The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

MARINE REVIEW. | | 13 Power of Labor Unions in British Ship Yards. Upon returning from the International Congress of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers in London, a short time ago, 'Mr, W. I. Babcock of the Chicago Ship Building Co. wrote an article for-the Review dealing with conclusions 'regarding the ship building industry in England and America. The article has been very widely copied. Mr. Babcock, as well as other delegates to the congress from the United States, was im- pressed with the power of labor unions in English and Scotch ship yards. A few instances of abuse of this power cited by Mr. Babcock have caused surprise in this country, but there was no exaggeration of the unreasonable trades union rules that have actually been enforced on the Clyde and in other ship building districts. ; An editorial in one of the trade magazines discussing the present strike of the engineering trades in Great Britain on the question of an eight-hour day, refers to another of these rules which provided that each machine tool should be "attended'"' by only one man, instead of letting this one operative give his care to, say, half-a-dozen tools, like, for in- stance, a planing machine or lathe which frequently, for quite long periods of time, require very little attention while at work. "This one-man-to-a- machine policy," says the writer of the article referred to, "would not be tolerated for a day in the United States or Germany. The machinist's time is too valuable to be dawdled away in sitting on a bench mayhap, waiting for a big surface to be planed off or turned down; the principle of maximum output with minimum labor demands that the time be more profitably employed, and this it can be without imposing hardship on the men. A number of machine tools can often be tended with little more trouble than a single one, and carrying this into practice has helped largely to make American shops so remarkable in productive capacity without sacrifice of quality. If the present labor dispute in Great Britain should bring about the abolishment of some of these foolish regulations, an important point would be gained for all--not simply for the employers. Rules like this one paralyze trade, eventually drive it away to other coun- tries, and the ill effects fall upon employer and employed alike. For some years past 'Continental, and principally German, competition has been a serious menace to British industries, and a successful issue for the men in the present agitation would, in the end, probably be a rather doubtful victory for them. Trade depression means lack of orders, closed shops and idle days for the men, and the loss of wages for these days might more than wipe out the increase now under contention." Chicago River Tug Man's Home. (FROM CHICAGO RECORD.) Yes, sir, home is where the heart is; which is words that I have read In a book wrote by a party that I understand is dead. "Home, Sweet Home's" a tune I whistle often of these summer nights, When the smell rolls up the river follerin' the steamer lights. In the heart of ev'ry human is a feelin', kinder soft, Fer the bidin' place he's uset to, even if it's just a loft, Av a-settin' on the towpost when we're docked here, all alone, I feel sorry for the man that has no place to call his own. With my pipe lit an' a-puffin', with the bridge lamps shinin' red, An' the black smoke hangin' heavy in the air just overhead, An' the garbage in the river bobbin' up an' down, you see, There's a heap o' satisfaction to a homebody like me. Other men may have their millions an' their houses, big an' rand, But I ain't got any envy for them people of the land; wenty years ve bunked down forrard in the old Rebecca Nye-- he has been my home an' will be, if I'm lucky, till I die. Home--yes, home is where the heart is, an' the old Rebecca's mine; I blowed up with her in '80, sunk with her in '89; Evry plank an' rope an' rivet, ev'ry bolthead is a friend Tue an' firm an' tried an' trusted, on the which I can depend. This is home--the greasy water an' the sulphur an' the smoke, An' the smell that comes a-floatin' up the river till you choke, N the tootin' 0' the whistle, an' the crashin', splashing sound As the whizzin' old propeller swings some passin' boat around. This 18 home--the steward callin' like a voice out of the tomb, ellin us to come to supper down there aft the engine room. 'S is home--with us a-groanin' up the river, pullin' slow, n as we go chasin' outside nosin' 'round to find a tow. Let them kings who live in castles be as proudish as they please; The €m wade around in carpets that reach clear up to their knees, at an' such like things may be their idy of a home, but I Tuther have my bunk down forrard in the old Rebecca Nye. Not the Dean Richmond, S In answer to an inquiry regarding the report that officers of the U. S. 'evi tchigan had found the wreck of the steamer Dean Richmond, the sign EL as Teceived the following note from the Michigan, signed by. En- the wre H. Caldwell, navigator: "The report that the Michigan has found | Teck of the Dean Richmond, off Dunkirk, is untrue. We found and va 'ee which has been reported to be in that vicinity for several and is tis the lowermast of a sailing vessel, projects 5 feet above water, Mile SN chored, evidently by heavy rigging and wreckage. It lies 10 1-3 sooo E. (true) from Dunkirk light-house in 81 feet of water." Rain and navy charts of the lakes are kept in stock by the Marine _? *€try-Payne building, Cleveland. Take the Ni hi 8. Choice of Tegular or eet $6.00 excursion to Chicago Oct. 8. gies Permanent Recruiting Station for the Lakes. It would seem that the success which the navy department met with recently in enlisting men from the lakes for the navy will result in the es-. tablishment of-a permanent recruiting station at Chicago.. A copy of the: report of Lieut. Comdr. J. M. Hawley, who was in charge of the recruiting expedition, is at hand. It is altogether a strong argument in favor of a permanent station at Chicago, and is highly complimentary to the class of men employed on lake vessels. All of the men enlisted on the lakes---about 250--were American citizens and a large percentage were American born. "Of course I endeavored, upon, going to the lakes," Lieut. Hawley says, 'to impress upon the minds of the public the fact that the navy was not in need of men, as the complement, allowed by law was nearly full, but that the secretary of the navy desired to give western men a chance to en- list in the navy upon an equal footing with men in the eastern coast cities and not oblige them to make a long journey to an eastern recruiting station at their own expense, and then with the possibility of being found physic- ally disqualified for enlistment. At all of the cities visited a very great in- terest' was shown in the object of my mission to the west, and a general desire expressed to have a permanent recruiting station established at one of the large lake cities,to be open several months during the year, and temporary stations established at the other lake cities. "In conversation with men interested in lake commerce, I learned that the best time to secure good lake seamen is during the winter months, when lake navigation is closed. I believe that a very decided interest in the navy will be developed among the people of the great west by the en- listment of men and boys from that part of the country for general service in the navy, and I would respectfully suggest that a permanent recruiting station be established in Chicago, and that the officer in charge of it be given authority to visit adjacent cities for the purpose of 'establishing tem- porary rendezvous; during such visits the rendezvous in Chicago to be closed. I am of the opinion that some of the large cities in the south and south-west should be accorded the privilege of a temporary rendezvous, and would suggest such places as Galveston, New Orleans, Mobile, Pensa- cola, Savannah and Charleston. > "The enlistments on the lakes were all unusually fine specimens of men and boys; not one presented himself under the influence of liquor, and there were no rejections for diseases which are commonly found among men who apply for enlistment at the Atlantic and Pacific coast rendezvous. They seemed to me men of excellent habits, and in the long railroad trips from the lake ports to New York, not one of them gave the officers the slightest trouble." Canada's Tariff on Ships and Ship Materials, Washington, D. C., Oct. 6.--For the convenience of the different com- mercial and manufacturing interests, the new Canadian tariff has been dis- sected so as to bring together items that are of special interest in several important lines. Portions of the new law that bear particularly on the shipping interests are as follows: Sails for boats and ships, 25 per cent. ad valorem; ships and other vessels built in foreign countries, whether steam or sailing vessels, on application for Canadian register, will pay on the hull, rigging and all appurtenances, except machinery, 10 per cent. ad valorem; on boilers, steam engines and other machinery, 25 per cent. ad valorem; canvas and sail, twine of hemp and flax, when to be used for boats' and ships' sails, 5 per cent. ad valorem; twine and cordage of all kinds, n. €. s., 25 per cent. ad valorem; all goods not enumerated as subject to any other rate of duty, nor declared free of duty by this act, or not being goods the importation whereof is by this or any other act prohibited, shall be subject to a duty of 20 per cent. ad valorem. Following are items on the free list: Books on ship building; chronometers and compasses for ships; wire rigging for ships and vessels; life boats and life-saving apparatus spe- cially imported by societies established to, encourage the saving of human life; anchors for vessels; all articles for the use of the governor-general; logs and round unmanufactured timber, ship timber or ship planking, not especially enumerated in this act. Engine Building Contracts, Some owners of lake vessels are preparing their steamers, by adopt- ing every means of economy, to make money even with the reduced' freights that have come into the business. The announcement that the steamer Bulgaria will have her engines rebuilt and a Howden equipment added to her boilers by the 'Dry Dock Engine 'Works, Detroit, Mich., shows that another shrewd and wide-awake vessel owner has been con- vinced of the economy of this system of draft. The Howden hot draft is now in operation on thirty-five lake steamers, and the Bulgaria will makes the thirty-sixth equipment. The adoption of this draft on so many lake steamers is attracting attention among owners, and the number of equipments this winter may reach a half hundred. The general adoption of this draft on the lakes, its advocates claim, is only a matter of 'time required to make its advantages known to all vessel owners. ; The Dry Dock Engine Works has also closed a contract with the Goodrich Transportation Co., Chicago, for a compound engine with cylinders 21 and 44 by 36 inches, having steam reversing gear, etc., for the steamer 'City of Ludington. Men employed on the new royal yacht building in England have been cautioned not to divulge any information concerning her, and to avoid the possibility of other persons employed in the loft obtaining particulars of the new ship the four are closeted together in a room, the door of which is kept regularly locked. Why such an extreme precaution should be taken concerning a matter which will undoubtedly become public later on, it is difficult to conjecture. When the ship is being built sketches of all parts of her will be accessible, and the outside public will glean such information as they desire to know. It is unlikely that the structure of the hull will em- body any principle which it is desirable to keep secret, and the engines will in all probability be built by contract on much the same lines as other mod- ern triple or quadruple expansion engines. In neither case, therefore, is there any reason for the precaution now being taken.--The Engineer, London.