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October, 1909 LAKE UNDERWRITING. Buffalo, Sept. 16--When the experi- enced lake underwriter was asked the other day if there was going to be any profit in the hull-insurance busi- ness, he gave a sound that suggested business tears, and his geply was quite along that line. "There will never be any profits in that business as a whole," he said, "ill somebody establishes a load line. A few risks pay a profit, the others ail lose." "But what is the matter?" was ven- tured, by way of drawing him out. "Has not the government deepened the water in the inter-lake passages and provided all sorts of lights and other safeguards? There used to be profits in hull insurance even before these helps were added." "That is true," admitted the under- writer, "and the rates in those days were only about half what they are now. Then we had lots of total losses, now they are partial, but how they do roll up!" "What is there to prevent the under- writers or the people they represent, from putting a load limit on every vessel just aS soon as she comes out? Certainly the owner can see the reason for it as much as anyone." "Oh, we can't get together. If one is ready another is not, and so it goes. The people who put their money into the business have a lot of other in- terests. If they lose on lake business they make on ocean business and so long as they make a profit on their money as a whole they do not trouble them- selves as to the details. It's all wrong, though." "And so you are going on in this unbusiness sort of way, making the lake traffic cost so much more than it ought to?" The underwriter saw no way of changing things. "If the inter-lake passages were 30 ft. deep they would load their vessels 30 ft. and 1 in,," he said, gloomily, "and we have not the backbone to stop them, but go on pay- ing losses year after year that come from that way of doing business. What ought to be done is for the government to fix a load line and make every vessel owner live up' to it, and then the abuse would stop, but the government does not seem likely to move in the matter any more than the insurance people do. I have thought that the labor unions might do it, and I am looking for them to move in the matter, and IJ would be glad to see them, though I might prefer to see the order come- from some other source. As«it looks now the unions are about the only ne THE MarRINE REVIEW terests that are likely to take the step." Just now the lake losses are light, but they have been heavy enough and there is plenty of time for making them more than the premiums are. It is the touch- ing on the bottom that is doing the mischief, and the worst of it is that a great part of it might be prevented and would be prevented if the right kind of people would take a hand in the matter, A leading lake vessel owner said the other day that the trouble was that the vessels cost so much and were so very large. = Why, it sometimes happens that a big steel freighter will hit some sort of obstruction so lightly, as it seems, that she will not. even leak, and yet the damage done will amount to more than an old-fashioned wooden vessel is worth." The vessel owner saw much to be expected. from the Lake Protective 'As- sociation, which had been formed for the very purpose of correcting this dif-: ficulty. It had: not only assumed 5 per cent of the risk, in order to make the owners careful, but every. effort was being made, he said, to keep the captains in check and to punish them if they caused damage when it seemed unnecessary. He did not say how much he thought had been accomplished, but talked in a very hopeful way of the plan, and seemed sure it would be con- tinued right along till it had cut out most of the needless losses. "But do you think the effort to do this has been made severe and re- pressive enough?" was asked. "This 5 per cent is pretty small. © Will it not have to be increased before the owners: will feel it as they should?" "T cannot say as to that now," he re- plied. "It is too early to form con- clusions and it may be even at the end of the season, but I know that the move will not be dropped tl it 18 thoroughly tried." So it may happen that the relief that the insurance people are crying in vain for will come from the vessel owners themselves. An outsider would say that it is odd that they have been so long getting started in that direction, While it is true that the amount of insurance that they carry now is comparatively small it would count in case of a $50,- 000 loss and such losses of late years have become pretty common. 'Underwriters report that -- in these days there is less carrying of- their own hull insurance by the big lines than was at one time thought likely. There is so much independent money ™ them and so much covered by bonds that insurance is quite necessary. Joun W. CHAMBERLIN. 413 ORE SHIPMENTS Ore shipments during September were 7,050,985 tons, making the total movement to Oct. 1, 29,639,533 tons. This is only 919,673 tons less than were moved during the corresponding period in 1907, when all records were broken. This makes two months in which over 7,000,000 tons were moved, a feat not hitherto accomplished in lake navigation. During September, 1907, the fleet moved 6,217,653 tons. It is quite clear that the record for 1907 can now be readily broken. In order to equal it, the fleet must move about 12,000,000 tons between now and the close of navigation. In Oc- tober, 1907, the ore movement was 6,482,654 tons and in November 4,156,- 076 tons. During that year, 90,817 tons were moved in December, mak- ing a total movement for the year of 41,288,755 tons. It will.be no trouble whatever for the fleet to move 12,- 000,000 or even 14,000,000 tons before the close of navigation, as the un- loading capacity of the docks has vastly increased during the past two years. [it is common practice to un- load a 10,000-ton steamer in a work- ing day now at nearly all of the ports on Lake Erie. Following are the ore shipments for the month of September and to Oct. 1, with corresponding data for the past three. years: Port. Sept., 1907. Sept., 1908. Sept., 1909. Hscandba, 2.4.4 6. 742,251 654,679 948,951 Marquette. ...... 417,684 245,708 565,949 ASnlands ste ee 407 572 483,961 721,236 Superior .s.;...- 1,155,464 541,235 1,057,175 Drala eae csnses 2,203,638 1,617,134 2,133,800 Two Harbors....1,291 044 1,103,307 1,623,874 6,217,653 4,646,024 7,050,985 ' To Oct. 1, To Oct. 1, To Oct. 1, Port. 1907. 1908. 1909. Escanaba ieee 4,473,417 2,006,192 4,002,796 Marquette web 2 Oto L 49 871,107 1,979,517 Ashland . 2,722,331 1,521,146 2,422,004 Superior ...... 5571,918 2,264,443 4,743,498 Duluth ........ 9,406,283 6,201,121 9,847,177 Two Harbors... 6,043,108 3,766,951 6,644,541 30,559,206 16,630,960 29,639,533 COMMERCE OF SAULT CANALS. The surprising thing about the com- merce through the canals at Sault Ste. Marie for September is that it is the heaviest on «ecord. As a tule the record-breaking months are usually July or August, when all conditions, including depths of water, are most favorable for traffic. Yet during Sep- tember 9,227,192 tons were moved through the canals, the first time in the history that the monthly record has reached the 9,000,000-ton mark. Equally interesting is the increased percentage of movement through the Canadian canal. Formerly more than 90 per cent of commerce passed through the American canal, yet dur- oie Lee UN Bek BSD ALL eae