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32 THE MARINE REVIEW THE MARINE REVIEW DEVOTED TO MARINE ENGINEERING, SHIP BUILDING AND ALLIED INDUSTRIES Published Monthly by The Penton Publishing Company Penton Building, Cleveland. BOSTON - - - - - - Room 510, 201 Devonshire St. CHICAGO - - - - - 1521-23 Lutton Bldg. CINCINNATI - - - - - 503 Mercantile Library Bldg. NEW YORK - - - - - ° 503-4 West Street Bldg. PITTSBURGH - : - - - 2148-49 Oliver Bldg. - ae yee Bank Bldg WASHINGTON, D.C. - - Prince Chamber. BIRMINGHAM, ENG. : oe Subscription, $2 delivered free anywhere in the world. Single copies, 20 cents. Back numbers over three months, 50 cents. Change of advertising copy must reach this office on or before ote 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, as Second Class Matter. (Copyright 1914,by Penton Publishing Company) January, 1914 ag Folletic Seamen's Bill At the recent meeting of the Society of Naval Archi- tects and Marine Engineers, in New York City, Lewis Nixon offered a resolution protesting against the so- called La Follette seamen's bill, declaring that it threat- ens the very existence of ship building in the United States and would end the flying of the American flag en the high seas. The text of the resolution follows: "On Oct. 3, 1913, the United States senate passed Senate Bill 136. "This bill is alleged to promote the welfare of Amer- ican seamen in the merchant marine of the United States. : "This society does not concur in the view that a law which makes it impossible to fly the American flag on the oceans in the foreign trade is in the interests of seamen of the country. It believes that legislation which will hinder the expansion of our coasting fleets and nullify much of the good that will result from the development of our deeper waterways is against the welfare of any of our people. "Tt is our judgment that as the result of the enact- ment of this bill American vessels will be driven from the foreign commerce upon the Pacific, that trade will be driven to Canadian ports and that vast damage will be done to our transportation systems on land and sea. "It believes that on account of the demoralization resulting from the false and misleading impressions to be created by such bill as to the relation between the seamen and the officers of our merchant vessels, the hazard of the sea will be greatly added to and that | | January, 1914 the safety of persons and conditions in transit at sea will be threatened. "The bill is vicious selective class legislation based upon misrepresentation, and which defeats the very ob- ject. that it is alleged to further. "Therefore, Be It Resolved, That the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, representing the ship building and allied interests of the United States, protests against the enactment of Senate Bill 136, as operating against the upbuilding of our mer- chant marine, reducing the opportunity of employment of American seamen, adding to the risk of life and property at sea and sapping the commercial independ- ence of the nation. "That a copy of this resolution be sent to the com- mittee having cognizance of merchant marine legisla- tion in the senate and house, and to the secretary of commerce." Certainly no body of men is more competent to pass upon such a measure than the Society of Naval. Architects and Marine Engineers, whose whole exist- ence is dealing with the problems of the sea. Steven- son Taylor emphatically declared that the measure if passed would destroy not only all attempts at improve- ment in our ocean service, but would absolutely destroy many of the lines engaged in sound, bay, river and lake service. There is absolutely no sense to the meas- ure and it is surprising that the bill should have passed the senate. The provision providing that each life boat should be manned by two able seamen is perfectly absurd. There are no longer any able bodied seamen aboard ship. The men now employed on the deck of a steamer are largely engaged in polishing brass and chipping off rust spots. They are simply deck hands and may not be as competent to handle a life boat as men employed in other parts of the ship. Under mod- ern conditions of ship operation, the life boat crews are drafted from every department, including engineers, firemen, oilers and stewards. To require that two able seamen should also be added to the crew of each life boat would mean the carrying of two extra men for this purpose. It is all very well to carry life boat equipment for all in deep sea sailing. No one can successfully quar- rel with that demand considering the case of the Titanic, yet nevertheless it was only the exceptional circumstances surrounding this great tragedy that made it possible for the life boats to be successfully launched and to live after they were launched. The case of the Volturno demonstrated very conclusively the utter use- lessness of life boats under the ordinary conditions prevailing in the North Atlantic. But when it comes to sounds, bays, rivers and inland lakes, it is a perfectly preposterous proposition that life boats should be carried for all. On many of the runs the boats would be better off without any life boats at all and on the lakes the ships could be beached or run into sheltered water long before one-tenth of their ae oS