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1903.] MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. 23 the superintendent from members of the union and the president of the local is to appoint all time keepers. To avoid any misunderstanding as to who is actually in charge of the vessel the committee decided to insert the following clause into.all contracts: 'That all employes of the boats should promptly and cheerfully obey all orders issued by the captain." WAGES ON THE LUMBER CARRIERS, The Lumber Carriers' Association has also closed contracts with the seamen's union and the marine cooks and stewards' union. The wheelsmen and lookouts are to receive $45 up to Oct. t and $65 thereafter. Ordinary seamen are to get $25 per month up to Oct. 1 and $37.50 thereafter. Able-bodied seamen on tow barges are to get $45 per month up to Oct. 1 and $65 per month thereafter. Mates on barges are to receive $10 a month more than seamen on the same vessels. Steamers carrying 600,- ooo ft. of pine and over are to carry two wheelsmen, two look- outs and two ordinary seamen. The wages on schooners are to be $2 per day to Sept. 1; $2.25 per day for the month of Sep- tember; and $2.50 per day for the balance of the season. Mates' wages are to be 25 cents per day over the seamen. All vessels in the salt, alabaster, stone or railroad iron trade are to pay the men 25 cents per hour when working at cargo, at -all times over and above the regular wages. On steamers and barges, when lodding lumber, cedar, hemlock: or pulp wood, overtime is to be the same as longshoremen--ten hours to constitute a day's work and to be from 7 a. m. to 6 p. m., and one hour for dinner. Over- time, moving the vessel, or doing other work than loading, while at the loading port at the noon hour, before 7 a. m. or after 6 p. m., to be paid for at the rate of 25 cents per hour. With the cooks it was decided to pay the same wages as ob- tained last year but that no more women are 'to be employed. The: women, -however, who~have been engaged for the season: of 1903 are to be retained. ee _ THAT GOVERNMENT DREDGE. | It appears that Attorney: General Knox holds that the act, passed last year. by congress authorizing the secretary of war to build a dredge for harbor work 'on Lake Erie is' mandatory and that. the secretary will therefore be required to build it. The act. authorized the secretary to build the dredge but there was doubt as to whether it was obligatory upon him to do so.. The fact that the secretary, who is himself one of the foremost lawyers in the country, would send the act to the attorney general for an opinion, would imply that he was not personally in favor of building a dredge. However, the attorney general holds that the act directs him to do so, and it. is probable therefore that if protest from the dredging interests is not found too formidable, there will be a government dredge on Lake Erie. This is a cir- cumstance which is: much to be regretted, for it is a direct in- vasion into private, legitimate enterprise by the federal authority. Carried to its extreme it would supersede the rights of individuals and subvert ambition altogether. It has not even the excuse of economy, for it is undoubtedly true that men whose business is dredging can dredge more cheaply than any of the dock com- panies or Other business concerns that have occasion to employ dredgers, to say nothing of the added cost that attends all work which the government does on its own account. This govern- ment dredging is going to work out at a costly figure. The lakes have had examples of it in the past, notably in the case of dredges bought by one of the United States engineers a few years ago for work on Lake Michigan. The government officials are not concerned in the inexorable law of profit and loss which makes a private contractor forever keep his eye upon the cost sheet. When the year's business is reckoned up it will be found that the public has paid an extravagant sum for its dredging. The strength of a nation lies in its traders and the protection of the public in competition. Were there an unusual profit in the dredging business there would be more engaged in it. It is a business which it is impossible to mononolize, for it has no native resources which can be controlled. Anyone with a few dollars can go into the dredging business. The argument that a combi- nation exists among the dredging companies is no argument whatever, for the dredging companies, singly or combined, can- not hope to extract an unusual profit from the business, and in any event their charge would undoubtedly be lower than the cost of similar work under government methods. Capital is very eager after unusual profits and always will contest the issue when- ever they are to be obtained--unless prevented by a monopoly of the raw material, which. of course, cannot obtain in this case. No one can monopolize dredges. No one who has engaged in the dredging business on the lakes has become wealthy. It is cer- tainly strange, therefore, that Senator Hanna, who in all his business career has stood for liberal returns in all lines of in- dustry, and whose associates managing the several lake industries in which he is still interested have the same reputation, should be opposing the dredging companies in this matter. The claim that the dredge is required by the government for special work at Ashtabula, Fairport and other harbors of Lake Erie does not from the standpoint of anyone disinterested seem well founded. There are a sufficient variety of dredges to do the work--expe- ditiously if ordinary provision is made in that regard--and if there are not, private enterprise stands ready to build them. DULUTH ITEMS. Duluth, Minn., March 11.--Ore docks completed and planned, with the addition of the new construction credited to the United States Steel Corporation, will give a shipping possibility for the head of the lakes of about 20,000,000 tons, if delays are reduced toa minimum. The Steel Corporation has set aside funds for the completion of No. 3 dock of the Duluth, Mesabi & North- ern at Duluth, building it out to the dock line, 1,100 ft. of new dock, and: increasing its storage capacity to 80,000 gross tons. It has also set aside money for the repair and enlargement of No. 3 dock at' Two Harbors. ° A second engine crane has arrived at the yard of the Su- perior Ship Building Co. and is set up. Berths for two boats have been extemporized to the north of the punch sheds, and this crane will be tised for this part of the yard. Plating has been started on one of the Tomlinson boats and the other large -- one is fast taking shape. The keels have been laid and bottom frames are in for the two St. Lawrence ships building here. _ The Duluth lodge of the order of Elks has started a subscrip- tion to raise a fund for the relief of the widow and child of the late B. B. Inman, who died in Milwaukee last month and was buried at Duluth. An investigation of the captain's affairs discloses the fact that he died without leaving his family any provision for the future and Mrs. Inman and the little one are both in delicate health. At one time the captain was very well off, a little while after starting the tug business at Duluth, but that was all lost, and more, with the recurrence of hard times. Capt. Inman was very well known all over the lakes and had a host of friends. Remittances may be made to the secretary of the order of Elks or to Mr. D. T. Helm, treasurer of the B. B. Inman relief fund, Duluth. - CONDITION OF ICE ON THE LAKES. At no time in recent years have the conditions of weather seemed to favor an early opening of navigation as they do at present. Still it is yet too' early for any positive predictions. Norman B. Conger, inspector and marine agent of the weather bureau at Detroit, writes under date of March 11 that the re- ports from the regular and display stations of the bureau on the lakes indicate that the ice over extreme western Lake Superior has decreased some in size of fields, but the harbor ice at Duluth remains firm. Over the eastern portion of the lake the fields are' large and extend out of sight. These fields moved out from the ° shore on the oth. At Sault Ste. Marie the ice has softened under influence of warm weather and rain of the past week, and the ice is in about the same condition as reported last year at this time. The conditions are about the same in Mud lake; open water extends from Pipe island to Lake Huron. The ice over - the southern end of Green bay is softening and breaking up. It remains fairly solid over the northern portion. No ice is reported along the west shore of Lake Michigan. Ice fields on the east shore are not extensive, and do not extend as far north as re- ported last week; The ice is decreasing: at the straits. No ice is reported in Lake Huron from Middle island to the mouth, except small portions along shore. St. Clair river opened up during the week and the ice has run freely from Lake St, Clair, so that little ice is reported in the Detroit river: No ice is re- ported in sight in Lake Erie from Bar point. The reports indicate considerable ice around Put in Bay island but it is softening up rapidly. Ice fields are reported from Ashtabula eastward to Buffalo, but they are moving' with 'the wind. On = Lake Ontario the ice is confined to the extreme eastern portion. In comparison with last year for.the same period there is more ice reported over eastern Superior, while in the St. Marys river the conditions are about the same. There is less ice reported in Lake Huron and over the western portion of Lake Erie. On Lake Ontario the ice is not reported as thick as last year. DESTRUCTION OF THE MONTREAL. The fire which destroyed the Richelieu & Ontario Navigation Co.'s steamer at Montreal last week was of unusual fierceness, owing to the fact that it was impossible, until the steamer was practically a mass of embers, to.bring water to play upon it. Everything was frozen up. What started the fire is as yet un- known but it originated on the after part of the main deck. Hundreds of people had climbed upon the roof of the Allen Line shed to get a better view of the fire. Their weight caused the building to collapse and two persons were killed and about seventy-five injured. The Montreal was built by the Bertrams at Toronto at a cost of about $350,000 and had been towed to Montreal to be fitted out. She was to have gone into commission on the Montreal-Quebec route this summer. Her loss is there- fore seriously felt by the company, though the vessel was fully insured. A circular from the Lake Michigan & Lake Superior Transpor- tation Co. of Chicago announces that Edward J. Kelly, in addi- tion to his office of general freight agent, is appointed general passenger agent of the company, effective at once, vice C. F. A. Spencer, resigned. Dennis J. Swenie's name is now borne by one of the fire- boats of Chicago, formerly the Geyser, in accordance with the action taken by Mayor Harrison in honor of the late fire chief.