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1902] MARINE REVIEW. | 25 EXPLANATION OF DECREASED EXPORTS. The drop of $105,000,000 in exports and increase of $79,000,000 in imports is not looked upon by the chief of the bureau of statistics as a cause for anxiety regarding the future of our foreign commerce. "It was perfectly apparent when the result of the drought of 1901 became known," said Mr. Austin, "that our exports in 1902 must fall off, and the only surprise to me is that the loss was not greater. The corn crop, as is well known, is the chief reliance of our farmers for preparing for market the live stock of which we now export over $200,000,000 worth -annually in the form of provisions and live animals. In addition to this, we have been exporting about $100,000,000 worth of the surplus corn and oats left over after feeding the live stock of the country. The great re- duction of the corn crop by the drouth, of course, reduced to almost nothing the surplus corn that could be spared, and also caused the use at home of a much larger share of the oats, and so reduced the available surplus of that class of farm products. The result is that the exportation of corn fell from 177,000,000 bushels in the fiscal year 1901 to 27,000,000 bushels in the fiscal year just ended, and that of oats from 37,000,000 bushels to 9,000,000. The drop in the value of corn and corn meal and oats and oat meal exported is over $76,000,000. Fortunately the farmers learned quickly to economize their depleted corn supply and to substitute other materials for it, and therefore the reduction in exportation of provis- ions and live animals is only about $6,000,000." "It also became apparent in the early part of the year,'"' continued Mr. Austin, "that the value of cotton exports could not be expected to reach the phenomenally high figure of the preceding year. ._The export prices of cotton in 1901 were the highest that had been realized for many years, and as a result the total value of cotton exported in the fiscal year 1901 was greater than in any previous year in the history of our commerce, amounting to over $300,000,000 and forming more than one-fifth of the 'total value of the exports of that greatest year in our export trade. The average price of cotton exported in the fiscal year 1901 was nearly 9% cents per pound, while the average export price in the fiscal year 1902 was 8% cents per pound. So it is not surprising that the value of the cotton exported in 1902 fell $24,000,000 below that of 1901, although the quantity exported was actually 160,000,000 lbs. greater in 1902 than in 1901." "The third item of 'reduction in exports," continued Mr. Austin, "is in manufactures of iron and steel. The figures for the full fiscal year have not yet been received, but, judging from those of the eleven months which have been received, it seems probable that the reduction in iron and steel exports will be about $20,000,000. This reduction is due in part, it is be- lieved, to the fact that German manufacturers found it necessary, by reason of the depressed conditions in that country last year, to unload their surplus stocks of iron and steel manufactures at greatly reduced prices, thus temporarily unsettling and reducing prices in foreign coun- tries generally, while, on the other hand, the home demand in the United States for iron and steel manufactures has been larger than ever before, and in many cases beyond the capacity of our manufacturers to 'supply. The result of these two conditions was a reduction of about $20,000,000 in the exports and an increase of nearly $10,000,000 in the imports of iron and steel, and the total importations of iron and steel for the fiscal year just ended will probably exceed those of any other year since 1893." "The increase in importations," said Mr. Austin, in conclusion, "is especially gratifying, in view of the fact that it shows a healthy condition in our manufacturing industries. While the figures of the year are not sufficiently completed to permit an analysis for the full twelve months, the fact that the analysis for the eleven months ending with May showed an increase of over $65,000,000 in manufacturers' materials is a sufficient explanation of the total increase of $79,000,000 of imports in the full year. Manufacturers' materials imported during the year will amount to about $420,000,000 in value, or 46 per cent. of the total importations. This is not only the largest importation of manufacturers' materials ever known, but they form a larger percentage than ever before of the grand total of imports, notwithstanding the fact that the total imports are the largest in the history of our commerce." EXPEDITION OF THE RELIEF SHIP WINDWARD. . The Peary relief ship Windward has started on her expedition. The Windward since her arrival in. New York three years ago has been com- pletely changed and will go north as a full-powered, completely-equipped and thoroughly-commodious ship for Arctic work. The new engine is a steeple-compound, all parts being made exceptionally strong for work in the ice with every modern improvement and is expected to give a speed of from 7 to 8 knots. The Windward will coal at Sydney, C. B., and will proceed north through the straits of Belle Isle, touching at Godhaven, and possibly at Upernavik, and should, with all favorable circumstances, reach Peary's headquarters about Aug. 1. The Windward, a 320-ton bark, is easily the most interesting and historic of all the Arctic craft now afloat. Built at Sunderland, England, in 1865, she was for more than a quarter of a century employed in the Dundee and Peterhead whale fisheries. Pur-- chased in 1894 by Alfred C. Harmsworth, she took the Jackson-Harms- worth expedition to Franz Joseph Land, being imprisoned in the ice near Cape Flora for the winter. Under command of Capt. John Bartlett, she sailed from New York for the north on July 3, 1898; parted company with her consort, the Hope, Capt. Samuel W. Bartlett, for Etah, North Green- land, on Aug. 12, and spent the following winter fast in the ice of Allman bay, breaking out early in August, 1899, and joining the Diana, the aux- iliary ship, at Etah on Aug. 12, returning to Brigus, N. F. Extensive repairs were made to the hull and machinery early in the spring of 1900, and on July 20, commanded by Capt. Bartlett, she sailed from Sydney, with Mrs. Peary and her daughter, for the north. Except a report from God- haven. on Aug. 15, nothing further was heard from her until the arrival of the Erik, the auxiliary ship of 1901, at Etah on Aug. 4. The Windward had spent the eight months from September to July fast in the ice of Payer harbor, near Cape Sabine, and spent a month, as soon as extri- cating herself, in a successful walrus hunt in Inglefield gulf. Returning at the end of the season practically under sail, for 3 knots, with favorable wind and tide, was the utmost that engines could do, the Windward win- tered at Brigus, arriving in New York on March 26. The Peary Arctic club is made up of subscribers secured by Mr. Peary just before his departure in 1898 and was organized in January, 1899. Peary's original idea was to associate twenty-five men who would pledge to him and to each other four annual contributions of $1,000 each, thus -- insuring a working capital for four years of his enterprise of $100,000. His departure was, however, compelled before the full number was secured, and the club as organized in January, 1899, was: President, Morris K. Jesup; vice-president, Dr. Frederick E. Hyde; treasurer, Henry W. Cannon, and secretary, Herbert L. Bridgman, who, with the late James M. Constable, Messrs. James J. Hill, E. C. Benedict, H. H. Bene- dict, H. Hayden Sands, E. W. Bliss and the late President Charles P. Daly of the American Geographical Society, were constituted founders. Mr. Jesup and Mr. Hill each contributed a double portion of the capital, | and have generously renewed their full proportion for the present year. Messrs. Edward G. Wyckoff and Clarence F. Wyckoff of Ithaca, N. Y. and Grant B. Schley of New York, have also joined the club, and Fred- erick Constable since his father's death has completed and continued his subscription. The club sent north the Hope in 1898, the Diana in 1899, and the Erik in 1901, the second and last of which communicated with Mr. Peary, spending nearly a month at Inglefield gulf, and brought home complete journals and records, and a large amount of valuable material rescued by him from Fort Conger, and brought over 250 miles over the ice to Grinnell Land. Mrs. Peary goes north with the vessel, with the promise that her husband will return to this country on it, and never make another attempt to reach the pole. COMMENTS ON THREE BATTLESHIPS. Engineer of London thus comments on the representative war ships of three powers at the Spithead review: 'The most remarkable thing about the Spithead fleet was the Russian battleship Pobieda, whose rig, by the way, has been altered since she was designed. She embodies a good many other minor improvements on the original design, and in the matter of novelty was far in advance, not only of our latest ships, but also of the German, French and American. She is not yet complete, the shields to the casemate guns being still absent; but she is fairly complete otherwise, and any of our engineer officers who saw her engine and boiler rooms must have wished themselves Russians. The Pobieda has a roomy and well ventilated engine room, everything can be 'got at,' and' the same roominess distinguishes the boiler room. The boilers, it is interest- ing to note, run fore-and-aft instead of athwartship, as in our modern vessels. Each room is fitted with an armored stairway, running right up to the main deck at an angle of 55°, so the ship is unique in the matter of emergency exits. Viewed as a fighting machine generally, there was noth- ing equal to the Pobieda at Spithead, unless it were the American Illinois, The wide open decks, of which the Russians are so fond, are much in evi- dence in the Pobieda, 'shell-bursting gear' being almost entirely absent. The ship offers a huge target, quite half as much again as the considerably larger London; but the distribution of the numerous 12-pounders is so excellent that the big target may be thereby discounted. "The Kaiser Friedrich III. is, if anything, a larger target still, and. her innumerable gun muzzles show that her designer never troubled about - _ 'interference.' She is an exceedingly smart ship--far more so than any of ours, which all looked rather squalid in comparison. Her grey paint is very pretty artistically; as a war-color it was by no means invisible, she being far more easily picked out than our multi-colored ships. One color is a mistake, save from the esthetic standpoint. It silhouettes the ship | too much, and can be 'invisible' only in certain lights. White is an error, because it is so obvious at night; but brown, grey, light grey, yellow, and blue may all with advantage be used on one single ship. The problem of the best color for making warships as hard to detect as possible can only be solved by scientific means, and by a full regard to atmospheric facts, such, for instance, as that yellow tells least in the sun, and blue least in the shadow and gloom. If colors be judiciously varied, some will always be invisible, whatever the atmospheric conditions, and at once the target is blurred and the eye of the gunner disconcerted, "The United States battleship Illinois was conspicuous at Spithead for her small size in ratio to her displacement. Her coloring was as hide- ous as her form, but there was very little to find fault with in her, We observed that her after 6-in. guns do not train right aft as they might easily have done, and her big guns, the 13-in., seemed of an antiquated model, though the mounting is new enough and good in design. Everything is hydraulic or hand." GRAND TRUNK ELEVATOR AT PORTLAND. Last year the Grand Trunk railway began work at Portland, Me., -- upon a new grain elevator with a capacity for 1,500,000 bushels which was _ recently completed and is now in operation. This is the third elevator -- constructed at Portland by the Grand Trunk railway and the second structure of a well planned system for handling the largely increased export business of this road, which has come about through the develop- ment of the Canadian northwest. The first elevator of the Grand Trunk system at Portland was built in 1875 with a capacity of 175,000 bushels. In 1897 a 1,000,000-bushel elevator was built with a large conveyor system and it was thought adequate for a considerable period. Burt the demand for storage so increased that the third elevator became necessary. The latest elevator has complete modern equipment. The Cunard steamshin Campania, which arrived in Liverpool from New York on a recent trip, was in wireless communication with passing steamers practically from the time she left the United States until she was off the Irish coast, the communicating vessels including the Minneapolis on the 22d, the Lucania on the 25th, the Minnehaha on the evening of the same day, the Saxonia con the 26th, and the Irish coast on Friday after- noon, , During last month Scotch ship builders launched twenty-six vessels, of 47,896 tons gross, as compared with forty vessels, of 59,248 tons gross, in May, and twenty-nine vessels of 47,028 tons gross, in June last year. In the six months Scotch builders have launched 157 vessels, aggregating 259,804 tons gross, against 135 vessels, of 246,752 tons gross, 1n the corre- sponding period of last year, about 232,584 tons gross in 1900, and about 256,310 tons gross in 1899, i: in Sir Christopher Furness has purchased a controlling interest in the Gulf line of steamers.