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232 THE NAVY DEPARTMENT VS. OUR PACIFIC COAST OWNED VESSELS. While Mr. Taft's administration in those respects that effect large com- bination of capital in the eastern states has apparently abandoned the Roose- velt policy, it continues to maintain the policy employed by every, presi- dent occupying the executive mansion since Harrison, to use its influence to discriminate. against American ship- 'ping. Railway & Marine News can scarcely find words to express its dis- gust because of. the navy depart- ment's most recent outrage perpet- rated against Pacific coast American 'shipping and regularly -- established lines. ~ Recent advices announce the char- ter. by the navy department of 12 British colliers to transport about 75,000 tons of Pocahontas coal from 'the Atlantic tothe Pacific. "The names of these vessels and their prob- able capacities are S. S. Strathfillan, 6,100 tons; Strathgoe, 6,100 ton; Strath- gyle, 6,100 tons; Headley, 6,000; Belle of Scotland, 7,000; Guernsey,: 6,100; Cape Finisterre, 6,100; Hutton Wood, 5,600; Hynford, 6,000; Riverdale, 6,000; Baron, 6,000 and Forsdale, 6,000, mak- jae a total of 73,100 tons. It was fair for the shipping people here to expect, that because of the many protests and appeals against -the policy employed by the administration. prior to January, 1909, that the gov- ernment would reduce its coal ton- nage to this coast and would pur- chase instead at least a portion of its fuel requirements either on Puget sound or in British Columbia. The policy of the administration in 'bringing coal here had more to do with our shipping demoralization in 1908 than did the panic of 1907 and the depression that followed, and the chartering of the above vessels will cinch the demoralization that did and does at present exist. - These charters have been made in the face of the numerous protests to the head of the naval board, the head of the bureau of equipment and the. secretary of the navy. Last: year the naval 'board sum- moned Admiral Cowles before it to explain the government's policy in thus transporting coal, and in due time the head of the naval board announced that an inquiry had been held and that while the board was sorry it could not do anything for the com- plaining shipping companies on _ the Pacific coast. The administration did not want to do anything, their in- quiry was not made in good faith, if so why did it confine itself to the THe Marine. REVIEW statement of Admiral. Cowles; why did not that board extend its en- quiry to the coast, to there ascertain for themselves if suitable coal in suf- ficient quantities could not be sup- plied? They did not extend their inquiry' beyond the confines of the room where Admiral Cowles' state- ment was heard; had _ they desired to give our ships the remotest assist- ance they could have ascertained at the treasury department that Puget Sound stands third in the nation sup- plying fuel coal; it could have learned that one firm alone in British Colum- bia, a few miles from Bremerton, 800 miles from San Francisco, and with- out 2,000 miles of Magdelena Bay, produces three-quarters of a million tons of fuel coal anrfually; by exam- ination of the mavy department's rec- 'ords it could have found that about three years ago the Bremerton yard made a test of Comox, B..-C., coal; and that. test placed that coal only about 6 per cent less in efficiency than Pocahontas, still they ship east- ern coal, in vast fleets of foreign bot- toms, and say to us they are sorry, but cannot help complaining Pacific coast shipping companies. ° : When they say that thing, they speak a lie. The administration ap- parently is to assist the great coal combine of the Atlantic, and the great foreign ship brokers in New York. There can be no other reason, for Pa- cific coal has sufficient efficiency to be practicable for ordinary use in our naval vessels; it is practicable for use on two Japanese cruisers now in port, these vessels having taken full bunkers of Puget sound coal, and still our navy cannot use it for ordinary cruising purposes, although their jboil- ers are no different that those dozen merchant ships ing Pacific coast coal. But instead they import Atlantic coast coal at much greater cost to 'the ships using it, and in addition ruins the trade of our merchant vessels because of the dismissal here of vast foreign tonnage whose expense has been paid to our shores by. our government. It has been reported in the press dispatches that the president has per- mitted his name to be used as being in favor of assisting our merchant ma- rine, and that. prior to the fall elec- tion he will speak in public of his views. The president is commander- in-chief of the navy and his principal advisers are those men who are at the head of the navy department, the head of the bureau of equipment, and the chairman of the naval board; those are the men who have chartered the 12 foreign ships referred to in ina regularly us- July, 1909 this article, and these are the men who are responsible for having char- tered and employed those vessels in defiance of the coasting laws of the country, and consequently annihilates the merchant marine business on this coast, and all of this is done during times of peace, when no emergency exists, and for what? Nothing, ex- cept to furnish Atlantic coast coal to our Pacific cruiser fleet, such coal as is not necessary for its ordinary use, a coal that is more efficient than is ab- solutely necessary for cruising 12 knots per hour; in view of that, what can Mr. Taft say or do which will as- . sist us?--Railway & Marine News. SCHUETTE RECORDING COM- PASS. The Schuette Recording Compass Co., Manitowoc, Wis., has just issued its first booklet descriptive of its new recording compass, which is so con- | 'structed as to produce a- continuous record of the 'direction of the ship with relation to time, so that the ditection in which the ship was mov- ing at any hour and minute can be determined at a glance at any time thereafter from an inspection of the records produced. These instruments have been fairly tested during the past year aad have given excellent results. The instrument shows variations of about 214° (or a trifle less than a quarter of a point), so that if the ship is on her course and the wheelsman lets her go off about 214° the instru- ment will immediately register the change of direction and also the exact time this occurred, so that a captain by looking over his chart can tell whether. his ship had been working to starboard or to port and whether his instructions had been followed. The chart will also show the condi- tions of the weather, as in a seaway the records will be very irregular while. in smooth weather a compar- atively straight line will be produced. The size of the instrument is 2 ft. square and 10 in. deep and. it can be connected to any ordinary socket any place on the ship and any. current can be used from 90 to 120 volts; it requires no attention except placing a new chart on the roll every month and filling the pen about every two weeks. The clock which moves the chart exactly 2% in. an hour is wound electrically and requires no attention whatever. One of the special features is the circuit changer which automatically throws the in- ° strument on a set of batteries, if the dynamo current for any reason should give out, and again throws the instru- movement