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THE Marine REVIEW 21 At any rate the plan is well worth trying and the bill should be passed. LONGSHOREMEN'S STRIKE IS ENDED. The longshoremen's strike is a thing of the past, It has been called off by President Keefe and all the locals have been wired to resume work. There will for the next two weeks be much congestion at Lake Erie docks, as all the vessels that arrived from upper lake ports during the past ten days have been riding at anchor outside Lake Erie ports. There is about 1,500,000 tons of ore afloat awaiting its turn at dock. For the present the docks are being operated upon last year's schedule. President Keefe will meet with the dock managers on Friday to make a new agreement for the season of 1906. No difficulty will be experienced in redching a satisfactory conclusion, as the question of recognition of the mates' union by the Lake Carriers' Association has been altogether elimi- nated. This question never should have been projected into the controversy because the dock managers have nothing to do with labor aboard ship, and it was unreasonable to expect that they would permit themselves to be used as a club to whip the lake carriers into line. The calling off of the strike is the result of almost continued secret conferences which have been going on sincé Monday. President Keefe came over from Detroit on Sunday night and met the long- shoremen on Monday morning. It is understood that some of the locals did not take kindly to the fight that was being waged at their expense to force the recognition of the mates' union, especially so, as it was apparent that the mates were generally standing by their boats and that the contention of the vessel owners that no mates' union existed among the men that were actually employed aboard ship was evidently true. President Keefe therefore abandoned the contention for the mates' union, and so notified the dock managers. It is now expected that a working agreement will be en- tered into before the present week is out. There is really not very much at issue between the longshoremen and the i dock: managers. The longshoremen worked eleven hours a day up to September 1 last year, and ten hours a day there- after. Their main demand now is for a ten-hour day through- out the entire season. The dock managers have been rather reluctant to grant this, prompted not so much by the oppo- sition to a working day of that length, but rather through the actual exigencies of trade, which is increasing so fast that every minute's time in handling it is valuable. When the strike was declared the marine firemen, who are controlled by the longshoremen's association, went out and this put the vessel owners to the test of operating their boats without union firemen. They found little difficulty in doing so.. The makeshifts to supply the firemen's places of course were many, but the fact remains that they were filled and the boats were operated. The knowledge of this has been quite a comfort to some of the vessel owners, The strike which has lasted ten days, however, has been an expensive thing all around, vesselmen in general keeping their entire crews aboard ship under full pay, though they were of course earn- ing nothing. It has also been expensive for the longshore- men who, of all classes, are the least able to bear it. ORE SHIPMENTS DURING APRIL. The ore movement for April was 253,213 tons greater than that of the corresponding month last year. During April 1,447,386 tons were shipped as against 1,195,173 tons during April of 1905, or an increase of 21 per cent. While the season of navigation opened somewhat later this year than last in point of sailing, it actually opened earlier in that the early vessels last year were seriously delayed in the ice. The greater part of the April movement that was actually at. Lake Erie docks during April went directly into cars, but that which arrived after May I is still being held by the vessels owing to the longshore-. MGS 'Strikeny il). ea Ue vere tara ty Cail Statistics have not yet been compiled as to the amount of ore on dock May 1, some docks not having reported so far, but the amount will be found to be small, showing that the forward movement from dock to furnace durihg the winter and spring has been very active. Lake Erie -- docks are in better shape this year than they have ever been before. Following were the April shipments by ports: - April, 1905. April, 1906. Bscanaba: oo. 253,200 © 243,254 Maratette 408. i 104,276 85,216 Ashland esa Va ss 8S i ea 61,697 134,302 Superior oe 190,703 210,263 Duluth occ a 263,842 383,643 'wo Plarbor 1.3.50. 304, 321,353 390,708 Total i ee, 1,105,173 1,447,386 1900. Imcreasé (2 er | 252.213 COMMERCE OF SAULT STE. MARIE CANAL. The monthly report of Mr. Joseph Ripley, superintendent of the Sault .Ste. Marie canal, shows that the total commerce of the canal for April was 2,513,267 tons as against 1,300,166 tons for April, last year. The detailed report is as follows: EAST BOUND. Articles Gee | Oe ee Copper, net tons .....06. i GAOL loc 7,491 Grain,.'bushels.. 0.6...) wuatdiiediok 6,835,237 181,000 | 7,016,287 Building stone; het tons. cick heer ed Olen Hlout barrels). 65666 eewe be 325,260 7,460 332 720 Iron ore, net tons ..............4. -.| 1,222,885 87,172 1,260,057 Ifon; pig, net tons icekaan as le a i ee ee Lumber, M. ft. B. Mow... 0.0.0... ae 23,753 1,395 28,148 Silver ore; net CONS) ii i ee te Wheat, bushels). 2 oascaissaccy cited 6,353,471 | 2,148,027 | 8,501,498 Gen']. Mdse., net tons.............0005- 1,204 RE 9, Passengers, number .... ............:. 104 64 168 WEST BOUND i Coal, anthracite, net tons.............. 61 869 12,965 74,834 Coal, bituminous, net tons. ......... ae 524,618 63,162 587,780 Plour; barrels is aiwdines- aiswa cl [ewn eee 6 aay ces le ance Grain, bushels) s/c Sodas ce la Manufactured iron, net tons.......... 18,805 5,630 24,435 Salt, barrels 2.4 6 ee 42,482 2,063 44,545 Gen']. Mdse., net tons...:.............- 38,675 15,540 54,215 Passengers, number... 005.064. csc eau: 200 341 541 Freight, East Bound, net tons.. ...... 1,649.215 116,117 1,765,882 Freight, West Bound, net tons........ 650,838 97.597 _ 747.985 Total Freight, net tons...:............ 2 299,553 213,714 2,513 267 Vessel Passages, number.... .......... 825 254 1,079 Reg'd Tonnage, net tons 1,766,491 240,'49 2,006,640 IMPROVING THE CANADIAN CANAL. The Dominion government is deepening the upper entrance to the Canadian canal at Sault Ste. Marie. It is now 18 ft. at low water, but will be made the same.as the lower en- trance, 21 ft. 5 in. Contract has been entered into with Mr. C. I. Boone to continue the deepening and also the widening of the upper entrance. Contracts have also been let for the extension of the south lower entrance and the south up- pet entrance pier 800 ft. The government has purchased a considerable area of land alongside the present canal with a view of constructing a wider lock whenever it is necessary to do so. There is no definite program as yet for, widening the lock. As there are already vessels on the great lakes that cannot pass through the present Canadian lock, which is only 60 ft. wide, it is quite likely that within two or three years a definite plan will be formulated for another lock. Capt. James Jackson has been appointed master of the steamer Sylvania in place of Capt. J. W. Ebrhart, who was suspended for sixty days by the local inspector at Mar- quette. Six train crews and fifty dock men have been laid off on the Northwestern road, and four train crews on the Wis- consin Central, on account of the strike on the lakes.