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ee | TAeE Marine REVIEW DEVOTED TO EVERYTHING AND EVERY INTEREST CONNECTED OR ASSOCIATED WITH MARINE MATTERS ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. \ Published every Thursday by - The Penton Publishing Company CLEVELAND. CHICAGO: - MONADNOCK BUILDING. PITTSBURG: PARK BUILDING. 150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK: Correspondence on Marine Engineering, Shipbutlding and Shipping Subjects Solicited. Subscription, $3.00 perannum. To Foreign Countries, $4.50. \ Subscribers can have addresses changed at will. Change of advertisting copy must reach this office on Thursday preced- ing date of publication. The Cleveland News Co. will supply the trade with the MARINE REVIEW ; through the regular channels of the American News Co. -European Agents, The International News Company, Breams Building, Chancery Lane, London, E. C. England. Entered at the Post Office at Cleveland, Ohio, as Second Class Matter. NOVEMBER 16, 1905. ' Some of the newspapers last week were so frank as to refer to the action of the executive committee of the Lake Carriers' Association in deciding to petition con- gress for appropriations for a new channel at the Lime Kiln crossing, as impudence. They were also pleasingly compared to leeches. These newspapers, of course, take the view of it that the appropriations are for the exclusive benefit of the lake carriers, overlooking the fact that the real beneficiaries are the people of the United States, The deepening of lake channels can give but an indirect benefit to the lake carrier, What personal benefit he would reap is' instantly taken away from him by an automatic reduction in the freight rate. In point of fact the deepening of channels has well nigh ruined a num- ber of individual vessel owners whose vessels were of small capacity, since it has made them hopelessly inadequate to compete with newer and larger ton- nage. This is a feature of the general evolution of industrial life from which it is impossible to escape. It follows as absolutely as the night follows day. The big ship is the inevitable cutcome for modern conditions. It is taking a very narrow view of the subject, however, to say that the owner of the big ship gets the exclusive benefit. The real benefit is bestowed upon the whole people. That this is so is clearly borne out in the annual report of General Alexander Mackenzie, chief of | engineers of the war department. He makes some very pertinent remarks in his report. He shows that the saving in freight rates paid on the commerce of the single port of Duluth for the year 1904 was greater than the total amount expended by the gov- ernment since it began its extensive policy of im- proving lake channels. If this is so for a single port, how much more must it be so for the whole chain of ports, General Mackenzie points out in his re- port that the average rate on freight passing through the St. Mary's Falls Canal in 1904 was .81 of a mill per ton per mile. He says that if the same freight had been carried by rail, the rate would probably have been as much as 3 mills per ton per mile, making a difference of 2.2 mills per ton-mile. That the dif- ference is greater than this is very well known, the average rate on the gréat trunk lines of the United States being about 4 mills. But using the conserva- tive estimate of General Mackenzie of 3 mills, it is shown that in the haul of 900 miles which the com- merce of Duluth harbor underwent, the 'saving in cost of transportation by water is $1.98 per ton. For the 16,617,017 tons that were received and shipped at Duluth in 1904, the saving in cost 'amounts to - $33,000,000 for that one year. What more convincing argument for the improve- ment of our waterways can be made than this? That $33,000,000 was saved to the people of the United States. It was saved for the consumer, for if that sum were to be added to the cost of transportation it would have to be added-to the cost of the article trans- ported. The consumer in purchasing the article would pay that cost. And yet a lot of little newspapers howl about appropriating a million or two to make a new channel at the Lime Kiln crossing. A chain is no stronger than its weakest link, and the weakest link in the whole chain of lake channels is the Lime Kiln crossing. It would be economy to put a new chan- nel through there if it cost $20,000,000 to do it. This year's convention of the Ohio River Improve- ment Association, which is now being held at Cairo, Ill., will undoubtedly be among the most important meetings that the association 'has held since its or- ganization. While this association is in convention, however, there are a few points which it should not overlook. The people of the Ohio valley are all.en- thusiastic over the probable improvement of the river and its tributaries, but must not let our enthusiasm blind them, There are other sections of these United States, the residents of which are desirous of the cheap transportation which improved rivers and har- bors afford, and they are entitled to more than pass- ing consideratian. Before 9-ft. navigation is asked for, let it be fully understood what is meant. We