20 MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. MR. GEORGE UHLER TO SUCCEED GEN. DUMONT. Washington aispatches all say that with the appointmdnt of Mr. George Uhler of Philadelphia, president of the Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association, as supervising inspector-general of the steamboat inspection service, will begin the complete re-organiza- tion of that service which has been in contemplation by Sec- retary Shaw of the treasury department and Secretary Cor- telyou of the commerce de- partmeit for some time. past. The appointment of Mr. Uh- ler was made on the joint re- commendation of the two cabi- net officers named. The steamboat inspection service passes to the administration of Secretary Cortelyou on July 1, and before that time Mr. Uhler will be expected to have it placed as to personnel. Mr. Uhler will succeed James A. Dumont, who resigns after a service of over a quarter of a century, and who, although seventy-nine years old, is de- sirous of continuing his ser- vice in some less exacting pos- ition. 'The plan of placing him in the classified civil ser- | vice and giving him employ- ment in accordance with his wishes has been adopted, al- thougn no place has as yet been selected for him. During every administration for twenty years past an effort has been made to bring about the change that is now announced in his service. It was evident, all the time, that the work of the steamboct bureau was far from the standard of other brancnes of the treasury department, but as if by some hidden force the head of that bureau held his place. The chief office in the inspection service was first offered to Admiral Melville, who will shortly retire from the navy. The admiral, however, could not see his way clear to accept. It was then offered to Capt. J. W. Collins, chief of the revenue cutter service, but as he could not accept the position without forfeit- ing his retirement rights, he, too, declined. Mr. Uhler, who has accepted the appointment, has been for the last eleven years the national president of the Marine Engineers' Beneficial Associa- tion. Prior to that he had a long experience as chief engineer of steam vessels. As a leader of the marine engineers of the country, the men aboard ships, whose organization is a very large one, he has been highly successful. -He is regarded by the appointing officers as the right man for the place as he possesses executive abilitv as well as a practical knowledge of marine en- gineering. Mr. Uhler has been in Washington during the past few days and has expressed himself as in favor of the suggested commission to revise the regulations relating to the construction and inspection of marine boilers. this score are certainly antiquated. The appointment of a commission on revision was suggested by the :merican Boiler Manufacturers' Association. It was at first thought that an act of congress. would be required for the appointment of this commission but it now seems that the authority is already vested in the secretary of the treasury, and if this is so revision of the regulations as far as boilers are concerned will probably be brought about in a hurry. Mr. George Uhler. OPPOSED TO A MINISTER OF COMMERCE, The movement in England to organize a department of commerce, similar to that over which Secretary Cortelycu pre- sides in this country, is not hailed with great joy by the tech- nical journals. Fairplay, in particular, grows quite sarcastic, saying: "Tt is not perhaps a sign of redundant health in the body of British trade that there should be a cry for a ministry of com- merce, and apparently for an extension of official control over business operations. May not the question pertinently be asked whether we do not owe our (still) prominent business position rather in part to the comparative immunity of British trade from the interference of official regulation than to the want of it; and does not the present cry possibly show a decrease of the bold individual self-reliance that has given us our trade, and indecd our empire itself? We do not say it does--we ask the question. It is something like asking which is the real soldier, the tree man fighting in a natural way for his rights, or the strapped-up manikin, drilled to death, and with all his natural facilities artificially destroyed, to make a unit in a mass of similar ones, whose only possible use can be to combat a similar mass of other similar items? Who does not prefer the free man? There is already enough and to spare of systematic control of matters that by their nature cannot be properly reduced to © system. Why should an artificial and superfluous and costly machine be constructed for the purpose of regulating, and indeed producing, the movements of a number of other independent The rules of the service on . [ Mar. i9, machines, each working in a different manner and for diffe.ent ends. In fact the English nature has been in the past, and it 1s to be hoped still is, able to help itself, in trade as in war, science and other respects. It is by the sum of individual efforts, hy the special and independent action of individual minds, heads and arms, that a nation is made and kept great; not by the artificial hatching of official eggs in German fashion. 'The real trader, like the poet, is born, not made." PROGRESS OF WORK AT FORE RIVER. Quincy, Mass., Mar. 18--The work of fitting out the United States cruiser Des Moines at the Fore River ship yard is already well along and the interior division of the officers' quarters 1s nearly finished. The partitions are of corrugated steel, and an . asbestos sheathing is being put on the inside of the huli in the living quarters to make them damp-proof. The final painting of the interior of the vessel has begun. The six-masted steel schooner William L,. Douglas is rapidly taking shape. Most of the bottom frames are in place and the sides of the deep tanks amidships that will carry either cargo or ballast, as circumstances require, are well up. Four of the steel lower masts are practically completed. 'The schooner will probably be put overboard in July. Enough material is already on hand so that the construc- tion of the two Fall River Line steamers will begin very soon. One boat will be built on the stone foundations used for the cruiser Des Moines. Keel blocks for the other will be set flat on the building beach alongside the cruiser's former berth. Structural work on the twin battleships New Jersey and Rhode Island is about one-third completed. The nickel-steel ermor plates are being riveted to the protective deck and the stems and stern-posts are being connected with the frames. Both vessels will, it is expected, be launched early in the fall. SHIP YARD NOTES. Washburn Bros., Thomaston, Me., are to build two four- masters and one five-masted schooner. Mr. George Gilchrist of Belfast, Me., is about ready to lay the keel for a four-masted schooner for M. Question & Bro. Adams & Sons, East Boothbay, Me., have closed contract with Capt. Benjamin E. Pinkham for a four-masted wooden schooner. Cobb, Butler & Co., Rockland, Me., have contracted with Crowell & Thurlow of Boston for a four-masted woolen schooner of the following dimensions: Length, 210 ft.; beam, 43 ft.;. depth, 24 ft. Dunn, Ellictt & Co., Tlwomaston, Me., will shortly lay the keel for a three-masted wooden schooner of the following dimen- sions: Length, 140 ft.; beam, 43 ft.; depth, 10 ft. The firm will probably build a four-master later on. The five-masted wooden schooner Gardner G. Deering was. launched from the Deering yard, Bath, Me., this week. She is the eighteenth vessel to be built by Mr. Deering and the first to bear his name. Her dimensions are: Length, 251.6 it.; breadth, 44 fit.; depth, 25 it. The four-masted schooner Cohasset, built by the Kelley- Spear Co., Bath, Me. for John S. Emery & Co., Boston, was launched last week. 'The Cohasset is a two-decked vessel, in- tended for the 'general coasting trade. Her dimensions are: Length of keel, 184.6 ft.; beam, 37.3 ft.; hold, 18.7 ft. A monster hydraulic dredge, which when fully equipped with discharge pipes will cost more than $200,000, is to be built at the yard of the Tacoma Ship Building Co., Tacoma, Wash., for R. A. Perry of San Francisco, who has received the govern- ment contract for dredging the city waterway at Tacoma. The American Power & Construction Co. has been organ- 'ized to construct a large yacht building works at Gravesend bay, Ulmar park, New York. The ship building plant will con- sist of twelve large buildings and three marine railways. Dredges are at work upon the basin, which is to extend 1,600 ft. into the water with a breadth of 500 ft. It is understood that there is an abundance of capital behind the enterprise. The Holmes Ship Building Co., Mystic, Conn., is building for Capt. C. A. Davis of Providence, R. I., a schooner of un- usual type in that she will have no top masts. Her sticks will be somewhat longer than the lower masts of an ordinary schooner. The innovation does away with considerable rigging and it is claimed that it will be as practical to reef in a blow as to take in top sails. The schooner will be 160 ft. on the keel, 36 ft. beam and 13 ft. deep. The Maryland Steel Co., Sparrow's Point, Md., has been awarded contract to build a large sea-going tug for the New York, Philadelphia & Norfolk Railroad, which will use the vessel in towing railroad car floats between Cape Charles and Norfolk. The tug is to be delivered in August. The vessel is to be all steel, including deck house, and is to be of the following dimensions: Length, over all, 122 ft.; width, 24 ft.; depth, 12 ft. g in. She will have a compound engine with cylinders of 20 and 4o in. diameter and stroke of 28 in. A new chart of Alaska has just been issued by the Coast and Geodetic Survey. It sells at 50 cents and may be had from the Marine Review.