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28 MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. DEATH OF SENATOR JAMES McMILLAN. Vessel interests of the great lakes were shocked to learn of the sudden and untimely death of United States Senator James McMillan, at his country home, Manchester-by-the-Sea, on Sun- day morning. In the Senate Mr. McMillan was a staunch advo- cate of shipping interests, and the position he occupied in that body was one of great influence. as - re- gards_ lake ship- ping, and in fact marine affairs of the entire coun- try. Appropri- ate resolutions were adopted at a special meeting of the Lake Carriers' Association held in Cleveland Tues- day. Death was due to -heart failure and: congestion of 'the lungs. Senator McMillan was in good health up to noon. While play- ing golf. on the Essex: county club grounds' he' was The Late Senator James Mcfiillan. overcome by faintness, but rallied upon taking a stimulant. He felt much better at night and was especially well at the din- ner hour. 'Towards midnight he was seized again, but responded _to tonics. 'The third attack, about 3 o'clock in the morning, car- ried him off, the heart making no response to the most powerful drugs. Mrs. McMillan and his daughter, Amy, were present at his bedside. Mr. McMillan was born a Canadian. of Scotch blood at Hamilton, Ont., on May 12, 1838. His father was a _ Presbyterian elder whose rigid rectitude, thrift and enterprise made him influential and prosperous in Hamilton where he had settled two yeats before his son James's. birth. Future sena- tor's boyhood was not different from that of the ordinary boy of his tine. Finishing his school education, which came to an end -at the time of his graduation from the Hamilton grammar school, "he became a clerk in a hardware store. . Four years were devoted to learning the business, and at seventeen he might have begun a cdreer as a business man in Canada which few young men would have let slip. About this time, however, he was fascinated by the apparently golden opportunities to be had in the United States, and in 1855 he went to Detroit with letters to some of the most prominent business men in that city. He was engaged as -a clerk in a wholesale hardware house at the outset, but the panic 'of 1857 compelled the firm to discharge all but the oldest of its employees.- McMillan was among those who suffered loss ot employment. His father, who soon after settling in: Hamilton, became a bank director, and was later appointed to a responsible - position as purchasing agent for the Great Western railway, now came forward in his'son's interest. His influence secured for the future senator a position with the Detroit & Milwaukee rail- road as purchasing agent. While acting in that capacity he be- came acquainted with Samuel C. Ridley, railroad contractor, who _had contracted to build the road from Lowell to Grand Haven, and also docks at the latter place and Detroit, and entered his ser- vice... McMillan's duties were to hire men, purchase sppplies . and attend to the financial part of the business. During the pro- gress of the work the men went on a strike, and although under twenty. years of age he undertook to pacify them. He succeeded. After two years in this position a flattering offer to go with Ridley to Spain to build railroads in that country was refused, and 1861 saw him back in his old position with the Detroit & Milwaukee. His career thus far had attracted considerable attention from business men. He had saved his money and invested his first _ $100 in a mortgage which he was compelled to foreclose. The sale realized $100, but the lawyer charged $50, which was a de- cided setback. Other real estate deals were more successful, and he accumulated the money wherewith to launch out for himself. In the 60's he entered into the business of building freight cars. From small beginnings the manufacture of cars grew to be the largest industry in Detroit, the great Michigan-Peninsular Car Co., capitalized at $10,000,000. 'To this interest Mr. McMillan added the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co., several lake trans- portation companies, the building of the international bridge at Sault Ste. Marie, and of the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic rail- way across the upper Michigan peninsula; and various other en- terprises. During this time Mr. McMillan invested heavily in many of the leading manufacturing and financial institutions in ' the: city of Detroit. For forty years Mr. McMillan had been the most vigorous personal force in the business affairs of Detroit. The commercial institutions of various kinds in which he was interested and which he assisted in developing have been impor- tant industrial agencies in advancing the business interests of Saturday .after- . [Aug. 14- the city, and at the same time their profits built him a substantia] and ever-increasing fortune. se Mr. McMillan became interested in politics in the early sey- enties, when he was connected with the city government of De- troit. During the great greenback campaign of 1878 he was a member of the Republican state central committee of Michigan, and in 1879 he succeeded Zachariah Chandler as chairman. To this honorable position he was several times re-elected, being generally recognized as the Republican leader of his state. In 1889 he was elected senator, succeeding Thomas W. Palmer, and he has since been honored by. two re-elections to this body. In these eléctions Mr. McMillan enjoyed the rare distinction of being three times nominated 'unanimously by acclamation, and once being elected by unanimous vote, when in 1895 the Demo- cratic member of the Legislature cast his vote for him. His third term began last March, and he was the seventh Republican senator in point of service in that body. Mr. McMillan was at once recognized in the senate as a man of wide experience in business, and was placed on several important committees, among them District of Columbia, agriculture, postoffice and post roads, and was made a chairman of the committee on manufactures. By the retirement of Senator Ingalls, of Kansas, he became chair- man of the District of Columbia committee. The position js similar to that of mayor of a city, and to his efforts are due many municipal improvements at the capital. All these honors came to the Michigan senior senator during his first term. His gubse- quent career in that body added to the respect vouchsafed him as a man and a legislator, and he was at the time of his death a member of the committees on Commerce, on naval affairs and on relations with Cuba. While his foreign birth made aspiration to the presidency impossible for him and his friends, he was men- tioned, in 1898, as a fitting successor to Secretary Hay as ambas- sador to the Court of St. James, a position which finally went to -* Joseph H. Choate, of New York. In 1860, when Mr. McMillan's salary was only $60 per month he married Miss Mary Wetmore, whose brothers were leading china merchants in Detroit. She bore him seven children, of whom four survive, William C. and Philip, of Detroit, Frank of New York, and a daughter Amy. Mrs. McMillan also survives him. The McMillan family have suffered severe loss by death in the past year. Senator McMillan's son, James H. McMillan, and his grandson, James H. McMillan, Jr., died in Colorado within a few months of each other last winter. The senator's brother, William McMillan, and his nephew, Maurice McMillan, have recently died. . SEEKING NAVIGATION AIDS FROM CANADA. President Wm. Livingstone and Treasurer Geo. McKay of the Lake Carriers' Association spent several days in Canada recently" in consultation, on the subject of aids to navigation, with the deputy minister of marine and fisheries and with the chief engineer (Col. Anderson) of the marine department, as well as leading vessel owners of Toronto, Hamilton and other places. Minister of Marine Sutherland was not in Ottawa when the officials of the Lake Carriers' Association called but he has since written them regarding suggestions made to the department. He says that range lights will be established as soon as possible at Point Edward. Private ranges were main- tained at Point Edward for a long time by the Lake Carriers and the re-establishment of them will undoubtedly be welcome news to the vessel masters. It is more than probable also that the vessel owners will be relieved of the expense of maintaining lights at Point aux Pins. Improved illuminating apparatus is now being installed in the main lighthouse at Point aux Pins. The Canadian government was also asked to establish gas buoys on the east side of the new dredged channel past Stag , island, St. Clair river. This is the channel to the westward of Stag island, which when lighted so that it will be used, will give two channels in this vicinity. It has been dredged out 1,000 ft. wide, with all obstructions removed, but the east bank is on the 'low marshy shore of Stag island, and it is difficult to define with- out some marks. The Lake Carriers suggest the placing there of three gas buoys, in addition to the platform light which the Canadian government established at the foot of the island two years ago. The attention of the United States authorities, in having the channel to the west of Stag island improved, is to provide two channels at this narrow part of the river, so that boats downward bound can use the channel west of Stag island, 'and those upward bound can use the channel that is now gen- erally used. Unfortunately the Canadian government has at present, no means of furnishing gas to the buoys. In order to open up the new channel at Stag island an effort will be made to have the United States lighthouse department maintain the- buoys if they are furnished by Canada. Canadian vessel owners will endeavor to have their government fit up the Petrel or some vessel of her kind for the care of gas buoys at times when regular duties would not be interfered with. The Collinwood Ship Building Co., Collinwood Ont., pur- poses erecting at once a new boiler and machine shop to. meas- ure 80x120 ft. President Long says that the company proposes to make a specialty of marine engines and boilers, A large sum of money will be expended in equipment. =