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1900] MARINE REVIEW. 15 include a considerable proportion of foreign materials imported under the law of July 15, 1879, which grants free entry to all materials, fixtures, and even guns, which are to be used in the construction, repair and equipment of both war and mercantile vessels. Under this provision there were im- ported free during the year 1898, 4,498 tons of pig iron, 8,969 tons of struc- tural iron, 5,048 tons of wrought cranks and shafting, 28,246 tons of steel and iron plating for hulls, 1,280 tons of anchors, 1,252 tons of heavy cast- ings, 69,268 tons of sawed lumber, 72,234 tons of hewn timber, besides quantities of cordage, hemp and other materials. The chief source of the iron and steel employed in ship construction is Westphalia, whence it is transported to the northern ship yards, either by water via the Rhine and North sea or across country by rail, special low rates being granted on the Prussian government railways for all materials intended for this pur- pose. One of the most potent arguments in favor of the Dortmund-Ems canal, which was opened from Dortmund to Emden during the past sum- mer, was that it would facilitate the shipment of iron and steel for ship building purposes from the interior of Westphalia to the ship yards on the northern coast. The great steel works of Friederich Krupp at Essen make not only guns and armor plate for war vessels, but all kinds of large forgings, stems, rudder frames, propeller shafts and heavy framework and engine parts for both war and merchant steamers. But the principal ship yards at Hamburg, Kiel, Stettin and Danzig are so fully equipped as to be practically independent of outside assistance in these respects. GOVERNMENT SUPPORT or SHIPBUILDING AND NAVIGATION. It has been shown in this report that the turning point in the de- velopment of naval construction in Germany was during the years im- mediately following 1870, when the necessity of beginning immediately an armored fleet for the newly consolidated Empire compelled the admir- alty to not only increase the equipment and capacity of its own ship yards, but to give contracts for ironclad vessels to private German constructors. Similarly, the first real opportunity given to a home shipyard by either of the great navigation companies at Bremen and Hamburg, was when a government subsidy compelled the Lloyds to place a contract for six imperial mail liners for the China and Australian service where they could be built by German workmen, and, as far as practicable, with: German materials. We have seen that since 1879 all materials needed and used for ship building have been imported free of duty, and that the government railways have hauled steel, iron, lumber, etc., from foundries to ship yards at the bare cost of handling and transportation. All this was much, but it can safely be said that:the great lines which now connect the two prin- cipal German ports with Asia, Australasia and the German colonies in East Africa would not and could not have been established and maintained during the earlier years of struggle and uncertainty had they not received the direct, liberal and assured support of the government through fixed annual subsidies. This policy was inaugurated under the vigorous leader- ship of Prince Bismarck, then chancellor of the empire, who, on April 6, 1881, submitted to the German Parliament a long and elaborate memorial based upon a review of the French mercantile marine act of Jan. 29 in that year, which appropriated $4,590,000 per annum as subsidies to steamship lines from France to Corsica, Brazil and La Plata, New York and West Indies, India, China, Algiers and Tunis. The memorial also showed in detail how Great Britain was paying annually at the same time in postal subsidies £641,656 (approximately $3,118,448) for lines to South America, East Indies, China, Japan, West Indies, Africa and the United States, while Italy expended for similar purposes, in 1879, $1,593,214 and Austria, $1,034,844, Germany had, at that time, been living about eleven years under an imperial government, and was rapidly changing from an agricultural to an industrial and commercial nation. Bismarck had the sagacity to see that the time would soon come—had indeed come—when Germany must have new and extended foreign markets for her surplus manufactured products or languish from congestion, as her productive energies overran the purchasing power of her own people. His appeal to the Reichstag was based upon the experience and adopted policies of France and Great Britain, the rivals from whom Germany had then most to fear, and met with immediate and cordial response. A convention was framed and en- tered into by the imperial government and the North German Lloyd Steamship Co., by which the latter bound itself to establish and work for fifteen years three main lines of steamships: First, a line from Bremer; haven to China, with a branch line from Hongkong via Yokohama and Hiogo to Korea; second, a line from Bremerhaven to Australia, by way of a Dutch or Belgian port, with a branch service from Sydney via the Tonga islands to Apia and back to Sydney; and, third, a line from Trieste via Brindisi to Alexandria. The contract included thirty-four sections and prescribed in full detail the number of voyages to be made by each line, the average speed to be maintained, the number and tonnage of new liners to be built in German yards of German material and manned throughout by German subjects; fixed penalties for violation or neglect of any stipu- lation; prescribed reduced rates for transportation of German officers, ' soldiers, marines and civil officials, etc. For this service, the imperial ‘government bound itself to pay a yearly subsidy of 4,400,000 marks ($1,047,500). The first steamer on the China line left Bremerhaven on June 30, 1886, with imposing ceremonies befitting such an occasion, stopped at Antwerp, where similar proceedings took place, and then sailed away for Hongkong, thereby opening what was felt to be an important new chapter in the commercial development of Germany. The success of the Asian and Australian lines in opening new fields for German export pointed the way to a second enterprise of the same character, and on May.9, 1890, a new convention was made with the North German Lloyd Co; to put on a monthly line of steamships between Hamburg and Dela- goa bay, via Lisbon, Naples, Port Said, Aden, Zanzibar and Dar es-Sa- laam with coast lines between Zanzibar and Lamu, Bagamoyo, Saadani, Pangani, Tonga, Kilwa, Lindi, Ibo and other African ports. For this service the government bound itself to pay an annual subsidy of 900,000 marks ($214,200). These contracts have been amended and enlarged, always with the purpose of securing higher speed, more frequent voyages and better service. After fifteen years of successful operation, the original contract for the eastern Asia and Australian lines was renewed for a similar period, with various modifications, on Oct. 30, 1898. Among the more impor- tant changes were the following: The terminus of the China line was made at Shanghai, instead of Hongkong, and it includes intermediate stoppages at a port in Belgium or Holland, at Genoa, Naples, Port Said, Suez, Aden, Colombo and Singapore. A separate line is established be- tween Bremen or Hamburg and Japan, with terminus at Yokohama and stops at Hiogo, Nagasaki, Hongkong and the other intermediate ports specified for the China line. Branch lines are provided from Hongkong to Shanghai and another branch from Singapore to several specified ports in the Dutch East Indies and Sunda Archipelago to New Guinea. The maximum standard speed is raised to 18% knots per hour, and all new steamers built for this service shall be of not less than 6,000 tons register. The new contract took effect on April 1 last, and’ for its fulfillment the company is to receive in monthly payments an annual subsidy of 5,590,000 marks ($1,330,420). The next step in contemplation is the establishment of a new monthly line by the Hamburg-Anierican company direct to the German Chinese port of Kyao-chau, and for this purpose a bill is in preparation to be submitted to the Reichstag at its coming session. - When it is considered what the East Asian, the Australian, East African and Mediterranean lines of the North German Lloyd have done for the foreign commerce and the national influence and progress of Germany during the past fifteen years, at an- expenditure of.a little more than $1,250,000 per annum, there is presented a striking lesson of what can be done by persistent, well-sustained effort, carefully planned and faithfully carried out. The convention of Oct. 30, 1898, between the im- perial government and the North German Lloyd comprises forty-four articles. It is an example of a German state paper in which every con- tingency is foreseen, and no detail, however minute, omitted. which can contribute to the completeness of the service which is therein ‘provided for and secured. Not only has the German merchant marine been thus liberally and consistently supported by subsidies of money from the public treasury, but it has been encouraged, applauded and honored by the’entire influence of the imperial government, which in a country like this, where royal favor is so potent and eagerly sought for, is an important element of success. The emperor is not only an enthusiastic yachtsman and sailor, but he is under all circumstances an ardent and powerful advocate of ex- pansion and improvement of the German fleet and merchant marine. No c.pitalists or business men are more honored in Germany than those who have contributed to these results. When in November last, Consul Meier, _ founder of the North German Lloyd Co., died in his ninetieth year, the honors bestowed upon his memory were of princely splendor and solem- nity. When Capt. Schmidt brought home the lame and battered Bul- garia from her long and perilous battle with wintry seas, the Emperor’s thanks and medals met him at the gang plank, and he and his men be- came heroes in the recognition of, their government and countrymen. There are not lacking conservatives—mainly agrarians and socialist reac- tionaries—who have opposed this policy as they oppose improvements in the canals and internal water routes of this country, but they do not con- trol the policy of Germany, and, in all probability, never will. A MILLION TONS OF COAL COVERED. Contracts covering fully a million tons of coal to be moved to the head of Lake Superior next season, all of it at 50 cents a ton, have been closed with four or five vessel owners. James Davidson of West Bay City and J. C. Gilchrist of Cleveland have engaged to carry something more than half of this million tons. There is more coal to be had at the same price, but vessel owners are apparently not in a hurry to take it, although $1.25 on ore and 50 cents on coal seem like big rates compared with 60 cents and 30 cents, which were, respectively, the contract rates of the past year. The coal shippers are also trying to cover quite a large amount of coal that is to go to Portage. They are offering 55 cents, but the vessel owners who are disposed to take any of this coal ask 60 cents. It cannot be learned that any contracts have been made at either figure. Shipments of soft coal to all ports on Lake Superior during the season just closed aggregated 3,235,000 tons. From present indications this total will probably be exceeded by fully a million tons next year, as the high freights and car shortage of 1899, especially in the fall, restricted shipments, and coal is, of course, now being used in the northwest, as in all other parts of the country, to a greater extent than ever before. It is quite probable, therefore, that there is still a very large amount of coal to be carried by season contracts, not only for Lake Superior, but fot Lake Michigan ports, where it cannot be learned that anything has been done as yet. It is probable also that the coal shippers, demanding better prices for their product than in the past, will not be disposed to take chances on “wild” freights to as great an extent as in other years, espe- cially in view of the carrying charges they were called upon to pay last year, but there will probably be little more done in the way of freight contracts or sales of coal until after the meeting of miners in the latter part of the present month, when wages are to be fixed. In the round-up of affairs of the Pittsburg Coal Co., the big consoli- dation that recently secured full control of the Pittsburg district, several well-known coal shipping concerns of Cleveland are passing out of ex- istence, among them Osborne, Saeger & ‘Co., Pittsburg & Chicago Gas Coal ‘Co., the Walsh-Upstill Co., New York & ‘Cleveland Gas Coal Co., Morgan, Moore & Baine and the Cuddy-Mullen Coal Co. .Two other firms that have been engaged in mining and selling Pittsburg-coal, M. A. Harina & Co. and Pickands, Mather & Co., retain their identity but under contracts with the consolidation. Martin Mullen of the Cuddy- Mullen company did not sell his'half interest in that concern. He con- tinues in opposition to the consolidation. Cleveland coal men now hold- ing places in the consolidation are: Mr. Osborne of Osborne, Saeger & Co., president; Mr. Saeger, in sales department; Mr. Robbins of-the same firm, in charge of the chartering of vessels; John A. Donaldson, who was with the Pittsburg & Chicago Gas Coal ‘Co., now in charge of Lake Erie docks, car dumps and steamboat fueling; Mr. James Walsh, sales depart- ment. Mr. J. S. Ashley, who was agant for the New York & Cleveland Gas Coal Co., has taken a position with M. A. Hanna & Co., where he will continue in about the same line of work in which he was formerly engaged,