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MARINE REVIEW. VoL. XV. CLEVELAND, O., JANUARY 21, 1897. No. 4. Big Insurance Combination. It is quite evident now that methods of conducting the insurance business of the lakes are to undergo some very important changes with the opening of another season. The recent meeting of the Lake Car- riers' Association in Detroit was attended by some of the principals of a combination that is planning to apply modern methods to both hull and cargo insurance on the lakes. For the present, names of the lake promoters of the scheme, as well as the principal companies that will take the business, are withheld, but it is certain that the arrangements are such as to take care of, through one source, the largest: risks in both hull and cargo that are offered on the lakes. Preparations for this combination have been going on for a long time past, It is in their interest that Capt. Herriman, lake repre- sentative of the Bureau Veritas, has been carrying on, with a corps of eleven assistants, an inspection of all lake vessels, and is about to pub- lish (not for safe or general distribution, but for the private use of the underwriters) a register, to be known as the "Great Lakes Register," in which each individual ship will be rated according to construction and present, condition. Reference to the careful prosecution of work _ on the register has been made in recent issues of the Review. The claim held out to vessel owners by the combination will be that through the establishment of the new register better classification of vessels may be made, and for the first time rate making will be based upon consistent theories of underwriting in vogue in the great insurance centers of the world. Finer discriminations as to the relative value of vessels may be made, and in the end worthy vessels may be grouped upon sound rules to the advantage of owners. Inasmuch as the book will include all classes of vessels upon the lakes, it is in- ferred that owners of wooden' vessels will be largely benefited by this scheme, as they will have the same advantages in placing their vessels as those enjoyed by the large iron and steel owners at the present time. In the preparation of the register, Capt. F. D. Herriman holds the office of surveyor-general, with headquarters in the Royal Insurance building, Chicago. , A financial statement to be presented at the annual meeting of the Chicago Ship Building Co., which will be held Jan. 25, will show a surplus of about $225,000, after the payment of an annual 6 per cent. dividend, which is dispersed. half in February and half in August. This surplus is equal to half of the capital stock of the com- pany, which is $450,000. The company has paid dividends regularly at the rate of 6 per cent. per ani um, adding all other earnings to sur- plus. It is announced that there is not a dollar of bonded or floating debt or other obligations further than current accounts. The output of the company in new ships during 1896 is placed in round numbers at $1,000,000, and work now under way is valued at $900,000, insur- ing a larger business in 1897 than that of the past year. J. C. Gilchrist of Cleveland is engaged in putting the twenty- four vessels of the fleet of which he is managing owner into two corp- orations, one of which, already organized, comprises the smaller vessels first acquired by Mr. Gilchrist, and which will be known as the Gilchrist Transportation Co. A name for the second corporation, which will comprise twelve of the better class of vessels, has not as yet been decided upon, but Inland Transportation Co. is talked of. Owners of these vessels are mainly J. C. Gilchrist and his relatives, together with R. E. Schuck of Sandusky. Mr. G. G. Hadley of Toledo was the only vessel owner who talked of a pool of vessel interests at the recent meeting of the Lake Car- riers' Association. He made no annoucnement of his views on the subject in open session, as he found from conversation with different leading members of the organization that the once popular scheme of a general combination of interests has faded, on account of the close relations that have been brought about, within the past two years, between big shippers and big vessel owners, especially in the ore trade. An Association of Dredging Interests. While vessel owners of the lakes were all assembled at the annual meeting of the Lake Carriers' Association in Detroit, representatives of nearly all of the dredging companies were holding a meeting at | Indianapolis, Ind. The Indianapolis meeting was quietly arranged, and as a convention to discuss the money question was also being held in that city about the same time, no attention was paid to the gathering of dredging contractors. Now that public announcement has been made of the meeting, there are a number of rumors:about its object. It is claimed, of course, that the aim was to effect a com- bination that would dictate prices on the large amount of work, espec- ially government contracts, that is now being let and will soon be © let-on the lakes. This the dredging contractors deny this. They declare -- positively that the meeting was called simply for the purpose of talking over the advisability of organizing some kind of an associa- tion that would work along lines similar, for instance, to the Lake Carriers' Association, dealing with matters that affected the general welfare of the dredging business, but not attempting in any way to make prices or interfere with legitimate competition. However this may be, itis certain that no combination to deal with prices and an apportionment of work could have been effected at this single meet- ing. Such a problem is a big one, as the equipment of lake dredging companies involves an investment of several million dollars, and there is a diversity of interests that could not be brought together with- out preliminary work that would require lengthy deliberation. But the dredge men insist that there is no intention of undertaking such a task, and that the plans for an association, even of the vessel owners' kind, are as yet only briefly outlined. Although most of the vessel owners who attended the annual meeting of the Lake Carriers' Association expected that something would be done towards overcoming delays in the coal trade, and that an effort would 'be made to secure a bill of lading or change of some kind doing away with the shortage abuses in grain, it is more than probable that both of these matters will go over to another year. They were not taken up early enough to be disposed of at the Detroit meet- ing, and as a result the same old troubles in these lines of trade will be encountered during 1897. They are both important questions requiring united action on the part of all owners, tand it is not probable that the executive officers of the association will undertake to dispose of them. The question of grain shortages was, during the last hour of the convention, referred to a special committee, of which Mr. A. B.Wolvyin of Duluth is chairman, but it is hardly expected that this committee will make a report upon which any definite action may be taken until next year. Among articles in the January magazines that will interest readers of the Review is one by Lewis Nixon in the Engineering Magazine on "Progress of Ship Building in the United States." An- other in the North American Review by Capt. John Codman is en- titled "The Folly of Differential Duties." In the Arena, Wm. W. Bates, ex-commissioner of navigation, writes of "Our Own Ships in the Foreign Trade Essential to Our Prosperity." There is eyery reason to place reliance in the report from Pittsburg regarding big purchases of coal lands in the Monongahela valley by the Carnegie interests controlling the new railway from Conneaut to Pittsburg. A return freight from Pennsylvania to the lakes will be required forthe Carnegie road, and coal is, of course, the kind of freight that is wanted. It is said that the purchase involves 4,100 acres of coal lands. The bill putting naphtha launches under the supervision of the steamboat inspection service, and which is known as seuate bill No. 1,646, is now a law. This is the compromise measure, which, although requiring naphtha launches of 15 tons and over to carry licensed officers, does not interfere with owners of small launches handling their own boats.