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1901)... quirement of practical engineering knowledge on-the part of the younger officers of the former line, but, in enforcing their embracement of ‘this opportunity.” It is satisfactory to learn that it is the department that is to blame, and not the officers. A scheme which amalgamated the line (or, as we should say, the executive) and the engineering branches, would naturally lead to a dearth in the numbers of the latter if any of them were diverted to deck duties; for it takes time to make an engineer, As the number of engineers was altogether beneath the needs of the service before, it will only be by younger men coming forward that the ranks will be filled. Having abolished the purely and exclusively engineering branch, it seems to us that it is evidently the duty of the governing authorities to see that officers coming forward are instructed as engineers, otherwise the navy must suffer. Doubtless men will specialize after a time, being sorted out by a process of selection, and if there is too great a disposition to prefer the bridge to the engine room it would seem a wise policy to offer greater inducements, in the shape of more rapid promotion to higher rank, and, therefore, more liberal pay, with perhaps earlier retirement, to those who embrace a less attractive side of the profession. In the royal navy no effort has been made to grapple with this ques- tion; which is one of the highest importance. Within the last few weeks an animated discussion on “The Training of Naval Officers” -has been going on in the Times, in which it would almost seem that half the admir- als of the fleet have been taking part. To read the letters one would think we were back in the beginning of the last century, before ever a steam engine had been placed in a British man-o’-war. Whether mathe- matics, or Roman law, or French, or German, should be most taught has raised all manner of opinions; but whether a naval officer should know the difference between an engine and a boiler seems to be a matter of profound indifference. It is an indifference for which we should pay dearly, if ever we were to engage a hostile fleet provided with officers more intelligently trained, on anything like equal terms. HAMBURG-AMERICAN LINE ENTERPRISE. The Hamburg correspondent of Syren & Shipping writes: “The Hamburg-American line has just issued a plan of operations for the ensu- ing year, from which we note that the company, during the last nine months, has increased its tonnage by no less than 180,000 tons register. The Hamburg- American line owns at present ninety- -three ocean- going steamers, with 461,648 tons register, and’ 102 river steamers, etc., with 20,657 tons register; while there are at present being built for the com~ pany nineteen ocean steamers, with 121,300 tons, and twenty-seven river steamers, etc., with 7,462 tons, all of which—or at least the bulk of which —will be ready and taken over before the end of the year. Consequently the Hamburg-American line controls 611,067 tons register, as compared with 878,770 tons register of the British India Steam Navigation Co., and thus further establishes the claim to being the largest steamship company in the world. Director General. Ballin being away in far off China on a combined trip of pleasure and business, the premier charge of the huge concern has been left in the able hands of Director Guido Wolff, who has done so much to make the company what it is. The fact of their hav- ing attained the present position as the largest company on the face of the earth will, however, not prevent the four directors from ‘going one bet- ter,’ and we have no doubt that they will meet any challenge to the blue ribbon held by the Deutschland, or any challenger to their title as cham- pions of the mercantile marine of all seafaring nations with redoubled energy, foresight and enterprise. To cater for passengers they bought large hotels in Paris during the exhibition; they constructed special pleasure yachts, like the Prinzessin Victoria Luise; and they built a mag- nificent new office overlooking the Lake Alster. There is ‘go’ and life in whatever they set their hands on, and they rely more upon their own resources than upon state subsidies.” BOILERS FOR MORE THAN TWO MILLION HORSE POWER. Since the first of the year the British admiralty has given notice to Delaunay, Belleville & ‘Co. of St. Denis (Seine), France, of the following vessels to be fitted with Belleville steam generators of the new economizer type: Cruiser Encounter, 12,500 I.H.P.; cruiser Cornwall, 22,000 1.H.P.; battleship Queen, 15,000 LH.P.: - battleship Prince of Wales, 15, 000 I.H.P. These orders make a total of sixty- -five British war ships fitted with Belle- ville water tube boilers, representing altogether 1, 046,400 H. P. In a letter to the Review, Delaunay, Belleville & Co. say: “The preference which the British admiralty continues to show to our boilers is the best answer to be given to attacks to which the Belleville water tube steam generators have been subjected in England.” The total horse power of sea- -going ships fitted or to be fitted with Belleville boilers is as. follows: No. of ships. Total. H. P. BTA TI UN yc sia code 2e's winve. syste lo view iss. sare ota 40 371,320 The Messageries Maritimes Co............. 14 87, 600 French Western Railway Co..............+- uf 17,900 MBAR RAN YS css fuse ceo eines Reap sisip frie id ® 65 1,046, 400 SSSI Th AVY cies) cars ain nlistsbssiidiess dius wosdip Ss we nsec 31 O51, '300 (MESS hs eee Dearie: fr rane eet er 10 122,700 PS HetaT NAVY 6k eo iaisieis vedo See vinelg nde pee 5 56,700 MM AY ose 5 5d s So lita Saw ariecte men oo # 4 26, 500 Me AIS NAN WE 2s ie y eiaiete POIs @ wip AE ein 4 e 000 Italian navy .... ; 1000 ADTRAN Sk, sacha ae Oek ene oo hes a8 180 2,036,920 In addition to the above ocean steamships, Belleville boilers have been fitted to a large extent on small steam boats and launches, tugs, fish- eries, guard boats, steam yachts, dredgers, etc.; also a great number have been. supplied to the French and foreign navies for auxiliary services. The house has yielded to the senate on the naval bill and decided not to further insist upon the construction of any more battleships and cruisers. The bill, as it passed the house, provided for two battleships and two cruisers, but the senate struck out that provision and substituted the construction ‘of three Holland submarine boats. MARINE REVIEW. ee SS eee ENGLISH VIEW OF THE STEEL COMBINATION. The English technical press is thoroughly alive to the significance of the new steel combination. Engineering, a recognized authority on the other side, discusses it in the following manner: “There is no reason to doubt the substantial accuracy of the state- ments sent over from New York during the past few days concerning the Carnegie company. The Morgan syndicate has acquired a dominant control in the company by buying ‘Mr. \Carnegie’s interests outright; and it may be accepted as accurate that an arrangement has been practically consummated, whereby the Carnegie Steel, Federal Steel, National Steel, American Steel & Wire, and several other companies, are to be combined and operated under the one management. Mr. Pierpont Morgan is credited with having moved in this matter with the beneficent intention of establishing peace, and he has succeeded—and will, no doubt, reap a very substantial reward. The Carnegie company, it may be pointed out, has hitherto refused point-blank to become a party to any combination of steel manufacturers, and the dream of a gigantic steel trust to control the home markets, and to make a concentrated attack on the foreign outlets affected by Great Britain, has perforce remained unfulfilled. Obviously, no com- bination could be said to be of much account which did not include fhe most important undertaking of its class in all the country. So far from acquiescing in the trust proposals, the Pittsburg firm has been rather in? clined to defy the other manufacturers, and some of its developments have been dangerous to them. For instance, it was announced towards the end of the year that the company had decided upon the erection of a pipe and tube factory at Conneaut, O., which would be the largest in the world, and which would possess all possible advantages for cheap manu- facture in the tube line. There was no doubt as to the ability of the con- cern to make itself-obnoxious, not only to the older tube company, but to the others. It is not exactly clear whether the Carnegie interest meant business by all their recent aggressiveness, or whether it was designed to bring the others to reason in order that the eminent and highly successful creator of the business might retire and lead that ‘dignified and unselfish’ old age of which he has spoken so frequently. The fact that Mr. Morgan is the leading spirit of the National Tube Co. and that this company was to have been the immediate object of the Carnegie first attack, seem to have had a good deal to do with the final arrangement. Now that all the producers have amalgamated, one feels inclined to be sorry for the mere. American consumer, who is left without a friend. “For the United Kingdom this development is of very considerable interest, not only because of its magnitude, but because of the effect which it is likely to have on our home and foreign trade. With the Ameri- can domestic market quite under control, the combination will be the better able to spread itself abroad. In spite of the improvements in pro- cesses of manufacture, of which we have heard so much of late, we fail to see how American manufacturers could hope to compete on a large scale with English, Belgian and German producers in Europe and the East if they were solicitous to obtain a fair profit on such business. But there is the ‘law of surplus,’ of which Mr. Carnegie himself has boasted— that law which consists in selling at, or below, cost abroad when neces-~ sary, and charging as much as you can squeeze out of the home consumer, who cannot buy abroad because of the high import tariff. In this way you get a good average profit on the whole of your output, and by letting the foreigner have all that you cannot place at home, you prevent stocks from accumulating and the market from weakening. An inevitable out~ come—at least as regards the American market—will be a centralization of steel control almost as complete as has been effected in petroleum oil. So long as the supply of a commodity was subject to economic forces, and its price was fixed by the action of buyers and sellers upon each other in the open market, a man could afford to rely upon his own judg- ment or simply to take his chances. But if the output is to be regulated by two or three men, or if the supply can be held till it suits half-a-dozen_ men acting in association with each other to put it on the market, the speculator has no chance at all; he is playing with the dealer, who has given himeslf all the trumps. There is practically no speculation in oil. Speculation in copper has nearly ceased, for the production is controlled by a few great companies acting together. There is scarcely any specu- lative trading in lead in the states—the metal is controlled by a trust. The business of the metal exchange in New York has dwindled to very small proportions, and there is only one Opinion as to the reason for it, and. that is that the combinations are controlling the commodities. Mani- festly the same thing is being done in steel, and it is to be added, as an instance of the way in which the consolidations are strengthening their position, that the Lake Superior iron ore mines are practically all under their control, and this is a development which tells still more against the ever- -decreasing number of independent manufacturers. It does not follow. that the trust will pursue its advantage in the home market to the last cent, because that would be to restrain enterprise; but short of this—and it probably knows where to stop—it will have matters pretty much its own way, so long as the cost of goods is kept just under that of foreign commodities laid down in America—that is, with freights, import duty, and handling charges thrown in.’ NO DRY DOCK IN NEW YORK HARBOR. The senate committee on commerce has given such a black eye to the proposition of New York capitalists to construct a $3,000,000 dry dock in the harbor of New York that Senator Depew has withdrawn it. The proposition was before the committee in the shape of a proposed amend- ment to the sundry civil appropriation bill. It provides for paying $100,- 000 a year for fifteen years to capitalists who should build a stone dock 1,000 ft. long and 33 ft. deep, with steel gates, the government to be reim- bursed by a provision that United States war vessels should perpetually have the first right to the use of the dock and that the government could take possession of the dock at any time on payment to the company of an equitable sum of money. E. D. Cragin of the Cragin-Eyre syndicate and - Amasa Thornton appeared before the committee as attorneys for the capitalists who proposed to build the dock, but there was such a strong feeling in the committee, which found voice in the statement of Senator MoeMillan against paying what might naturally be regarded as a subsidy for dry dock building, that no serious consideration was given to the- proposition, and Senator Depew, a member of the committee, said he would not press it.