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Vou. XVI. Hammering Down the Price of Ships. Now it is the ship builders 'who are talking. of John JD: Rockefeller and the probable effect on their industry produced by his operations on the lakes. During the past three or four weeks, General Manager L. M. Bowers of the Bessemer Steamship Co. has been. constantly, engaged in correspondence or personal'. interviews, with the managers of ship yards. Nearly all of : them. haye'. submitted 'plans and prices to 'him, and most of them. have: spent hours in 'his office, and .yet they are in the dark as to whether he will order -one ship, ten ships or none at all. They are agreed in saying, however, that if he had prices to suit him he would undoubtedly fill up all -idle berths in the lake yards, and accept delivery late next summer on,some of the vessels. On this score Mr. Bowers says nothing, but it is plain that the advantage which. he possesses as the representative of a great money interest is bringing to him just what-he wants, a full knowledge of the cost of building ships. He is even getting.a knowledge, through these negotiations, of any advantage which one ship yard may possess over another in the way of labor cost, freight on material and other items en- tering into the question of competition in. the business. There is no secret as to his operations in this regard, which from present indications have undoubtedly been going on for several months past. - . The ship builders, who realize the power of one man with unlimited _ capital dealing with them on a big scale as against their negotiations in the past with numerous vessel owners around the lakes, are of course | trying to cope with the desire to secure work and at the same time main- tain prices as best they can. If their yards were idle, Mr. Rockefeller's representative might have an easier task, but the situation is somewhat against him in this regard. His action in giving F. W. Wheeler & Co. an order for three big vessels at the outset is taken as a shrewd move. to lower prices. Circumstances connected with the building of the first fleet of Bessemer ships prompted peculiar relations with Wheeler & Co.. and the ship builders claim that from an insight of the business gained through these relations the managers of the Bessemer company is ex-' pecting too much in the way. of reduced prices. However this may be, it would seem that he has scored an important point in the prices to be paid for the three ships to be built by Wheeler & Co. Prices submitted by other builders on these vessels are proof that the figures on which the contracts were let are very low. The exact figures are probably known only to parties of the contract, but it is reported among the builders that the steamer is to be built for about $249,000 and the schooners for a little less than $150,000 each. The effect of such prices on the ship buildine industry, even though they may be several thousand dollars below the right mark, may be understood when it is known that as high as $258,000 was paid for some of the original steamers of the Bessemer fleet. not- withstanding the great difference in their capacity as compared with the 475-foot steamer of today. and notwithstanding also the very shrewd manner in which agents of Mr. Rockefeller caused the ship builders to think they were hidding against each other when the first vessels of the 'fleet were ordered. These are some of the reasons that are now causing the shin builders to study; in their turn with the vessel owners the effect of Rockefeller operations on their business. | : Immense Soft Coal Movement. It is probable that soft coal shipments from Ohio ports during the present month will- exceed by 50 per cent. the' shipments of any other month in the history of the Jake commerce. 'Railway managers are doing all in their power to help the coal dealers make upfor time lost during the strike. They are limiting the number of cars to be furnished for ore business. and the scarcitv of ore cargoes is due in part to this action. Quite a large number of the biggest carriers have of late been taking coal cargoes, and this extra tonnage has been of great assistance to the coal . shippers in preventing marked advances in freights. The shippers them- sélves have worked together very well in holding rates down. . They figure that all of the vessels that will take tp cargoes under any circum- stances*will load coal at present rates. and on this account they aroue that there js nothing to be gained in hidding against the hard coal shiv- pers of Buffalo. Their policy is to follow rather than lead Buffalo in the matter of rates, as they say that Buffalo shippers will not allow any ton- nage which they need to be taken away from that port on account of an attempt at Ohio ports to bid against them. Rockefeller shins will fall a little short of moving 1,500,000 tons of / ore this season. That mark would have been reached but for some hesitancy in sending the vessels out in the spring, and, but for peeaon of late in the ore trade, due to the rush of coal shipments over a i0 and Pennsylvania railways leading to Lake Eric. Including the AR ships ordered from F. W. Wheeler & Co., the aggregate investment {1 Rockefeller vessels on the lakes is nearly $4,000,000. Quadruple eayersion engines of the steamer to be built by Wheeler & Co.. will cpxe op. 2st tt horse power. This is big power for the slow-going king of ship Anak 3s required in the carrying trade of the lakes. The cost of this: vesse chinery and boilers will probably exceed $75,000. ~ Luce's "Seamanship" has been a text-book at the United Ptagegoaaya) academy for the past thirty years. It is being used by are i. $10, and will izations all over the.country. It isa standard work, selling a . be mailed to any address at that figure by the Marine Review, 409 Eouy- | Payne building, Clevelan¢ CLEVELAND, 0., OCTOBER 21, 1897. 'as indicated by contracts made with the No. 17. |" Everybody Talks of John D. Rockefeller. _ John.D. Rockefeller, Jr., twenty-three years of age, has. just. visited, in company with Mr. F. T. Gates, the iron mining districts at the head of Lake Superior, where his father is heavily interested in profitable mines, in a valuable railway, in ore docks, ina ship yard and in large tracts of undeveloped mining property. He is to be initiated into the lake business --probably not the details but the more important responsibilities. He is regarded by everybody who knows him as a promising young man. He is energetic but unassuming. His initial business training, from all that can be learned, will be with Mr. Gates and will have to do with the ex- tensive interests which his father has acquired of late in iron mines and in the transportation of ore on the lakes. This is the conclusion from the fact that he is now being taken over the ground to judge of and become acquainted with these interests for-himself. Some of them, it is needless to say, will strike him as regular Klondykes from a dividend-earning standpoint, whatever his ideas may be of profits in the business world. But after all, there are men of business who will pity him; pity him for the reason that if he is to undertake real business cares, even to the extent of his father's present interests on the lakes, the responsibilities before him are great. He is already the subject of gossip. A popular argument is that not one in a thousand among the sons of wealthy men prove equal to the opportunities offered them. It is declared also that when John D. Rockefeller gives up reins of business a process of disintegration will occur.in the big corporations which he has built up. ees rape But the fact remains that the young Mr. Rockefeller will have good tutors, not least among whom is F.-T, Gates, who has been showing him around the mines of Lake Superior. In this connection it may be: of in- terest to note a peculiarity in the man who has been so much talked about of late on the lakes, and who is said to draw a salary of $30,000 a year as one of Mr. Rockefeller's first lieutenants. A leading ore shipper of Cleve- land, who is probably as well informed of Rockefeller affairs as anyone can be outside of the circle of management, -was discussing, the changes that have taken place in the iron industry since the first announcement was made of a connection between the Rockefeller and.Carnegie interests in the mining and transportation of ore. "It is of course well under- stood," he said, "that the contracts made by these interests were so far- reaching in their effects that everybody began to talk of 'Gates, and when he appeared later at a meeting of ore dealers in Cleveland he was the center of attraction. This was the meeting which it was thought would be the funeral of the ore pool, but at which the Rockefeller interest took a. stand in favor of a pool that was entirely contrary to what was looked for. Everybody expected to hear from 'Mr. Gates at the outset, but sey- eral others had. their say before he spoke. ° It was remarked that when he began to talk he turned his back to everybody in the room, and* with his eyes fixed on a spot in the ceiling he continued for probably five min- utes, never turning to see whether anybody -was listening to him or not. Of course they were all listening to him without a sound of interruption. When it was necessary to speak again, his eyes were turned to another corner of the room, and everybody wondered why. he did it. Probably it was only a habit and one that would not be remarked: in a: man occtrpying a-less prominent position." "Previous to this meeting, F. T. Gates was not very well known on the lakes. His dealings were with only a few representative nen inthe iron industry. and they were conducted very quietly, both here and in Minnesota. But of late his operations in the interest of Mr. Rocke- feller have of necessity been more public. It would seem that his' policy, Carnegie-Oliver combination, is not to seek profit from the ownership of ore under ground in the. Lake Superior region, but rather to develop the property and hold the valuable right of transportation in everything that touches the interest which he represents. It should be plain, then, to' the intelligent vessel owner that low 'cost of transvortation affording profit only in a great volume of bus- iness, is the problem that now faces him. A similar condition is presented in the iron and steel_industry. Mr. Rockefeller's representatives are plan- ning the building of ships and the operation of them on a scalé equal to their interests in mining property, and in fact equal to all that the iron industry will support.- If the business is to be enlarged by exports of iron and steel later on, they. will be in position to reap great advantages from the foreign trade. They know, for instance, how many vessels there are on the lakes that can move ore from the head of Lake Superior to Ohio ports at 60 cents a ton and meet all expenses. The number is small, but it includes their fleet. They are building vessels of this class and many of them. (No great forethought is required to judge of the results. ii nae The Detroit Free Press complains of the neglect ofthe. Lake Car- riers'. Association regarding the memorial which it was proposed. to etéect -- at Sault Ste. Marie in 'honor of the late Gen. Poe. . Bette consult a De- troit vessel man on the subject. Gen. Russel 'A. 'Alger, now secretary of war, was the moving spirit in this matter when it. was first. suggested. It would seem that in his present position the honorable secretary of war could exert a special influence in behalf of any plan for perpetuating the memory of Gen. Poe at Sault Ste. Marie. By ; In addition to the options on the Pioneer mine which the Oliver Min- ing Co, has had for some time past, it is understood that one of the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron-Co.'s mines at Ishpeming was looked over and nego- tiations started with a view to purchase. No agreement was reached, how- ever, and it is not likely that the Pittsburg interests will make any futher move for the present to enter the Marqua¥- «arge.--Iron Trade Review. eos ---- tt mmm eee mea acme as