite a number of stories of this kind. The engineer of a freight steamer belonging to one of the large lines trading between New York and Liverpool tells this story of a broken crank shaft: "We left New York for home early in December, and as the ship had a quick passage all hands were grieving, because it was feared we would get away again and would not be allowed to spend Christmas at home. But the unexpected happened. It was the sixth morning out, and the weather was moderating from a strong easterly gale and heavy head sea, when at 4 a.m., as the second engineer was coming down the ladder to re- lieve the third engineer, there was a sudden bang and a crash, followed by sparks like a display of fire works from the after crank pit. Of course the first thing was to bring the links to the centre, and shut off the steam. An exatnination revealed the fact that the shaft (a solid one) had broken square across the after web, right down on top of the bearing neck, and it had been grinding the web round the almost square portion of the shaft end; at least it would be nearly square when it broke, but by the time the engines were stopped forty or fifty revolutions had been made, and the shaft end was more round than square. The after crank shaft was at once disconnected ready for lifting out. The mates and their men set to work moving cargo, etc., so as to get out the spare shaft from the after 'tween decks. The spare shaft was an old one that had been taken out a year previously on account of having a flaw in the pin, and had had a bolt put through it. There is no need to describe the details connected with get- ting out coupling bolts, etc.; they were tapered ones, and very fast indeed. They were got out, and the shaft was ready for lifting by 6 p.m. It was then decided to leave the job of lifting until 2 a. m., as the ship was rolling and tumbling heavily. At 2 a m. all hands turned to again, although the vessel was still rolling heavily. Blocks and tackles were got on to the shaft wherever possible, and every precaution taken. The lifting falls were led through the skylight to after winch, and after about an hour's anxious work it was landed and safely lashed to the ship's side. Getting the other one down was the next job, but fortunately there was a plate in the engine room top that had been taken off to pats the new crank shaft through previously, and it had only been bolted up. The spare shaft was got down in place all right, and the worst appeared to be over, when it was found that when the shaft had been last fitted the coupling bolt holes had been tapered the other way, so now we had all the eight coupling bolt holes with both the smaller diameters together. _All that could be done under the circumstances was to put half in each way. The engines were then started ahead, after being stopped 49% hours, and ran at 20 reyolu- tions for six hours, and then stopped for eight hours to tighten up as well as to replace some four bolts that had broken in the coupling; at the same _time the turning wheel was taken off the fore end of the shaft, and keyed half on each coupling so as to help the coupling bolts. The engines were then sta:ted ahead at about twenty-five revolutions for twelve hours, then increased to thirty, twenty-four hours later to thirty-three and forty-eight hours later to forty. For six days the engines worked at the latter speed, but we were finally enabled to increase the speed to sixty revolutions and reached home in safety."' 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 in regular elevators at the principal points of accumulation on the lakes on May 2, 1896: Wheat, bushels. Corn, bushels, CHICAGO! sccccscerccoeuseevecsecnscetscesorsesll Os Cun, OUD 5,725,000 Duluth isccicecsvectsceetones seaceedsseodiste eer bls COU) 95,000 Milwaukee......ccccsscccsssssssesessssseceeee 846,000 2,000 Detrolt..ccccsscccassst-seeasdevorisecsts se nema aU OCU 21,000 MOlEdO;.csscssestcsscssccdecoseecossecccse vee 629,000 193,000 Buffalo? Sesetesmocsscsssnrcczcsassasenasseeners ly OO INU 894,000 TOtal.......cqssevecescsssccersensssessas OU,O15,000 6,930,000 As compared with a week ago, the above figures show at the several points named a decrease of 2,740,000 bushels of wheat and 465,000 bushels of corn. Another boom in ship building is reported from the Clyde. One of the largest of the japanese shipping companies has ordered six steamers from Clyde and Belfast builders. The vessels are intended to form a line between Japanese ports and Europe. Contracts call for their completion by the end of the year. The last trial of the British topedo destroyer Desperate of six runs on the Maplin mile showed a mean speed of 30.46 knots, or thirty-five miles an hour, with 5,600 horse power, 210 pounds pressure, 24 inches vacuum, 406 revolutions, and the standard load on board. Thus cone vessel after another of this type makes a new speed record;