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‘ 1 : : VOL. XIX. NO.19. THE CONTINUOUS CONTRACT SYSTEM. Hon. Theodore E. Burton made a masterly argument in the House of Representatives'on Monday, the 6th ult., on behalf of the continuous contract system. He pointed out that in the Hay Lake channel improvement, the work by this method will cost $900,000 less than the es- timates, a saving of 33 per cent. In Humboldt harbor and bay, California, the saving was about 30 per cent. atid on the 20-foot chatinel, on the Great Lakes, the sav- ing will be about 15 per cent. He then uttered the fol- lowing sentiments, which should find an echoin the heart of every man who is a friend of his country’s com- mercial interests—and no man is a true patriot who is not such a friend: : “T hope the time is not far distant when this biennial river and harbor act will include only provisions for re- pair and maintenance, and for the payment of the first installment on projects, appropriations for which there- after will be made annually as the work progresses. In ~ the first place, this isthe most economical system. It requires little discrimination to see that for every pro- ject a plant must be provided and’ certain expenses in- curred, whether the whole of the work be done, or only an inSignificant portion of it. Nothwithstanding the fact that the new method has not been tried under the most favorable circumstances, we are not without expe- rierice as to its results. “In addition to the direct results from actual saving in cost, equally important advantages arise from the earlier utilization of the completed project and the di- minished injury from deterioration and decay, resulting from tardy completion of the work by sections. Under the traditional policy for the construction of buildings and for river and harbor improvements, piecemeal ap- propriations are doled out in a halting and dilatory manner, and often before'the capstone is placed upon a a structure the foundation begins to rot;-and before a pier or breakwater is finished the end at which it was first begun is so decayed that the waves of the first storm threatened to wash it away. “Not only is this the most economical plan; it is, at the same time more courageous and honest. Under the old system partial appropriations were made for the beginning of extensive public works, when the facts as to the total amount required were not well known to the House,andiwithout the careful consideration which would have been given had there been discussion upon the de- sirability of appropriating the full amount necessary. The result was that many projects were undertaken without sufficient knowledge of their merits; but after the work was once’ commenced the argument was that the government should not abandon the project to which we had committed ourselves by partial appropriations, because the sum already expended would be lost, and we should be subjected to the reproach of having aban- doned enterpises once begun.’’ Mr. Burton then replied to charges of extravagance in the framing of the bill. He compared it with the $30,000,000 appropriation just made for the naval estab- lishment, and pointed out the necessity of giving sub- stantial encouragement to’ the merchat marine. He stated that in recent years the Tyne, at and below New Castle, Eng., had been deepened and other improve- 'ments made, at a cost of $20,000,000. On the Mersey and the Clyde much larger sums had been expended. In the United States the total of appropriations for riv- ers and harbors, since the formation of the government, including amounts appropriated for containing contracts under the sundry civil bill, was $272,630,515. France, from 1814 to 1894 inclusive, has expended on permanent improvements approximately $500,000,000, of which $300, - _ ESTABLISHED 1878 a4 wo CLEVELAND—MAY 7. 1896—CHICAGO. 000,000 had been for inland navigation, and $200,000,000 for ports and harbors. For care and maintenance there had been expended in the same time $135,000,000 for in- land navigation and 70,000,000 for ports and harbors. SS SEE Sai LE ESSA Sy ee are oS INAUGURAL TRIP, CITY OF BUFFALO. About 2,000 invitations has been issued by the manage- ment of the Cleveland & Buffalo Transit Co. to their friends in Cleveland and Buffalo to enjoy complimentary trips on the new steamship “‘City of Buffalé’’ A com- mittee of the city council of Buffalo, with a party of newspaper men from the two cities, will go to Detroit, arriving there on the morning of the 12th inst., about 9 o’clock a.m. The Buffalo committee will formally pre- sent to Cap*. Edwards a fine set of colors for the new steamer, which will be hoisted to place asa part of the ceremony. At 100’clock the steamer will leave the D. & C. dock, Detroit, for Cleveland, reaching this ci'y at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. A general reception will be given in the early evening, and, with a new party of Cleveland guests joining the boat, the City of Buffalo will clear at 12 o’clock Tuesday night for the foot of Lake Erie. She will be accordeda rousing reception, so Buffalo reports state, when she arrives at that city. A reception and lake rides will occupy the remainder of the day, and the City of Buffalo will leave for Cleveland at 10 o’clock Wednesday evening, returning here with the Clevelanders and also carrying a number of invited guests from Buffalo. A lake ride will be given out of Cleveland Thursday and the Buffalo party will return that evening. The City of Buffalo will go into regular commission on Thursday evening, and from that time on throughout the season the service on the Cleveland & Buffalo line will be daily. TTT. aa ANTHRACITE COAL PRODUCTION. The anthracite coal campanies reached an agreement through their president late last week, upon the allot- ment of tonnage until January 1, 1897. The new allot- ment was based upon the business transacted by each company over a considerable period of time, taking into consideration any important circumstances having a bearing upon such business for the ensuing year, no arbitrary rules being followed. The figures in detail areas follows: Reading, 20.50; Lehigh Valley, 15.65; Central, of New Jersey, 11 70; Delaware, Lackawana & Western, 13.35; Delaware & Hudson, 9.60; Pennsylvania Railroad, 11.40; Pennsylvania Coal Co., 4; Brie, 4; New York, Ontario & Western, 3.10; Delaware, Susquehanna & Schuylkill, 3 50; New York, Susquehanna & Western, 3.20. The new percentages must continue until January 1, 1897, but after that date propositions to chauge them will be considered on thirty days’ notice. J. Rogers Maxwell, President Central Railroad of New Jersey; E. B. Thomas, President Erie Railroad; E. P. Wilbur, President Lehigh Valley Railroad; Joseph S. Harris, President Pennsylvania & Reading Railroad; and A. Walter, President Delaware, Susquehanna & Schuylkill Railroad were appointed a committee to consider the feasibility of organizing an Authracite Coal Associa- tion, to be based onthe principles similar to those of the Joint Traffic Association formed by the trunk lines and their western connections. --e. 2 2a THE CORALIA THE PRIZE WINNER. The steamer Coralia left Escanaba at 2:00 o’clock Tuesday morning, with her first cargo of 4,301 gross or 4,860 net tons of iron ore on a mean draft of 15 feet, 3 inches. This is the largest cargo of any kind ever car- ried on the lakes. G2 PER YEAR. 10c. SINGLE COPY NEWS AROUND THE LAKES. BUFFALO. STILL A LirtLe Ick and Corp WEATHER—LOw WAGES FOR MASTERS—NEWS FROM THE Foot oF LAKE ERIE. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. BUFFALO, May 5, Fifteen days since the first steamer made her way through the ice and stlll Niagara River is choked with it, some ice fields being reported to be 20 feet under water. But the end is near. There is only about a mile and a half to get rid of itself this week. ‘The accidents on account of it are quite a few, but they are not very serious. The steamer Tioga had to come back to repair a started plate and the steel Gratwick and the Kielman broke their wheels. There is daily evidence of the improvement of the water in Lake Erie, and the water at the Sault lock has risen half a foot in a week. ‘There is some notion that the rise, both here and at Erie, reported within a few days, ison account of the grounding of the ice at the mouth of the lake where the water is very shallow, but that question will have to await solution till the ice is out ot the way. ‘There has been very little grounding of craft in Buffalo harbor during the past week, at any rate. There are a few good captains left over this spring and they of course feel sore about it; but there is some- times a sort of negative consolation to be picked up, even in such a case. One of them said to me the other way he was not surprised at some of the accidents that had been reported this spring, for he had heard that one of the latest appointments made this season was ona salary of $65 a month. The vessel was a big first-class barge. lLow-priced captains are supposably short in ex- perience. when there are good ones ashore. One of the Buffalo dailies is engaged in the high- minded business of publishing incendiary stories of the hardships and poor pay of the dock laborers, with the apparent hope of stirring them up to a strike. Dis- interested people say that the dock system is much better than it used to be, even if it is not perfect, and add that the effort to stir up strife is a personal drive at a new competitor of the paper. I hope that the steamer Lizzie Madden is not going to be handicapped this season by the names of the two barges that she has taken on asatow. They are the Noquebay and the Mautenee. All that these barges will need in a gale if the tow line parts is to tie a chain to their names and throw the end overboard. ‘The anchorage they would get would stand the biggest northeaster out. : There is a Swiss fisherman named Heine, after the immortal skeptic poet, who is setting all the fools of the Capt. Webb type crazy by doing some dare-devil small- boat acts in the Niagara above the Falls. As the police did not keep their first resolution to clap him in jail some life-saving keeper ought to get an order of court to take possession of Heine for a surfman, for he is not only going to get drowned this summer, but his imita- tors will keep the Falls in a ferment the season through with their tricks to catch public notice. There is no life in the coal trade yet. It is now about all that is left dormant in the lake business. It was ex- pected that something of an average activity would spring up with the opening of the month, but the second week finds not more than one or two shippers ready for business, and they are doing but asm 1: handling. It looks as though Manager Bullard had got the best of it in the move up town made by the Union Steam- boat, Union Transit and Soolines. ‘They are allin fine quarters on the ninth floor of the Ellicott Square block. but Mr. Bullard is on the lake side, which give him a big outlook on the entrance to the harbor and far be- yond. Now for Niagara power and a final abatement of the smoke nuisance, then the outlook will be com- lete. The wise reporter who is engaged in telling imagina- tive stories of the late doings of the Union Transit Line is still loose, and still more startling revelations, never dreamed of by interested parties, are sure to come out. One thing is settled—if the steamer Globe is not put into the line after all this there is going to be trouble in newspaperdom. Manager French has concluded to ac- commodate himself to the casein at least one particular.