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22 DEVOTED TO EVERYTHING AND EVERY INTEREST CONNECTED OR ASSO- - CIATED WITH MARINE MATTERS ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. Published every Thursday by The Penton Publishing Co. > CLEVELAND. oe POOR he sais kale 932 Ellicott Sq. BUFFALO CHICAGO iis Sie aes 1362 Monadnock Blk. GINGINNATE oss se First National Bank Bldg. NEW* YORK: 20205022 -..1005 West Street Bldg. PLETSBURG 35 6.50% Saha ces 521 Park Bldg. DULUTH eet eas 4 ae Providence Bldg. _ Correspondence on Marine Engineering, Ship ee and Shipping Subjects Solicited. Subscription, Us. S. and Mexico, $3.00 annum. Canada, $4.00. Foreign, $4.50. a F can have addresses changed at will. - Change of adivertieiie Sony must reach this office .on Thursday preceding date of publication. The. Cleveland News Co. will supply the ae with the Marine ReEvIEwW 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. September 26, 1907. WATERWAYS COMMISSION. The present tour of the ning of what is probably destined to be the most. comprehensive study of the waterways of the United States that has ever been made. mission, of which Hon. T. E. Burton is chairman, is a most representative one, embracing both legislative, and executive ends of the government as well as men distinguished in civil life, and is empowered to deal with the subject in its broadest aspect. The work, Roosevelt, is upon general lines, but 'it seems to us that no executive has manifested such wide comprehension of the relation of waterways to indus- trial welfare as has President Roose- velt. He points out very clearly how Inland. Waterways Commission is the begin-. This com-' as mapped.out by President -- TAE MARINE REVIEW the. question (of. transportation | in- volves the interest of, every. private citizen and how the waterways of the country are inseparably linked with the railways. The Inland Waterways Commission will not confine its in- vestigation, as its name might imply, to waterways merely, but will con- . sider also their direct bearing upon the whole question of transportation. No commission that has been appoint- ed by an executive has greater cope than this. In the selection of Mr. Burton to head this commission, President Roosevelt exhibited fine dis- crimination, because no man is better | | qualified for this office than he. Mr. Burton has, for a 'period of twenty years, made waterways the chief study of his life and he is far and away the ablest man in the country. upon this subject: It is 'not necessary to -dis- cuss in this article his limitations in relation to certain phases of it--nota- bly shipping--but to admit his un- questioned competence in the develop- meéent..of. the: country's physical re- sources in its rivers and harbors. left Saturday last on the steamer Thomas F. Cole, making the trip to Duluth and then proceeding down the Mis- This commission Lorain on sissippi valley. The commission could not fail to be impressed with what it saw along the chain of lakes. It saw, passing as it were in review, a com-. merce that will total 60,000,000 tons during the present year and which could not possibly exist at all were it not for this chain: of waterways which has been so, generously developed by the general government. It is not generally known but it is a fact that the commerce of the great lakes trav- e-ses an artificial waterway than the proposed cut through the Isthmus of Panama for the Panama Con- sider what a mighty feeder to ascore greater canal, a distance of 45 miles. of railways this country's commerce is. It would be impossible, as stated, for this commerce to exist were it not this The railways could not possibly haul, at this quantity of bulk freight over such a for chain of waterways. commercial figures, enormous great distance. So economically, in- deed, has it been transported along the chain of lakes that the total sum the government, has ever expended on the improvement of the waterways of . the. lakes has been saved each year to the people of the United States in the the freight rates. This is the one great object lesson that the Inland Water- ways Coimmission has before it. A on the great lakes from Duluth-to Buffalo. Possibly. the day will come when it consequent reduction of | twenty-foot _ channel exists will also exist from Duluth to New Orleans. When that is accomplished the United States will have the finest in the _The possibility of this im- provement of the Mississippi is one system of inland waterways world. of the points that the commission will consider. When the rivers and lakes are working in unison to pro- vide cheaper transportation' the bless- ing to the people will be immeasur- able. 3 BLUE BOOK OF AMERICAN SHIPPING. The Marine REvIEW announces that it is prepared to deliver, carriage pre- paid anywhere, the 1907 edition of the Blue of American Shipping. - This is the standard marine directory of the United States. It contains a complete list af all vessels of Ameri- can register with their leading dimen- sions and the names and addrésses of their managing owners--both for the lakes and ocean. Book This list is practi- cally invaluable to those who are endeavoring to reach this important trade. There are also included com- plete lists of trades and professions allied to shipping as, for instance, ad- miralty lawyers, naval architects, army engineers, federal judges, ship build- ers, engine and boiler builders, power . oat builders, custom officers, wreckers, dredging contractors and all depart- of the having to do with shipping. ments national government, In its relation to lake commerce the Blue Book has built up a great mass of statistical information that is invaluable. There is incorporated the total commerce of the lakes annually for The details of the first ore trade are especially re- within it tables showing the past thirty years.