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182 fact, a close and constant supervision at the admiralty. Similarly, it is obvi- ous that a vesselengaged in immediate association with military operations often cannot be managed in the same way, or upon the same principles, as if it were engaged in a commercial enterprise. The release, or return, or even the discharge of that ship is dependent on the dominating circumstances existing at the position to which she has gone. What may seem to us shipping men a serious loss of time is considered by our service commanders a vital ne- cessity for the successful prosecution of their work with the entire forces un- der their respective commands. With regard to the vessels that are requisitioned for civil work, such as the carriage of foodstuffs, wheat, grain, sugar, etc, or for nitrates and materials for the munitions depart- ments, these are operated on commer- cial lines, as the transport department has appointed as agents shipping firms of the highest standing, and full local knowledge and experience, at all the principal ports at home and’ abroad, who attend to the loading, discharg- ing and other work incidental to ship management, with the view of operat- ing each ship on strictly business lines to insure its most economical use. To controi 1,800 ships of all types and classes is a stupendous undertak- ing, even when that control is para- mount throughout every operation of the ships. Report Shows Prosperity President Galen L. Stone, of the Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies Steam- ship Lines, says that the company has 11 ships under construction, of which nine should be delivered during the current year. They will represent a cost of almost $7,000,000. Mr. Stone declares that there is every reason to believe that the boats will be paid for from the current resources of the business without the sale of additional securities. He asserts that the com- pany has a substantial working cap- ital, including $4,200,000 in cash. Com- menting on the declaration of a divi- dend of $1 per share on the preferred stock, Mr. Stone says: “Many inquiries have been made as to whether this first declaration of a dividend of $1 per share on the pre- ferred shares of Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies can be construed as an indi- cation of quarterly dividends of the same amount. It has been the prac- tice of the management to furnish to the shareholders and the public an annual balance sheet showing the financial position of-the holding com- _among THE MARINE REVIEW pany, and a consolidated balance sheet showing the financial position of the principal subsidiary corporations owned and controled by the former. It has also been the practice of the manage- ment to publish as promptly as pos- sible each month a statement show- ing the revenues, expenses and current deductions of the principal subsidiary operating companies. “The only financial factors produc- ing the income account of the -sys- tem as a whole, which are not pub- WS K—SWW0Y By H. H. Dunn HE biggest single event in shipping circles in the south the . during April was arrival at New. Orleans, near the end of that month, of the 1,600-ton self- propelled, steel barge Inco No. 1, from St. Louis on the maiden trip of what is to be a regular trunk line ser- vice of large gas-driven barges between the Missouri and the Louisiana port. The barge, which is quadruple screw, driven by Fairbanks-Morse engines, made 9 miles an hour upstream and 13 down the river, at her trial trip at Cin- cinnati in March. She was built at Jeffersonville, Ind. and went thence to Cincinnati, Louisville and St. Louis, ar- riving at the latter point, for cargo, April 12. She left there about two days later, and proceeded to New Orleans with a full cargo, traveling slowly and stopping at all river towns so as to give the shippers and steamboat men of each an opportunity to see the new boat in service. Two other barges of the same size as INco No. 1—whose name, by the way, is taken from the initials of the Inland Navigation Co., her owner—have been launched at the Indiana yards and four others are in process of construction. The full fleet planned by the $5,000,000 corporation, previously de- scribed in The Marine Review, is to con- sist of 35 barges, some of them capable of carrying as much as 3,000 tons. Organization of a distributing and collecting service for the freight carried by the new barge line has been formed steamship companies operating on the river. This traffic association will give wide distribution to freight deposited by the barges at ports along the Mississippi and will bring other freight from towns to feeder waterways which empty into the Mississippi. Par- ties to the new organization are the Inland Navigation Co., owner of the barges; the Lee Line, operating out of Memphis, Tenn.; the Streekfus Line, between St. Louis and Minneapolis; the ‘the holding company. lished, are the income and out The mis laneous income less outgo, exe the interest on the collateral] ; bonds of the holding company amo: ed in 1915 to about $135,000, - well known that the interest on collateral trust bond amounts about $620,000. With these fac in their possession, stockholders ar about as good a position as directo; to judge as to what may prop be expected in way of dividends.” Kansas City- Missouri Transportati Co.,. between Kansas City and St. Loui the Chattanooga Packet Co., on ¢ Tennessee and Ohio rivers; the Wish- ard Line, on the Illinois river, and the Eagle Line, between St. Louis ; Peoria, IIl. Organize New Line, The Potter Transportation Co., New York, has been organized to operate and manage steamers, tugs and barges in the coastwise and foreign trade, The company has acquired recently the — D. L. & W. fleet of tugs and barges, 19 in all, and will also manage the Potter Steamship Co., which has pur- — chased a 4,000-ton steel ocean-going — steamer under construction, with de — livery promised about the end of May. — Officers of the company are Charles H, Potter, president; C.. E, Gremmels, — vice president, and W. G. Edinburg, — secretary and treasurer. o ae Congestion at Hongkong ~ The general freight situation in — Hongkong and eastern ports, it 8 said, has come to a serious condition. — Practically, every warehouse in Hong: — kong is full of freight awaiting ship — ment. There is especially strong de mand in the United States for rubber — from the East Indies, tin, gunny bags — and jute. The demand for these prod ucts is so strong that practically n0 — other cargo is going forward in the larger and faster ships. Five thous- ; and tons of such valuable cargo © in the warehouse of one company — alone, awaiting space. Practically noth ing at the present time is going for- ward in the way of ordinary Chinese merchandise. The result is that trade in some of the principal commodities” in South China at present is prac tically at a standstill and at this time there is little or no prospect of am improvement in the situation as tT