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14 MARINE REVIEW. A Costly River Steamer. Builders of passenger steamers on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers seem to keep up with the best lake and coast builders as regards pro- visions for the comfort of passengers. The Virginia, a recent addition to the fleet of steamers plying on the Ohio is illustrated herewith. This steamer was launched in November last by the Cincinnati Marine Rail- way Co. She is now engaged regularly between Cincinnati and Pitts- burg and is one of the handsomest and most perfectly equipped boats on the river. The Virginia is of the flat-bottomed, stern wheel type, 235 feet long, 40 feet beam and 7 feet depth of holdin the clear. 'The cabin is full length and is 190 feet long, with fifty state rooms opening upon it. The texas is 100 feet long. The decorations of the cabin are in Lincrusta Walton, the color plan being blue, white and gold. The machinery con- sists of a double set of tandem compound condensing engines, with high pressure cylinders of 15 inches diameter and low pressure of 33% inches diameter and 34 inches stroke. Steam at 186 pounds is supplied by one battery of four externally fired steel boilers, 42 inches in diameter and 20 feet long. The steamer is lighted by electricity throughout, the General Elec- tric Co. furnishing the entire equipment. The generator is a 25-kilowatt multipolar machine directly connected to a 40-horse-power automatic engine. The plant isset up onthe lower deck, inthe main engine rooms, and furnishes current for 250 incandescent lamps, two arc lamps and one search light. In the main cabin 100 incandescent lamps are used, one in each stateroom, and one hundred more are in the texas and elsewhere. The search light is one of the regular General Electric 12- inch projectors, fixed to the crane mast forward and controlled from the pilot house. The switchboard is of the skeleton type and carries a voltmeter and ammeter, rheostat and switches controlling seven circuits. Each switch and junction box, located at different points in the vessel, is of the General Electric marine water tight type and everything has been done to make the installation perfect. Trade Notes, The Carbon Steel Co., Pittsburg, recently shipped a quantity of deck plate to San Francisco for the battleship Oregon. As it was ordered that changes in deck plating already in the vessel be made at the earliest pos- sible moment, the plate was sent to Chicago by fast freight and thence to San Francisco by express. Steel trusses fora new building 50 feet wide and 60 feet long, to be erected by the Holyoke Gas Co. of Holyoke, Mass., will be furnished by the Berlin Iron Bridge Co. of East Berlin, Conn. Roof trusses are to be entirely of steel and the covering is to be slate. No woodwork or inflam- mable material will be used anywhere in the construction. Thos, Drein & Son, Wilmington, Del., have in hand orders for four 22-foot metallic life boats from the Globe Iron Works Company, Cleve- land, and six boats and outfit of cork rings for steamersin Duluth and West Superior. Among the many orders from the coast secured by this firm was the outfit for the pilot boat building at Newport News. This service is very exacting. The REVIEW has received from Clapp & Co., bankers and commission merchants, New York, their third annual ' Souvenir Book" covering the business of leading American exchanges in 1895. Letters sent out by this firm deal with facts that either directly or indirectly affect prices, They are issued weekly. The book is a reproduction of the weekly let- ters of 1895 and with them are given forty illustrations of prominent com- mercial and government buildinge, each of which is accompanied by a condensed history of the business done by the exchange of the depart- ment of government occupying the building shown in the picture. Hardly any question can be asked by any person in regard to bonds, stocks, grain, provisions, cotton, wool, coffee, go!d, silver or other United States products that is not statistically answered in the book, and the tables are so well arranged that in very small space they gen- erally tell the whole story for ten or twenty years past. 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 June 13, 1896: Wheat, bushels. Corn, bushels, CHICAGO .......sesssererevererereeves sees 3,871,000 5,577,000 DUWLUthsccostcasccove secs tsctenerenss cavesescse 10,4 Los CO0 5,000 Milwakee.....cccce.ccccsssescsseoecesssevene 043;000 2,000 TDEELOIC NH. .00sacceccococevesasesscs+ccesctesss LOUROUO 18,000 TOlOdO ...seravsccssovesereccececvescccscescoess 201,000 69,000 Buffal0,.....ccrcccccorccsccsescsecsscsccssorcenn 929,000 247,000 MOUAleoavesentccccaselocceccrtectics se 24,094,000 5,918,000 As compared with a week ago, the above figures show at the several points named a decrease of 562,000 bushels of wheat and an increase of 599,000 bushels of corn. Babbitt Patent Improved Anchor. - The following letterin regard to the Babbitt improved stockless anchors, of which the Americau Ship Windlass Co., Providence, R. I., are the sole manufacturers, shows the superiority of these anchors over other styles: Mr. Clinton Sproat, Dear Sir: Will you ship me as soon as possible one of your 20-pound Babbitt anchors? I have a 30-pounder which held me in an exposed place at Sakonnet through the gales of three years ago but itis rather heavy for every-day use. It has the most hold for its weight and is the most convenient of anything I have seen. Ship by freight care of W. B. Burrington, Barrington, R. I. Yours truly, Providence, R. I., June 5, 1896. S. R. BURLEIGH. Photographers' excursion to Chautauqua lake--On account of the an- nual convention of Photographers' Association of America, to be held at Celeron, N. Y., on Chautauqua lake, June 20th to 30th, the Nickel' Plate road will sell excursion tickets at one fare for the round trip. 105 19 Rates to Chicago lower than via. other lines are offered by agents of the Nickel Plate road, July 3d, 4th, 5th and 6th, returning until July 12th, account the national democratic convention, 129 July 3 REASRUY DEPARTMENT, Office of Gen- eral Superintendent, United States Life- Saving Service, Washington, D. C., May 28, 1896. Sealed proposals will be received at this office until 2 o'clock p.m. of Wednesday, the 24th day of June, 1896, for furnishing supplies required for use of the Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1897; the sup- plies to be delivered at such points in New York City, Grand Haven, Mich., and San Fran- cisco, Cal., as may be required, and in the quantities named in the specifications. The supplies needed consist of Beds and Bedding; Blocks and Sheaves; Cordage ; Crockery ; Furni- ture ;Hardware ;Lamps, Lanterns, etc. ; Lumber, Medicines, etc.; Paints, Oils, ete.; Ship Chand- lery ; Stoves, etc.; Tools and Miscellaneous ar- ticles; all. of which are enumerated in the specifications attached to the form of bid, ete., which may be obtained upon application to this office, or to the Inspector of Life-Saying Stations, 24 State street, New York City; Super- intendent Eleventh Life-Saving District, Grand Haven, Mich., and Superintendent Twelfth Life-Saving District, New Appraisers' Stores, San Francisco, Cal. Envelopes containing pro- posale should be addressed to the 'General uperintendent U. S. Life-Saving ~Service, Washington, D* C.,". and-marked. on. the out- side "Proposal for Annual Supplies.' The right is reserved to reject_any or all bids, and to. waive défects, if deemed-for. the interests of' the Goverment, S. I. KIMBALL; General Superintendent.