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198 DEVOTED TO EVERYTHING AND EVERY INTEREST CONNECTED OR_ ASSO- CIATED WITH MARINE MATTERS ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. Published monthly by Penton Publishing Co. CLEVELAND. BUFFALO} 6.06 oe se cee: 932 Ellicott Square. CHICAGO: arcs ese 1328 Monadnock Blk. CINCINNATI..... Yirst National Bank Bldg. NEW YORK.......---- 1005 West Street Bldg. PITTSBURG. os cress. ...510 Park Bidg. SEAT Us coc ces fe ess 942 Henry Bldg. Correspondence on Marine Engineering, Ship Building and Shipping. Subjects Solicited. Subscription, U. S. and Mexico, $1.00 per annum. Canada, $1.50. Foreign, $2.00. Single copies, U. S. and Mexico, 10 cents. Elsewhere, 15 cents. Back numbers over three months, 25 cents. - Change of advertising copy must reach this office on or before the first of each month. The Cleveland News Co. will supply the trade with the Marine Review through the regular channels of the American News Co. European Agents, The International News Company, Breams Building, 'Chancery Lane, London, E. C., England. Entered at the Post Office at Cleveland, Ohio, ag Second Class Matter. May, 1910. OUR FOREIGN CARRYING TRADE. Great Britain has 8,535 steamers of 14,193,582 tons. The United States has but 1,200 practically all in coasting service and about half of them steamers, on the great lakes. As the steamer's ability to make trips is greater than that of the sailing vessel, usually reckoned 2% times that of the sailing vessel, Britain's potential tonnage is 36,907,579 as against 6,003,704 for the United States. gained her lead by the policy of subsidiz- Unquestionably Britain' ing her steamships for the carrying of the mails. British shipping increased six-fold in the period from 1840 to 1876. She also had in 1854 the good sense to put the THE MARINE. REVIEW management of her merchant marine into the hands of her Board of Trade that it might be pushed forward by the com- bined skill of experts, unhampered by the blunders of uninformed legislators. It should be borne in mind that wages and provisions of ships' crews and equip- ping and repairing ships and engines, re- newals and earnings are as much a part of the exports of a country as if they were actual commodities. The net earnings of the British mer- ~ chant fleet equaled the combined earnings of all the railroads in the United States. Shipbuilding is an industry which calls for the products of and furnishes em- ployment to nearly every other industry in the country. The wheat crop of the United States exceeds in value but little the earnings. of Britain's merchant fleet. The entire hay crop of the United States is only about the earnings of England's mer- chant fleet. The question has been repeatedly asked "Tf others can carry your products cheap er than you can carry them yourselves, why not let them do it?" has been asked for a century or more. This question It was asked of Washington and he said "No;" it was asked of Jefferson and he said "No;" Madison and Jackson both said "No." Americans than these? Are there any better England's an- swer to the question has been' "No" for over 300 years. IMPROVING THE LITTLE KANAWHA. How many are there in the United States who know anything about the Little How many have heard of that stream? Kanawha _ river? Barring the people of the state of West Vir- ginia, it is doubtful if there is one person in a hundred who knows any- Ming at all about it. Still the gov- ernment has expended more than $500,- 000 in improvements Little Kanawha, and the is not yet. Back as far as 1875 the government began of the and the provided No than six reports relative to. the im- provement of the Little Kanawha have on the end making examinations conditions on that last for stream, river and harbor act another examination. less May, 1919 : been submitted to congress since 1875, It appears that every new congress. man from that district finds it neces sary to have additional examinations made, It has been said that the present congressman from the Little Kanawha district practically based his last campaign on improving the river, and that he is now urging its further im- provement. This improving of rivers appears to be the safest and cheapest campaign ammunition for candidates to congress. It appears to have been - used with success from the very be- ginning. There has not been 4 can- didate from the Ohio river districts who has not used it, and an examina- tion of the reports of the chief en- gineers, U. S. army, will show to what extremes congressmen have gone in their their campaign pledges. Thousands of dol- endeavor to carry out lars have been spent for dredging in- significant. harbors and for building embankments along the river fronts of country towns. There is, however, some justification the the Ohio; it is a large river and flows in government improving along the border of seven states. But what about the Little Kanawha? Is there anything to justify its improve- ment by the general government? And there is the trouble; we do not consid- the waterways er improvement of our inland from a strictly business point of view. Considering the Little What does it offer to. the people at large? What is the nature of the land through which it flows? Should it be improved, who will be benefited? The Little Kanawha river rises on Kanawha: the western slope of Laurel hill, flows through Braxton, Calhoun, Wirt and Wood of West Virginia, and empties into the Ohio , It is 158 miles entirely in the state of West Virginia. The average width of the Little Kanawha will not ¢x ceed. 175 feet, banks along the the Gilmer, counties river at Parkersburg. long and lies and. its upper part steep, country through which it flows being generally hilly. The bed of the river ate very consists of sand and gravel with many