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[December 14, 18 a MARINE REVIEW. _ MARINE REVIEW Devoted to the Merchant Marine, the Navy, Ship Building, and Kindred Interests. Published every Thursday at No. 418-19 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland, Ohio, by Tue Marine REviEW PuBLISHING Co. Eastern Agents--The Samson Advertising Agency, 102 and 104 Fulton St., New York, N. Y. SUBSCRIPTION--$2.00 per year in advance; foreign,: including postage, $3:50. Single : copies 10 cents each. Convenien1 binders sent, post paid, $1.00. Advertising rates on application. ; Entered at Cleveland Post Office us Second-class Mail Matter. In a short communication to the New York Sun--only a couple oi paragraphs--Mr. E. T. Chamberlain, United States commissioner of navi- gation, makes a pointed reply to criticism of the American shipping bill. The bill is undoubtedly open to attack as is any bill in congress assail- ing established interest. 'But if there are any 'vested rights' in shipping in this country," says Mr. Chamberlain, "they are British-German steam- ship interests, which are naturally hostile to American competition with their lines. -American newspapers, accordingly, should at least study the proposition in congress before unwittingly striking hands with European corporations which profit by existing conditions. It is.not fair to say that the subsidy. bill means an expenditure of $9,900,000 a month when, by its termis, that is the maximum expenditure a year, nor to say that $9,000,000 a year is the minimum expenditure when the bill fixes that amount as the maximum. All Americans favor an American merchant marine. No progress will be made toward getting it if careless and indifferent state- ments are to appear in print as facts. It would be a pleasure to show that the new expenditures under the bill cannot now exceed $3,000,000 a year, and that under the maximum fixed we shall compel European capitals to send their passengers and mails for Asiatic ports through New York. This fact is appreciated in London, Paris and Berlin. It will be better understood in New York if our people study the globe." The ways of labor unions are certainly past understanding. No class of labor in this country would derive more advantage from the American shipping bill now before congress than-the sailors. With them the advantage would be of a direct and immediate kind. On steam vessels and on tow barges (the latter especialiy) in the coasting trade, both on the seaboard and on the great lakes, the sailor has been replaced to a very large extent of late years by a class of labor that is not neces- sarily of a skilled kind. But on the ships to trade to all parts of the world, that would be built in event of the passage of the shipping bill, sailors would be required and in great numbers. Places would be found for the men whose calling has been lost in the decline of American shipping. And yet the national organization of seamen, in annual convention at Chicago a few days ago, declared that the shipping bill was "vicions, uncalled for and of no benefit to labor in this country." Certainly the leaders of the Seamen's Union are not informed as to the provisions of the bill, or they are acting blindly in opposition to the measure because of the inducements which it offers to the investment of capital. In view of this action, what consideration can the officers of this union expect when they go to congress with some of the radical measures adopted at the same convention in support of labor legislation which they propose. Reports received by the navy department from Lieut. H. P. Norton, stationed in England as inspector of machinery of the cruiser Albany now building at the Elswick yard of Armstrong, Mitchell & Co., indi- cate that that officer is by no means enthusiastic over the turbine-propelled type of vessel as thus far developed. He says the Turbinia is not a success so far as weights go and that when first launched she was so much overweight as to be seriously out of trim. The Viper, the new torpedo boat destroyer fitted with the Parsons turbine, has, according to Lieut. Norton's views, much better lines and the weights are far less. The turbines in the Turbinia, the American officer says, are placed very low, and all the heat being below the platforms makes the engine room very uncomfortable. He seems to think that a considerable portion of the success of the Turbinia is due to the fact that she has a boiler. which can furnish all the steami that the turbine can use, and he is inclined to the opinion that nearly as good results have been obtained with the same boiler,and a well balanced reciprocating engine. / William Fletcher of' Norfolk, Va., is authority for an interesting story relative to the manner in which. Mr. Collis P. Huntington. -re- cently averted a strike at his- large ship: yard: at Newport News. Ac- cording to the story, Mr. Huntington, when the strike was threatened, sent for the heads of departments and asked them to- pick out a dele- gation that. would 'include honest, fair-minded workmen from all parts of the establishment. When this delegation' had assembled, Mr. Hunt- ington told them that it was possible they were not receiving fair wages and he wanted them to. settle the question to their own satisfaction by visiting all the principal ship building plants on the Delaware river. When the men came back from their semi-official journey they told the managers of the Newport News yard that they were satisfied that their wages were fully equal to what was being paid at any of the other At- lantic coast works, and that their surroundings were far more pleasant than 'those of the men in many of the ship yards which they had visited. ate A 'coveted mark, 25,000,000 net tons, has undoubtedly been reached in the commerce passing to and from Lake Superior through the canals at the Sault during the season of Jake navigation now at.an end. A few straggling cargoes are 'yet to pass the'canals and the: final figures' can not therefore be given, but it is certain that the number of tons of freight is full twenty-five millions, as official reports up to Dec. 1 showed 24 636,- 533 tons of freight and 21,527,420 registered tons, with 19,740 vessel pas- sages. In the full season of 1898 the figures were: Total freight tons, 21,234,664; total registered tons, 18,622,754; total vessel passages, 17,761. It will thus be seen that the commerce of Lake Superior for the present season, approximately 25,000,000 tons, is about 4,000,000 tons in excess of last year. It is unfortunate that reliable statistics of the kind obtained at the Sault are not:to be had for the great volume of commerce between important points below Lake Superior. The aggregate for the entire lake system would certainly reach 55,000,000 tons: Works of the Charles Reeder Ship & Engine Building Co., one of the oldest concerns of its kind in Baltimore, have been closed and 130 men thrown out of work. The cause is announced as "repairs and other personal reasons." It is understood that there has existed for some time among officers of the company a difference of opinion as to the policy to be followed in the conduct of the business. It is hoped that the works will shortly be able to resume operations, although the renewal will probably be on a smaller scale, inasmuch as considerable machinery has already been. removed. The most recent work of the Reeder company was the construction of the very handsome steamer Queen Anne, which was a short time ago turned over to the Queen Anne Railroad Co. Messrs. Charles Reeder, Charles M. Reeder, Jr., and Oliver Reeder are principals in the company. Mr. A. Robinson of Glasgow, Scotland, who is now in this country, in comparing the state of the ship building industry here and abroad said: "Since coming to the United States I have noticed one thing that is greatly to the credit of your.country, and that is the good behavior of your working class. In Glasgow, where thousands of men are em- ployed in the ship yards, there is a vast amount of drunkenness. The men are paid on Saturday, get beastly intoxicated Sunday, stay drunk Monday, are in a half stupor Tuesday and start in Wednesday in bad plight to resume their tasks. Thursday and Friday they do excellently, but relax their efforts Saturday in anticipation of the cash that affords the means of another debauch. This is not an overdrawn picture and although, of course, it is not true of all the wage earners it does apply to a large percentage of them." There is every prospect that the resolution to abrogate the treaty of 1817 between Great Britain and the United States, which prevents the construction of warships on the great lakes, will pass both houses during the present session. Practically no opposition is noted to the measure. The coastwise builders are not opposed to it. In fact it is understood they would welcome lake competition. The abrogation of the treaty would permit of the construction on the lakes of the lighter vessels, such as torpedo 'boats, torpedo boat destroyers and gunboats. The Cecil Rhodes, a small steamer which is to be used in laying the wires of the Cape-to-Cairo telegraph line along the shores of Lake Tan- ganyika, has been launched in England. She is 80 feet long, 14 feet beam and 7 feet deep. She will carry 40 tons of freight and has ac- commodations for four passengers. Owing to portages which must be made in getting the boat to its destination it has been constructed in detachable sections and can be done up, machinery and all, in forty- pound packages. Capt. Kaempff of the Hamburg-American liner Auguste Victoria has just completed his one-hundredth round trip across the Atlantic. During long service as a commander he has met with but one serious accident. This was a fire, which started in the hold of the steamer Gellert during a voyage from Hamburg to New York in 1893. In the same year Capt. Kaempff towed the disabled steamer Italia to New York, receiving there- for salvage amounting to $25,000. Mr. William R. Trigg of the Trigg company, Richmond, Va., grows more enthusiastic daily over the possibilities of that city as a ship build- ing center. He says it will ultimately become a second Glasgow. There are at present 600 hands employed at the Trigg yard and that the num- ber will be more than doubled within a year. Richmond business in- terests will bend every effort to securing the $3,500,000 recommended by the governmental engineers for the deepening of the James river. The passage by the German reichstag during the past week of a measure authorizing a large increase of the navy will not be without ef- fect on other maritime nations. It is understood that an extensive works ie be engaged in the construction of naval vessels will be erected at ?mden. CHARTS OF THE PHILIPPINES, CUBA, ETC. - Capt. J. E. Craig, hydrographer, navy department, says in his annual report: "The extraordinary demands made upon the resources of the hydro- graphic office, caused by the war, have been somewhat relaxed, and the issues of outfits of charts and publications to vessels of the navy have decreased in number from those of the preceding year; but there is left a permanently increased demand on the work of the office far beyond that of the times before the war. The hydrographic information received from naval vessels in the Philippine islands, reporting numerous errors in the charts of those regions, shows the necessity for thoroughly executed hydrographic surveys of those waters, and it. is recommended that. such surveys by the navy be made. For insuring safe navigation .to our ves- sels that are required to visit all parts of the archipelago, trustworthy charts should be furnished as soon as practicable. The best charts attain- able from the data extant are now supplied, but without new surveys they can not be. made satisfactory. The charts. of the coasts and harbors of Cuba and Porto Rico are very defective. It is recommended that the prosecution of the surveys in those waters continue uninterruptedly and vigorously until completely covered by trustworthy charts. There is also need, and it is recommended, of a thorough survey of the islands and shoals extending to the westward of the principal islands of Hawaii and forming part of the Hawaiian group, as possessions of the United States." eee