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Tar toe oe ae ee DEVOTED TO LAKE MARINE AND KINDRED INTERESTS. , i i Ohlo Published every Thursday at No. 409 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland, ' i : af by John M. Mulrooney and F. M. Barton. Supnscription--$2.00 per year in.advance. Single copies 10 cents each. Convenient binders seut, post paid, $1.00. Advertising rates on application. Entered at Cleveland Post-Ofice as Second class Mail Matter. oks of the United States treasury department on June 30, 1896, contained the ee eeeoee 39333 vessels, of 1,324,067.58 gross tons register in the lake trade. The number of steam vessels of 1,000 gross tons, and over that ¢mount, on the lakes on June 30, 1896, was 383 and their aggregate gross tonnage 711,034.28 ; the number of vessels of this class owned in all other parts of the country on the same date was 315 and their tonnage 685,204.55, so that more than 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, 1896,-was as follows: fecae nce NO Oo 630.51 Steam vessels. ; 9% 24,630. - Sailing vessels and barges........ 1,125 354,327.60 WAT AINDORUSlcesccesercscccsenessceensllee a 416 45,109.47 Ut YT beeeeeterneth econo ee acd eect eee 3,383 1,324,067.58 The gross registered tonnage of the vessels built on the lakes during the past six years, Recording to the reports of the United States commissioner of navigation, is as follows: . 1891 204 111,856 45 ayia tee 1892 169 45,968.98 re ¢ " 1893 17 99,271.24 3 or 1894 106 41,984.61 i : ye 1895... 93 36,352.70 ss fe a 1896 117 108,782.3 TNO filers neeee sesansctstdodtcocssusrsotcscsesecceernencanceses- 864 444,216.36 _ §T. MARY'S FALLS AND SUEZ CANAL TRAFFIC. ('vom Official Reports of Canal Officers.) { St. Mary's Falls Canal. Suez Canal. 1895* 1894 1893 1895 1894 1893 No. vessel passages............ 17,956 14,491 11,008 3,434) 3,352 3,341 Tonnage, ae eeplatenen sae 16,806,781|.13,110,366} 9,849,754]| 8,448,383) 8,039,175 7,659,068 Days of navigation.............. 231) - 234 219 365 365 365 » * 1895 figures include traffic of Canadian canal at Sault Ste. Marie, which was about \ per cent. of the whole, but largely in American vessels. Detroit has a congressman, Mr. Corliss, who seems to lie awake nights in fear of having an opinion on some subject. After the Detroit river post office has been established nearly two years, with everybody on the lakes fully acquainted with the scope of its opera- tions, Mr.Corliss announces that he has not fully made up his mind as to what he will do about supporting or opposing further appropria- tions for it Te says his attention has only been called to the post office by newspaper reports. He will investigate and learn presently how many pieces of mail are handled on the river and then he will try to make up his mind. If Mr. Corliss submits to a few more interviews the matter of his making up his mind may become a stand- ing joke among people who know of his weakness in this regard, on account of their dealings with him. on questions other than the Detroit river post office. The vessel interests of the lakes care nothing for the local: wrangle in Detroit about the river post office. Postmaster Enright was entitled to no endorsement from the vessel interests as an individual, any more than J. W. Westcott is entitled to sympathy be- cause he lost a business that can only be handled by the post office de- partment of the government. Mr. Corliss may bea long time in making up his mind, and the local squabble in Detroit may appear to be of some importance politically, but the question between the post office department and the vessel owners has reference to only one point, the usefulness of the Detroit river service. Everybody knows that the river post office has scored a greater success than anything ever un- dertaken by the department in lake cities, and it is not probable, there- fore, that the differences existing in Detroit will interfere with appro- priations. In the recent political campaign a great stir was made in favor of placing a duty on all goods imported in vessels not of the United States. The scheme of discriminating duties was held up as a means of helping American shipping. Bills with this end in view were introduced, some time ago, in the present congress, notably one by Senator Hlkins of West Virginia, which provides for a 10 per cent. advalorem duty, additional to any regular duty, on all goods imported in vessels other than vessels of the United States. It is plain now, however, that there is no possibility of this bill or any bill of its kind passing the present congress. Leading members of both political 'parties ave outspoken in oppostion to discriminating duties, and it is quite evident that the meeting in Washington, a few days ago, of leading senators with Atlantic coast sbip builders and ship owners was ' MARINE REVIEW. for the purpose of dropping the discriminating measures, The ship builders and steamship. lines were represented by Messrs. Griscom, Sewall, Smith, Clyde, Cramp and Hyde. It was decided that the ship owners and builders, who were not all in favor of discriminating duties, should agree among themselves. They were asked by the sen- ators to prepare what they thought was a suitable measure for tke ad- vancement of American shipping and present it to congress. Dispatches from Washington during the past few days would in- dicate that Secretary Olney" has simply to write a few letters to the British government and. the question of lake ship builders being per- mitted to construct war vessels would be settled in our favor. It js unfortunate, however, that there is a great deal more back of this question than appears on the surface, as Senator McMillan learned when he undertook a settlemeut of it some two or three years ago, Congressman William Alden Smith of Michigan has directed Mr, Olney's attention to the treaty memoranda bearing on the subject, and the secretary of state is said to be of the opinion that it is a matter that can be settled in the state department without reference to congress, It must be understood, however, that any vessels of war built on the lakes, even of the smallest size, must pass to the seaboard through a system of canals on the St. Lawrence which Canada is now completing at an expense of many millions of dollars. It is plain, therefore. that although the treaty memoranda, so called, might be easily set aside, there are other important questions that would certainly follow a proposition to move through the Canadian canals any war vessels that might be built on the lakes. Hditor George L. Norton of the Marine Journal,. New York, has been accorded a special honor in election to the position of first vice- president of the Marine Society of New York, which entitles him to place in the board of trustees of a great humane institution, the Sailors' Snug Harbor. The Marine Society of New York is one of the oldest and most respected associations of its kind in the world. Capt. Norton is certainly entitled to this recognition. He has labored for many years in the interests of shipping in this country, and his knowledge of everything pertaining to this interest will serve him well in the two positions to which he has been elected. It may be said of him, further, that he is a gentleman in the highest sense of the term. His wide circle of acquaintances will be increased by meeting in the board of trustees of the Sailors' Snug Harbor'the mayor of New York, the president of the New York chamber of. commerce and other men of influence. Numerous rumors of iow rail and lake freight rates have been circulated in connection with the accounts of the Carnegie-Rocke- feller ore and transportation deal, but it is more than probable that when facts regarding the big transaction are fully known, as they will be when legal documents are filed, it will be found that the basis of lake freights to be paid to the Rockefeller ships is not so low as to be discouraging to the vessel interests asa whole. It is understood, in fact, that throughout the negotiations there was never any thought on either side of the ships being paid less than 80_ cents for ten years if a fixed rate had been established. : 3 The United States senate is already after the managers of the railway steamship lines who are affiliating with the Joint Traffic Asso--- ciation. Senator Chandler has introduced a resolution, which was agreed to, directing the committee on interstate commerce to 'inquire into the agreement recently made by the managers of the lines of steamers on the great lakes to maintain such rates of f reight transe portation as may be fixed by the managers of the railroads constitut- ing the Joint Traffic Association."' 3 It would seem from information given out by Duluth vessel brokers and others who are acquainted with the northwestern grain trade that vessel men have little to expect in the way of a grain mover' ment from the head of the lakes until next fall. It is the opinion of those who are best able to judge the situation at Duluth that there will not be more than 12,000,000 bushels of grain moved by lake previous to September of next year. ; RS 'Of all the vessels arriving at the port of New York from foreign ports during the year 1896 less than 24 per cent. were under the American flags.) +: Bye s Je Re