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VOL. XIX. NO. 4. SHIP MASTERS’ ASSOCIATION. MEETING OF THE GRAND LODGE. Washington, Jan. 22. The Grand oie of the Ship Masters’ Association mvyened Tuesday atthe Ebbitt House, Washington tha large attendance. Many beside the delegates from. each lodge are present, most of them being accom- panied by their wives. While a large amount of work being accomplished, some time is still found for short excursions, to Mt. Vernon, and up and down the Poto- mac. _ Among the most pleasant events of the proceedings thus far has been the presentation to Capt. Alex. Clark, for five years Grand President of the association, of a 2 beautiful badge, (recently described in the RECORD) in » acknowledgement of his eminent services to the organi- ition, of which he was practically the founder. The esentation was made by Grand President C. E. nham. The first day’s session was devoted chiefly to organiza- tion and routine business. A committee on resolutions was appointed, consisting of Capts. W. S. Mack, J. A. - Holmes and C. M. Davis, which reported on Wednesday. - In accordance with this report strong resolutions were adopted in opposition to any project to bridge Detroit : River by placing piers in the river. Among the reasons - mentioned for this opposition was the,obstruction abut- ments would form against seeing 1p and down the river, the shadows they would cast at night, and the addi- tional confusion that. would result therefrom; also the tendency to gorge ice in the river during the spring and autumn. Representative Corliss, of Detroit, who has introduced a bridge bill differing slightly from that of Senator McMillan, was present at this session, and _ the resolutions reflected somewhat upon his action as ~ not consistent with pledges he had previously made. Mr. Corliss was given the privilege of the floor, and said he had introduced the bill in the honest belief that such a bridge as was therein proposed would offer no obstruction to navigation. If it was demonstrated that this bridge would-obstruct navigation he would remem- - berhis pledges and oppose it. Resolutions were also adopted pronouncing the Lake Shore bridge at Toledo an obstruction to navigation, and declaring i in favor of a Sault patrol system. ~_ sb 3 Ths masters devoted a great part of Wednesday to “making business calls, and have apparently accom- plished much thereby. They called on Hon. Eugene’ T. Chamberlain, Commissioner of Navigation, and’ ex- plained to him the reasons for their opposition to a bill introduced by Representative Payne of, New York, to _ change fog signals in the lakes from’ thrae to’ one blasts: “They. called at the’ Treasury Department to talk Sault patrol | matters over with the revenue cutter ser- vice officials, and also called upon Commander Sigsbee, of the Hydographic office, Chief Willis Moore, of the : Weather Bureau. Secretary Lamont’ has made an ap- rere pointment for. Thursday to discuss riyer and- harbor matters with the masters. Among other matters to be a brought to his attention will be the necessity of secur- 4 ing. immediate provision for beginning the’ work of : widening the Hay Lake channel, several turns of which - are to narrow to admit of vessels passing with any de- gree of safety, “The masters think this should begin as : soon ‘as possible, as by the’ time it can be finished the OF lake commerce will have grown to such an extent as to - utilize and absolutely require allthe room that can then - be furnished. Among the documents left for perusal by. the Secretary of War was a communication from oe John Maurice, of Chicago, which appeared in the CLEVELAND, OHIO, JANUARY 23, 1896. S2 PER YEAR. 10c. SINGLE COPY. MARINE RECORD on December 19, and which demon- strates in a most lucid manner, with mathematical cal- culations, the absolute necessity for immediately widen- ing the channel at several points. Among other visits paid was to the annual meeting of the M. KE. B. A., at Willard’s Hotel, and to the Grand Harbor of Masters and Pilots,at'the Elks hall. Adjourn- ment will probably not be reached before Friday or Sat- urday, and not many delegates may be expected home before next week. A committee will probably remain to appear before Congressional committees on the De- troit bridge, on the 30th inst. $$$ <0 MARINE ENGINEERS’ BENEFICIAL ASSOCIATION. ANNUAL SESSION AT WASHINGTON. WASHINGTON, Jan. 22. The Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association of America is in its nineteenth annual session at Willard’s Hotel. About 60 delegates from the various local or- ganizations are present. This is the third annual meeting to be held in Washington, and is very import- ant, as the order is urging the enactment of legislation which makes the engineer an officer of a ship in the legal sense as well as in practice, and thus prevents aliens from serving. It is desired by this legislation to set aside the interpretation by Secretary of the 'T'reas- ury Chas. Foster of the Dingley law, when he refused to recognize engineers as officers. The reports of the secretary and treasurer of the or- ganization are most encouraging, showing a member. ship of 3,000, and an increase over last year of $3,000 in the treasury surplus. Sen ERIN UnIENNEpeees -cteties ce GRAND HARBOR OF MASTERS AND PILOTS. ANNUAL CONVENTION AT WASHINGTON. WASHINGTON, Jan. 22, The annual national convention of tne American As- sociation of Masters and Pilotsof Steam Vessels assem- bled in the Elks’ Hall, Washington, at 10 o’clock Tues- day .morning. The attendence is very large. ‘The order is well organized on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and the larger rivers, with harbors at. Chicago, Cleveland and Port Huron on the Great Lakes. ‘The con- vention is acting in hearty co-operation with the Ship Masters’ Association of the Great Lakes, and will speud most of this week in discussing matters pertaining to navigation. ee CHALLENGE FOR AN OPEN RACE. Capt. Adolph Freitsch, who sailed from Milwaukee to Norway in his little sloop Nina, has returned to America. He has announced his intention to issue a challenge to sail across the Atlantic, from New York to the Irish Coast, against any crew of two men, he to go alone, asking for no advantage save that his boat shall measure ten feet more on the water line than that of his opponents. If the challenge is not accepted he will build a dory with a 30 foot water line, and schooner rigged, in which he will attempt to sail around the world. He is now lecturing on his experiences during his Atlantic voyage and his late shipwreck, when he lost the Nina. ei a ie The Hydrographic Office chart of Lake Michigan, in- cludes the Straits, St. Mary’s river, the greater part of the south shore of Lake Superior, all of Saginaw Bay, and all the west shore of Lake Huron north of Saginaw Bay. The usual information concerning the latest sonud- ings, compass variations, etc., dppears. The price of this chart is 75c. COAL OUTLOOK AT CHICAGO, The Western soft-coal trade has not experienced the violent crises which characterized it in 1894. Here and there strikes and lockouts occurred, but they were only of a local nature. The Pittsburgh region was the storm-centre for Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and after numerous conferences an arrangement was brought about between the thick and thin vein operators and their miners based on the 64-cent scale, with a resultant 59-cent rate in Ohio and Illinois for a differential.. The supply of soft coal at Chicago was, therefore, pretty good, and it is interesting to note that the receipts of bitum- inous coal reached the figure 4,783,000 tons, as against 3,730,000 tons in 1894, an increase of 1,500,000 tons of coal, which figure, however, is still about 125 ,000 tons below that of 1893. Of this amount, in 1895, 3,880,000 was consumed in the city, as against 3,340,000 tons in 1894, and 14,380,000 in 1893. The fact of the matter was that the low price of anthracite resulted in a quantity of soft-coal being displaced by the ntilization of hard Boat in its stead. i On the other hand shipments of soft coal to the 'coun- try were some 900,000 tons in 1895, as against 390,000: in 1894, and 526,000 tons in 1893, an jncrease over the ship- ments of last year of over 500,000 tons, and nearly 400,- 000 tons over those of 1893. Chicago, therefore, as a soft coal distributing point is rapidly advancing, hav- ing practically recovered its lost ground ane increased its outside territory. Without indulging in any speculation, it seems pretty evident, especially in view of the general revival of trade, that some 5,000,000 tons will reach this market during the present year. The soft coal figures above touched upon are interesting from many points of view, as showing the fluctuations of the various grades of coal at this point, which is mostly attributable to! the actions of the railroads in their manipulation of tariffs. Many grades of soft coal were sold in’ the city at a phe- nomenally low figure, which was as injurious to the oper- ators as to the roads. With the advent of sumumer, which made its appearance earlier than usual, there was a scramble to get rid of coal and prices went still lower. Matters reached such a stage that it became evident that something had to be done to save the business, and combinations of operators were formed, and by this . time the railroads also got tired, and steadied rates by the end of the summer. Orders again became plentiful, - and the business began to boom up. As usual, under circumstances of this nature, when the mines were run- ning full, the car-service became tangled up and there was an actual shortage of miners. This was all thé more annoying as the agricultural element througiidut the West and Northwestern States were returning to burning coal for fuel instead of wood and all kinds of farm refuse which was made use of so extensively the year before. : a Receipts of the various soft coals at Chicago show that Pennsylvania shipped 182,000 tons, which is below that of last year, while Ohio is credidited with 350,000 tons, as against 468,000 tons in 1894. All the other States show- an increase, and West Virginia and Kentucky fuels.» totaled up 339,000 tons in 1895, as agairist 296,000 tons in® ~ 1894; 215,000 tons in 1893, which is an increase. The ré ceipts of Illinois in 1895 were 2,401,000, as against 1/501, - 000 in 1884, and 1,900,000 tons in 1893, “an increase over tnose of last year of the enormous figure of 900,000 tons. Indiana also makes a_ very creditable showing having shipped “to the tity 1,509,000 tons in 1895, as against 1,165,000 tons” im#1894, - an increase of 344,000 tons over last yéar. Bisen Dia+ mond.