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JANUARY .1884 NDER the heading of “Naval Af- fairs, the Marine Record, Jan. 3, 1884 (then the name of MARINE RE- VIEW and a weekly) in commenting on the naval defences of the country said, “The commissioners recommend that the navy yard at New London, Conn. be abandoned and the rest main- tained, and urge the importance of preparation in time of peace for war. ‘War’, they said, ‘is a heritage of man and of the people of the United States. History will have been written in vain should they delude themselves with the idle hope of perpetual peace; and when war does come in- these modern days it is swift and terrible. Exposed and unprepared as we are, the damage that could be inflicted upon us ere the note of warning was well sounded, would be beyond calcu- lation. But unmindful of the great lessons of war, we wait for the emer- gency hour to force us into measures that should have already matured.” * * * This recommendation made by the so-called commissioners of the navy 42 years ago is very much up to date and is just as appropriate today as it was when first issued, the Great War having demonstrated again the enormous losses of unpreparedness. JANUARY 1896 iy VIEW of the very active steps now under way, to prevent the diversion of lake water through the Chicago drainage canal, an item in MARINE Review for Jan. 2, 1896, is interesting. It seems that Senator Brice was in correspondence with leading engineers throughout the country who had for several years advocated the construction of a dam in Niagara river and brought the subject up in the senate. The sena- tor’s engineering supporters had con- tended that the army engineer corps was wrong in not taking up this method of increasing the draft of water on the lakes. Ed * * This suggestion made 30 years ago From the Old Log Book Stray Items About the Great Lakes, Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf Coasts and Inland Rivers from MARINE REVIEW Files of 10, 20, 30 and 42 Years Ago has been revived from time to time and it is possible that a measure of this sort would serve as a controlling medium for keeping the depth of the lakes at a more or less constant fig- ure. Certainly Chicago should be stopped from diverting vast quantities of water through her drainage canal. It may be that the scheme recently proposed by certain Canadian authori- ties for damming the Albany river, which now empties into the Hudson Bay, and building up a new vast lake as a reservoir which would drain into Lake Superior, would be helpful. All this drainage from a great territory now flows uselessly into Hudson Bay. * * * An item in MARINE REVIEW 30 years ago mentions that W. I. Connors well known stevedore of Buffalo had pur- chased the Enquirer, one of that city’s afternoon papers. The item goes on to say that he had become very wealthy and that in addition to his interest in the business of handling freight at Buffalo, he was the principal owner of a large brewery and a director in two banks. JANUARY 1906 HE Marine Review for Jan. 4, ~ 1906 calls attention to the fact that exclusive of Canadian yards, there were 39 vessels under order on the Great Lakes for 1906 delivery. Of this number 34 were bulk freight- ers, two package freighters, two car ferries and one a passenger steamer. It goes on to say that the significant thing about this building program was that a fair part of it was ordered early in the summer of 1905, a thing unprecedented in the history of the Great Lakes as new vessels are not usually contracted for until late in the fall. It was about this time that the Steel corporation ordered four additional steamers to be 600 feet over all, 580 feet keel, 58 feet beam and 382 feet deep with a carrying capacity of 12,000 tons each. Up to the present day these sizes have not often been exceeded. * Ld * A complete illustrated article is given of the new Cunarder, the turbine liner, Carmania. 26 The resignation of Mr. Henry Pen- ton, as chief engineer of the Great Lakes Engineering Works in Detroit, to be succeeded by his assistant A. G. Mattsson, was noted in MARINE RE- VIEW 20 years ago. It mentions among the ships designed and built under his supervision the car ferry DETROIT, the bulk freighters JAMES C. DAVID- SON, Hoover, MASON, SUPERIOR, PETER WHITE, WILLIAM G. MATHER, DELA- WARE, GEORGE H. RUSSELL, FRANK J. HECKER, FRANK C. BALL and B. J. JONES. Mr. Penton continues active in lake marine circles as a naval archi- tect and marine engineer. JANUARY 1916 HAT MARINE REVIEW has_ been fairly consistant in its opposition to government ownership seems evi- dent from a reading of the January number 1916, in which a portion of President Wilson’s message to con- gress is quoted proposing government ownership and operation. President Wilson said in part, “But capital can- not accomplish this great task of a sudden, and with a view of meeting these pressing necessities proposals will be made to the present congress for the purchase and construction of ships to be owned and directed by the government.” MARINE REVIEW pointed out editorially at the time that the president displayed great weakness in his lack of appreciation of the practical problems of commerce and industry. * * * The effects of the Great War going on in Europe had already begun to be felt in the shipbuilding industry. An item in MARINE REVIEW ten years ago lists the new shipbuilding placed, and noted that all leading yards were busy. ee ae. The newest motorships according to an item in Marine Review ten years ago, then being built were over 400 feet in length which was very nearly as large as the White Star liner Brit- tanic which was one of the first big Trans-Atlantic liners propelled by steam. The item mentions the Tong- king for the East Asiatic Co. and a sister to motorships Siam and Milaka.