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14 ously 20 hours. The storage batteries are of sufficient capacity to keep up ordinary communication for one round trip, without resorting to the dynamos. The additional apparatus installed give them,a sending radius of between 450 and 600 miles and a receiving radius of frcm 1,200 to 1,600 miles. REPORT TO THE CHICAGO HAR- - BOR. COMMISSION ON OB- STACLES TO CHICAGO'S WATER SHIPPING. DEVELOPMENT. : (Continued from Jan. 28.) "T said that all the package freight boats operating between Chicago and Buffalo were owned by the railroads with one exception. "T will now consider that exception, the Jesse H. Farwell, of the Pacific Despatch line. The Pacific Coast Borax Co. has a plant on the south branch Of the Cheeago river. It brings to that plant large quantities of borax from its refinery located near the water in New Jersey. Mr. W. H. Follett, mayor of Tonawanda, N. Y., owns or controls some 35 or 40 canal boats, which he operates inde- pendently of the Erie Boatmen's Un- ion. The Jesse H. Farwell and the Follett line of canal boats operate together and thus form a _ through canal and lake route for 'bringing borax from New Jersey to Chicago. The saving to the borax company from this arrangement in 'keeping down is considerable. The Pacific Despatch line is able to carry a small amount of package freight in addition to borax, but not enough to influence the situation materially. The Jesse Farwell can not make like arrange- ments with canal boat owners who are members of the Erie Boatmen's Un- ion, nor will the railroad-owned lake lines make through rate arrangements with the Follett line of canal boats. "Having become masters of the package freight business between Chi- cago and the seaboard, lake and canal as well as lake and rail, the railroads now appear to be striving to secure like control over the grain movement cast. This: year, for: the first time, the railroads are charging more for ¢atrying.. irom. Butialo -to. the. sea- board. grain that is taken to Buffalo -by boat, than the proportionate share of the all-rail haul from Chicago to the seaboard. The effect of this ac- tion has been to promote the move- ment of grain all rail, where it has not brought a diversion of traffic through Montreal. . The boatmen's union on the Erie canal, in seeming disregard of the interests of its membership, has BS NR age Wi ies aoe Nh ae Wk rates THE MARINE MeViEW. rigidly maintained the rate on grain by canal from Buffalo to the sea- board at five cents a bushel for the season of 1908, where the. rate has been considerably lower in recent years. The result is that the greater proportion of the Erie canal boats are lying idle while the grain is mov- 'ing east either all rail or is diverted through Montreal. The canal boats belonging to, Mr. Follett, of Tona- wanda, are an exception and are carry- ing all the traffic they can handle. "Perhaps the grain situation best be explained through the pre- sentation of the following letter to certain railroad traffic managers from Mr. W. M. Hopkins, manager of the transportation department of the Chi- cago board of trade: can ea RR OR "Tt is evident that providing better harbor facilities is not the whole of Chicago's interest in lake trans- portation. The eastern gateway must be kept open as well, if this communi- ty and others on the lake are to de- rive the full benefit 'of their location with reference to water transportation. The possible remédies are two, both of which should tbe invoked: "1. The Interstate Commerce Com- mission should have the power to re- quire rail carriers to make through route and joint rate arrangements with all responsible boat lines, on like reasonable conditions. "2. Relief must be sought through the greater use of the enlarged Erie canal, or other water routes, when completed. "As to the first suggested remedy, the Interstate Commerce Commission now has,the power to require a railroad to make a through route and joint rate arrangement with a boat line where no _ satisfactory through rate exists. But that would not help the situation as between Chi- cago and eastern points by way of Buffalo, for in the 'purview of the statute there are existing 'satisfac- tory' through routes. The principle of equal treatment for all, however, requires that any responsible boat line shall ibe accorded 'the same through route arrangements that are given any other boat line. "As to the second suggestion: for relief, not a great deal can be ex- pected from the -urie candi in its present form. The enlarged Erie canal, however, should be a _ great boon to Chicago and other western lake ports. But the work of construc- tion is proceeding very slowly. The following figures concerning the prog- papers Sis MIR tig ress of the work are taken from q map issued during the past summer by officials in charge of construction: . Miles Work under contract....... 3) 134.0 Additional plans completed..107.1 * Plans over 75 per cent com- . pleted 43.2 Other plans in progress..:...1610 _ "The law under which the work of enlargement is being carried on was passed in 1903. Construction began in 1905. The canal authorities have encountered difficulties in making progress. Perhaps they--are doing-all they can under the circumstances, But the feeling among vessel'men and' shippers in Buffalo~-with -regard to the early completion of the canal is decidedly pessimistic. The authori- ties in charge of construction do not make predicitions as to when the en- larged canal will be ready for use, Perhaps the pressure of public opin- ion could hasten progress. Chicago can do something to help create the necessary public opinion. 6.0 0 M6. 6. Be OTe Bee, 0 0 0. eee, 6 "The Canadian government is plan- ning deeper water routes to the sea- board, which may prove of great im- portance to all western lake ports." LACK OF VESSEL OWNERSHIP IN CHICAGO, Mr. Sikes, in his discussion of this phase of Chicago's harbor problem, concedes that it has a most important bearing on future development. He says: "Chicago is not a_ vessel-owning city. A- comparatively small amount of Chicago capital is invested in craft that navigate the lakes. In pro- portion to their population and wealth Cleveland, Detroit and Buffalo have much larger investments in lake ship- ping. This fact may explain in part why our harbor facilities have been permitted to deteriorate in compari- son with other lake ports. Large. investments of capital in an industry are a great stimulus to public intef est in the welfare of that industry. Even the newspapers of Chicago give much less space to shipping news than do the papers of other ports on the lakes. The Chicago papers give considerable space to railroad, insuf- ance and other special lines, evidently because they have the readers who want information on these subjects. By the same token, they presumably print little lake shipping news because they think few readers are specially interested in that topic. More vessel ownership in Chicago would tend to produce a change in this respect. "Vessel ownership seems to go with interest in lines of business affiliated . ' ) with water transportation. Cleveland's