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' 18 THE MARINE REVIEW GRAIN TRADE BLOCKED Buffalo. Oct. 17.--This port is again in a state of siege on account of the failure of the railroads to furnish cars enough to carry off the grain as fast as it comes in. This state of things is popularly known as an elevator blockade, though it really has nothing to do with the elevators beyond the fact that they are not large enough to hold all the grain that comes in during the fall. Seldom has it happened at any time that more grain has come in than the elevators could handle and at present. with something more than a million bushels a day com- ing in, the elevators are handling a million and a half a day if there is storage room for it. It seems too bad for the big steamers to come in and be obliged to lie their great lengths somewhere in the way till there is a chance for them to unload. Of a list of eight arrivals reported one day last week three of them brought over 240,000 bu. of grain apiece, so it will be seen that the ore fleet is not going to stick to ore and allow itself to be driven out of grain by the smaller boats, as has been the case with hard coal for the most part of this season: The largest-sized steamers can load and unload grain about as well as smaller ones. But when it comes to handling them in such a port as this the harbormaster has a problem before him and he has written to a considerable number of vessel owners, directing them to remain' in the outer harbor till they have a place to begin unloading. There are of course several sides to the question, and I hear a grumble from some of the captains already, who are given to holding that they may do as they please, even if it turns out that doing as directed will help them out as well as the port. One of them when verbally notified of the state of things the other day, had his revenge by calling Buffalo "the rottenest port on the lakes," though he may have taken cargoes out of Chicago river in his day--and he somehow didn't go somewhere else this trip. 5 . The harbormaster holds that he has authority to order a vessel outside where it is obstructing the inner harbo:, for the harbor extends a mile beyond the breakwater. Still it would seem that: no conflict or even difference of opinion ought to exist in the matter. For a 250,000- bushel cargo to come inside with nowhere to unload usually means' an extra tug. bill when the elevator is obtained and it takes only a few such to hold up the entire harbor. The harbor master states that it is im- possible for such to tie up anywhere inside to wait without being in the way of business. It is reported that the Canadian elevators on Georgian Bay are badly overcrowded and it appears that there is little room to be had except on the St. Lawrence, which has not been such a great success as yet in the line of grain handling by water. Far moze diversion from the Buffalo route has been effected by the southern' routes, the reason for their activity being chiefly on account of the state of the terminal facilities in New York harbor. The charges of the like against Buffalo harbor have been laid aside for some time, or are heard as a sort of echo of the past. When they are made they merely betray the fact that the accuser is a back number, or thinks his hearers are not posted. The Buffalo elevators are prac- tically controlled by the railroads and the charges are absorbed by them. 'The effort to extend the inner harbor eastward goes on with some vigor, but the work is somehow rather slow, as it seems to a spectator. It has always been the dream of the vessel interests to secure a safe channel 20 ft. deep or more to the Union Iron Works. It is now said that this is a certainty this time, a great part of it being already accomplished. The dredgers upset .a big stone obstruction at the turnpike bridge the other day and stopped the passage up. This was spoken of as an accident by the harbor master and will be accepted as such if it is not done again. One vesselman who was not inclined to feel very pleasant about it said that as an accident it was the greatest.success of the season. It is so desirable that the marine interests be moze generally distributed than they are that the concentra- © tion of great wealth in that industry ought to accomplish 'much in that direction. If the vessel owner was also an owner of dock property here it would be impossible to speak truthfully of the harbor as out of date, for it would have been improved as fast as the vessels have been. The fact is that Buffalo has very little but her natural advantages to show for the lead she has in certain marine matters. It sometimes seems that the city with small advantages, but large possibilities and a will to work for them is best off in the end. Had we put as much expense accordingly on the harbor as Canada has on her wo-thless sand-pit ports on the shores of Lake Erie the return would have amply repaid the outlay. - Still there is plenty of excuse.for failing to keep the pace set by the lake fleet. A late official list of new vessels enrolled in this country contains the names of 'eighteen, the two for the lakes, the Frank J. Hecker and John Stanton, measuring considerably more than half of the whole. JoHN CHAMBERLIN. NO COMBINATION OF CANADIAN VESSELS In. a recent interview in the Toronto Globe Mr. A. A. Wright, of Toronto, manager of the steamer Tadousac, denied that any combination existed among vessel owners for the carriage of Canadian grain, in the following lan- guage: "I notice a press report from Winnipeg éxpress- ing shippers' dissatisfaction over alleged combine of vessel owners. I take exception to the expression, as the term is incorrect. The only agreement is one not to carry below reasonable cost of transportation, considering the season of the year and the delay boats get in loading and unloading.: The shippers forced the vesselmen to this to save them from bankruptcy, as in addition to the low rates, shippers insist on vessels loading at as many ele- vators as a shipper has grain in, regardless of what it, costs the vessel. And, as if that was not enough, insist, further, on the captain signing what is known among vesselmen as the cut-throat bill of lading, in which the vessel guarantees-to pay for any shortage the unloading elevator may make on cargo, which in several cases lately has come to more than the fréight, and in other cases left the steamer $300 or $400 for a trip which may have cost the vessel owner $1,500. Some vessel 'companies have not paid a cent in dividends for four years, largely owing to the low rates and great delays, and if despatch does. not improve shippers will pay very' much higher rates this fall than those in question. Some shippers are now offering Canadian vessels from % to 34 cent per bushel less than they are now chartering United States vessels for. It is still taking from 36 to 48 hours to load boats of from 80,000 to 100,000 bushels capacity, though this should be done in six to ten hours, and Canadians have sufficient boats to take care of all the grain the elevators at Fort William and Port Arthur will load this fall if they would give the vessels the despatch they are entitled to at each end of the route."