The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

TAE Marine REvIEw 21 THE COLLIER MARQUETTE & BESSEMER NO. 2 IN THE ICE OFF CONNEAUT. COMMERCE OF DETROIT RIVER. Editor Maringz Review:--In the Marine Review of 22 inst. the Detroit river traffic, south bound, is stated as 3,176,- 928 tons of grain and flax seed. Is there not some mistake in this? Buffalo alone received last year 3,256,018 net tons of grain and flax seed, nearly all of which, except possibly about 40,000 or 50,000 tons from Toledo passed down Detroit river. In addition to this, a large amount from the upper lakes, went to Erie, Fairport, Toledo, Sandusky, Cleveland and the Welland canal. I have not the figures for any of these, but they must add largely to your Detroit river data. Buffalo had 40,453,000 bu. wheat 1,213,590 net tons 32,753,000 -- "cori Q17,084 " < 25,734,000 " oats Att74g 7 689,000 " rye loa, 14,625,000 " barley B51 000 6 12,261,000 " flaxseed 343:300 *->.8 "ce "cs A total of 3,256,017 Buffalo, March 23. Junius S. SmirH, Lake Weighmaster, Chamber of Commerce. The figures to which Mr. Smith takes such deserved ex- ception are those compiled by the bureau of statistics of the department of commerce and labor as taken from the re- ports filed by the various collectors of customs. These re- ports are unfortunately fragmentary and do little more than approximate the commerce of the lakes. There is no con- gressional authority for the collection of port to port sta- tistics which is the reason that all attempts at collecting the figures are unsatisfactory. Mr. Smith very clearly shows how greatly the grain figures, as given in the government report, vary from the correct total. What is true of one branch of lake trade is true of all. Congress should em- power the executive department to compile the figures of lake trade annually. ADVOCATING A 19,400-TON BATTLESHIP. Secretary Bonaparte appeared before house committee on naval affairs last week in support of an increase of the navy. He advocated an appropriation this year for two 16,000-ton battleships, and in case congress does not see fit to provide for two such ships he urged the construction of one 19,400- ton battleship. In this recommendation he surpassed Ad- miral Dewey, who surprised the committee by advocating 18,000-ton battleships after the type of the English battle- ship Dreadnought. In the main, Secretary Bonaparte's recommendations were in harmony with those included in his annual report. Two scout cruisers were recommended in the report, but he said to the committee that these were not ind'spensable. He ad- vocated the building of four destroyers at a cost of $3,000,- 000; two submarines costing $500,000; one gunboat costing $600,000; and two river gunboats at a cost of $200,000, The secretary's estimates for construction aggregate $23,- 300,000. Of this sum the chief item is $15,000,000 for the two battleships recommended. The cost of the two pro- posed scout ships which Sectetary Bonaparte said were not indispensable is estimated at $4,000,000. Secretary Bona- parte advocated the 19,400-ton battleship because he said American constructors felt this tonnage was necessary to carry ten 12-in. guns such 'as the Dreadnought is carrying. The Wm. Skinner Ship Building & Dry Dock Co. has pur- chased the plant of the Baltimore Ship Building & Dry Dock Co. for $287,500. : c