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

season indeed when a modern carrier would be unable to meet these charges. Such a season has never occurred, nor is it likely to; yet so thoroughly do the vessel owners appreciate the grip that the company ha; upon their steamers through its bonds that is invariably fol- lowed of paying nevt year's bonds A definite sum is annually set aside to meet the proportion of bonds maturing dur- ing the following year together with the interest charges upon the entire issue outstanding. By this policy the vessel owner is forever anticipating and providing for the lean year ahead. The steamship bonds that have been issued during the past 10 years have found their way to the remotest quar- ters of the country. trust the practice with this year's earnings. They are re- garded as excellent security by bank. ing corporations and have been pur- chased by them in preference to gov- ernment bonds, the collateral being re- garded quite as stable and the invest- ment twice as profitable. Many banks in the far west and in the east have invested generously in them. Undoubt- edly when there is a better under- standing of the nature of these bonds they will be quoted at much higher prices than now. The interest which the steamship bond pays is high con- sidering the absolute integrity of the collateral. It can be recommended as a profitable and desirable investment. PIG IRON SITUATION. The principal development of the week was the placing of orders for about 60,000 tons of steel rails; 45,000 from the Great Northern railroad, 6,100 tons from the New York, On- tario & Western railway and 8,000 tons from the Atlantic Coast Line. In spite of irregularities in spots, prices on all lines of iron and steel are being maintained uniformly. The pig iron agreement in the central west is being maintained, but the real market test will be a decided increase in inquiries, which has not yet ma- terialized. Iron is being sold at Bir- mingham at $12.25, but $12.50 is re- garded as the usual inside price. The second stack of the Toledo Furnace Co. was blown out this week, and other merchant stacks now accumulat- ing iron will soon swell the idle list. Concessions on prices of forging bil- TAE Marine Review lets have been noted in the Chicago territory, but as a rule, prices of bil- lets are well maintained. Rumors of cutting on prices of structural shapes have probably arisen from the low quotations now being made on fabri- cating and erecting, A © slight improvement in the demand for coke is noted in Chicago and Cincinnati, but in the Pittsburg district prices are demoralized and the demand is light. TRANSFERS OF GOVERNMENT ENGINEERS. Col. C. McD. Townsend has assumed the duties of government engineer at Detroit succeeding Gen. Charles E. L. B. Davis, retired. This is the most important engineering district on the lakes as it includes control of practi- cally all of the artificial channels through which the commerce of the lakes) passes. Col. Townsend has been succeeded at Cleveland by Col. John Millis, whose last assignment was on fortification work in the Philip- pines. He has been on leave of ab- sence. since last October. graduated from West Point in 1880. He has served at New Orleans and Seattle and was for a time secretary of the lighthouse board. Col. Millis is an expert on electrical machinery and represented the United States government in that capacity at tthe Paris Exposition. He also represented the United States government at the construction of the Assouan dam on the Nile. TUG FOR STOCK ACCOUNT. B. J. Cowles, Buffalo, N. Y., has un- der construction a steel tug boat, being built for stock account. It is 81 ft. long, 20 ft. 1 in. beam and 10 ft. 6 in. deep. The pilot house will be on top of the cabin, beneath which will be the galley. It will be equipped with a fore and aft compound engine, cylinders 15 and 18 in. 'diameter with a 26-in. stroke; Scotch boiler, 10 by 11 ft. 150 lbs. of steam; Dake steering gear; Chase steam towing machine; and electric lights and search light. Cost, $25,000. The tug was launched Feb. 18. The keel of another, also for stock, will be laid. It will be 65 ft. long, 15 ft. beam and 8 ft. deep; have a 16 by 20 engine; boiler 6 by 11, 130 Ibs. of steam, of the return tubular type; also Dake steering gear. Cost, $15,000. Capt. W. C. Richardson and his daughter, Mrs. T. H. Paine of Ashta- bula, left for the south this week, to be gone for several weeks. Col. Millis AROUND THE GREAT LAKES. Capt. D. A. Kendall, Algonac, Mich.,. will sail the steamer Uganda of the Mehl fleet this season. The committee on harbors of the chamber of commerce of Buffalo has endorsed the recent resolution offered by.the counsel of Buffalo that the city purchase the Watson elevator prop- erty as a site for a terminal basin in Buffalo river Representative Loud has introduced a bill in the house of representatives to appropriate $200,000 for the con- struction of a hydraulic dredge to be used by the government engineer in the harbors on the western shore of Lake Huron. The dredge is to be stationed at Bay City. The annual smoker of the Buffalo lodge of the Ship Masters' Associa- tion was held in its quarters at the Chapin block, Buffalo, last week. Much impetus was given to the movement to consolidate the interests of masters and owners by making the owners as- sociate members of the association. Capt. J. J. H. Brown advocated the movement earnestly. Cleveland ves- sel owners are already members of the Cleveland lodge of the Ship Masters' Association and it is probable that owners in every city where there are Ship Masters' lodges will join them as associate members. The speakers at the Buffalo meeting included Capt. J. J. H. Brown, D, L; Tuttle of tae Philadelphia & Reading Coal Co., Da- vid Cuthbertson of the Weather Bu- reau, Capt. George C. Stevenson, Capt. Wm. E. Clark, and Capt. A. B. Drake. Gen. Charles E. L. B. Davis, who retired for age recently, _ re- ceived word on Saturday last from Washington that the specifications for the work of improving the channel at Middle Neebish, St. Mary's river, have been approved. Bids for the work will be asked for in a short time, though actual operations will not begin until the West Neebish route is opened dur- ing the present season. The sum of $1,250,000 is available for this work. -- It is proposed to dredge the channel -- deeper from Hay lake to Mud lake and a minimum depth of about 23 ft. will be provided when the contract is finished. The Middle Neebish chan- nel runs on the east side of the Neeb- ish channel and it was improved sey- eral years ago to give a minimum depth of 21 ft. between the upper end of Neebish island and the lower end of Sugar island. The improve- ment was continued on up the river to deep water in Hay lake about 10 miles below the locks at the Sault.