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August, 1910 vance that they will meet with rebuffs; they know that if they make even minor that they will be marked for punishment. successes The tempta- tion to do nothing--to drift--will be great, and, as a matter of fact, there is little else to do. But will not this Will not congress right the wrong? be temporary? Will not congress at its next session go into naval administration and pro- vide a permanent efficient organiza- tion for the navy department and the navy yards? We be- lieve that there are many: men in con- We hope so. gress who know the facts and who will be stirred to action by the pun- ishment of Capps. If this is the re- sult--if an efficient administration is obtained by these means, then the punishment of Capps will not have been in vain, and if we are right in our estimate of the man he will not complain if this result is obtained. Surplus of Ships As the July movement on the lakes was somewhat under that of June it would appear as though the June movement would be the record of the year. It is not expected that the August movement will equal that of July, as some of the owners carried a portion of their August ore during July. It therefore seems certain that there is no prospect of a return to active service during the balance of the present year of the ships which were put into ordinary over two months ago. This portion is practi- cally one-fifth of the independent ton- Nage on the lakes and they make a rather pitiable spectacle lying in the outer harbors of the principal Lake Erie ports. They are likely to remain there until next spring. They present the strongest argument that could be advanced that the business of building bulk freighters on the lakes has been overdone. Of course, the cry has gone out for years that the business was being overdone, but there seemed little truth in it--until now. The gist of the whole subject is that there has been a speculative ele- Ment in ship building on the lakes TAE Marine REVIEW during the past five years. The growth in tonnage has not been altogether le- gitimate, though the way trade ex- panded for a time to assimilate it would The trade, how- ever, growing magnificently, could not absorb the new tonnage as fast as it was built. Naturally the ship built as a speculative venture has been the first to feel the effects of Over-supply. They will have difficulty in finding employment now until the excess ton- nage is well digested. indicate so. Since 1904 an astonishing number of bulk freighters have been built and with which they all found profitable employment naturally the readiness attracted the promoter who is always anxious to help a -good thing along. Ships were built that probably would It 'has required such a season as this, when not have been built normally. the volume of trade moving is the heaviest on record, to emphasize the fact beyond all argument that ship There will be no more ships built by the building has been overdone. promoter for the present. Anyone that goes about with a prospectus showing glittering profits will pour Ship building for some time to. come will be con- fined to the iron ore producing, steel making which them in their own business. The fact is that the physical devel- opment of the various properties hav- ing to do with the transportation of ore have been very highly developed during the past few years. To begin his tale into deaf ears. companies, can use 'with, practically all of the latter day ships are built with hatches spaced 12 ft. centers to conform to the pock- ets of the loading docks. It is possi- ble to put a spout in every hatch and to load a ship with. incredible rapid- ity.. Over 10,000 tons of ore were placed in the Corey last fall in 30 minutes. The unloading machines are also approximating loading speed. It isn't any trick at all nowadays to dis- charge a 10,000-ton steamer in five or six hours. They do it every day and think nothing of it. For many years Conneaut, with its combination of Huletts and Browns, led in dispatch, but there are batteries of the same oy type now at other ports that are equal and better. There is scarcely a port on Lake Erie at which a 10,000-ton steamer cannot be unloaded in a work- ing day of ten hours. Moreover, the machines never rest, they are going day and night, the vessel spending very little time A. round trip in seven days is getting to be the customary thing. Obviously this has increased the potential tonnage of each steamer and has thus contributed to a surplus of ships. During 1909, 42,500,000 tons of ore were moved. To Aug. 1 of the pres- ent year 21,863,549 tons were moved, which is an increase of 6,468,199 tons over the corresponding period: last year. in port. This movement has been ac- complished with one-fifth of the inde- pendent tonnage laid up. Approxi- mately 50,000,000 tons will be moved this year with 20 per cent of the ton- nage out of commission. Obviously the business has got to exceed the 50,000,000-ton limit before profitable employment can be found for the ships now in ordinary. It is, there- fore, clear that there are too many ships. Of course, the set-back is only temporary. It won't be long, before the trade will absorb them. Mean- while the ship yards, while fairly up with their construction program, are assured of abundant repair work. Need of Better Communi- cation During the course of the year the Lake spends large sums of money in private aids Carriers' Association to navigation. It does not wait, by any means, for the government to It would seem as though the association might with ad- take the initiative. vantage turn its attention to improv- ing the means of communication to the more remote districts traversed The case of the Zenith City is an illustration of the necessity This steamer stranded on the rocks off Point Au Sable about 4 o'clock July "i. A boat was patched to the fog signal station about a mile away only to discover there by vessels. for more adequate service. immediately dis-