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VOL. XIX. NO. 21. ROBBING THE MANITOBA GRAIN SHIPPERS. American grain shippers may think that they suffer at the hands of the railroads, but they are highly favored as compared with their brother. shippers of Manitoba. We take the following from a recent num- ber of the Montreal Trade Bulletin: ‘The undeniable proofs which we have repeatedly brought forward to illustrate the manner in which the poor farmers in Manitoba are bled by the exorbitantly high rates charged on grain by the Canadian Pacific Railway continue to accumulate, one of the numerous instances that are constantly occurring being that of a carload of feed wheat shipped from Manitoba to this city containing 630 bushels, which arrived here a few days ago and sold at 40 cents per bushel, amounting to $252. Of this sum $220 went into the pockets of the C. P. R., leaving a balance of $32, which, after deducting commission charges © for selling and the shipper’s profits, would reduce the above balance to at least $20, or about 3%c per bushel. Out of 630 bushels of wheat shipped from Manitoba to this market the C. P. R. ap- propriates 550 bushels for freight and other charges. But this is not all, for after making the above extor- tionate charges the company charges the much-abused Manitoban 38,000 pounds, or 220 pounds more grain than he actually ships. These are facts that cannot be disputed. If this is not bleeding the poor Manitoba shipper with a vengeance, we would ask, what is? The Winnipeg Board of Trade protests against the freight rates between Fort William and that city on the Canadian Pacific: which have been advanced from 92c last year to $1.16 this on first class freight. The road, moreover, discriminates by making a lower rate on freight coming to Port Arthur on its own boats and those of the Beatty Line, thus shutting out all other Canadian tonnage. The board points out that these lines have the advantage at equal rates and that Cana- dian vessels should be encouraged to gotoFort William, as most of the grain from that port goes in American vessels. ll EE De ‘WORKINGS OF THE CAR FERRY. Referring to the business of last year the president of ‘the Flint & Pere Marquette road in his annual report notes that to the ability of the steamers and the road to handle the grain products of Wisconsin and the north- ‘west may be attributed the gratifiying increase of $116,- 165 in gross earnings for the first three months of 1896 over the corresponding months of 1895. The classes of freight which to the present date the road has been able to handle have been confined to such articles as could be transferred to car from boat and boat tocar. To free the road from its limitation and to secure additional business of a higher class fror Wisconsin and the northwest, it was deemed prudent to add to lake equipment a car ferry steamer. With this end in view, arrangements have been made for the con- struction of the steel ferry with tracks for 30 cars, now building at F. W. Wheeler & Co.’s yard, West Bay City. This boat will be the largest of her class, and it is expected that she will be ready for service during the coming ‘autumn, at which time connection with the rails of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway and the Wisconsin Central Railroad will be made at Manitowoc. Under favorable conditions two round trips a day will be made by this steamer. Arrangements have been concluded with the Ann Arbor Railway Company for the use of its valuable terminal property in Toledo, and of its right of way and track from Alexis to the city. This will enable the Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad Company to secure, at a moderate outlay, an independent entrance to a large CLEVELAND—MAY 28, 1896—CHICAGO. and prosperous city, and a direct connection with the rails of the Columbus, Hocking Valley & Toledo Rail- road, Pennsylvania Company, Wheeling & Lake Erie, Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway, Michigan Central Railway, and Cincinnati, Jackson & Mackinaw Railway; also with Wheeling and Michigan Central Belt lines, through which the other railroads centering in Toledo are reached. EEE ee Martine Recorp Life Savers’ Series. CAPT. JOSEPH DIONNE. A man who has a good dealof experience in the theory and practice of saving life at sea is Capt. Joseph Dionne, keeper of the U. S. Life-Saving station at Two Rivers, Wis. Capt. Dionne was born in 1855 and was reared as a fiskerman. He entered the service in 1880 as surfman at the Chicago station, under Capt. St. Peter, who is now keeper at Jackson Park, Chicago. He remained in the service three years, at the close of which he re- signed, thinking he could do better in the fishing trade. CAPT. JOSEPH DIONNE. He reentered the service at Sturgeon Bay Canal in 1886, enlisting as Number 1 under Capt. Nequette who is now keeper of the station at Sheboygan. When Capt. Nequette was transferred from the canal station in 1889, Capt. Dionne was appointed keeper there, and he had charge of that station and crew until 1892. He was then transferred to the Two Rivers station, where he is at present in command. One of the most recent signal exploits of Capt. Dionne and his crew wasat the W. L. Wetmore on Nov. 12, 1894, stranded some distance from the station, The crew were carried by a special train to a point opposite the wreck and eighteen miles away. Although the weather was exceedingly nasty, the crew rescued and landed thirteen men, making two very haz- ardous trips from the rocky beach. EE ee John N. Young, of Brockville, Ont., has been as- signed to duty in the Canadian Customs department at Duluth, where he will be the assistant of F. W. Bolder- ick through the season. “handling of cargoes here this spring. $2 PER YEAR. 10c. SINGLE COPY, NEWS AROUND THE LAKES. be SI ERLE RE ELE EST EE REITER eS Tey sare} BUFFALO. A VERY. COMMONPLACE Por’, From a News STAND- POINT, JUST NOW—LIGHT ANTHRACITE BUT IMPROVED ‘ BITUMINOUS COAL, SHIPMENTS. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. BUFFALO, May 26. There is at least one improved condition in the take trade and that is the advance of coal rates ten cents a ton to Lake Michigan. The demand for tonnage has not been active for any point, but the last advance did not attract boats, and something further had to be done if shipments were to go on. The fact that the lines with tonnage and coal of their own did not put them in with any vim is enough to show that the demand is really slack. This port has shipped but.a small amount over 150 cargoes of coal yet this season, most of which has gone to Chicago and Milwaukee. There isa general pluming on the part of the insur- ance interests because they have caused vessel owners to skurry about and get their property rebuilt so that it will rate up and command low rates of insurance, but the Buffalo dry docks are now about out of all work ‘that is not somehow connected with the wear and: ‘tear-of the season. Russell & Watson are sending two sets of their special pattern fluted vessel lamps to Davidson’s shipyard to go into the outfit of some of his new vessels. ‘The city waterworks cribs in the Niagara River has also been furnished a set from the same establishment. It is a little queer that so much soft coal is going from this port by lake this season when the hard coal traffic is slack. This is not a soft coal shipping port, ‘so the amount shipped is not really large, but it is already several times as much as is often shipped for a whole season. There has been more than the usual amount of quick The Parnell, Marion and others within a few days have come in loaded and gone ont with another load in the same day. The quick handling of car coal on the soft coal docks in Ohio may some day make them as swift as Buffalo, but they are not in it yet. There is seme interest in vessel circles in the peg-leg railroad that Capt. Alex Clark, Capt. Killeran and others are building from Bertie, Ont., on the Grand Trunk, to Crystal Beach, especiaily as it is a novelty in this section. The track is already laid on top of the line of posts and the cars are in position. ‘The electric power is supplied by means of storage battery. ‘The line, a mile or so in length, will be ready as soon as the excursion boats begin torun. It isan odd sortof a rig, but appears to be about what is needed to connect the resort with the railroad. It has not been mentioned in print, but the harbor tugmen are complaining that the dredgers’ Have dumped so much heavy stone outside of the breakwater that nothing can come near it on that side without danger of striking. Of course it is not expected that anything will, but if any vessel should happen to drift on without knowing it there would be trouble before reaching the breakwater. In this connection the weakness of the fog-whistle is again demonstrated. ‘The one on the north end of the breakwater is as good as any of them, probably, but it has been demonstrated time and again in the fog that prevailed last week that the whistle could not be heard to any certainty more than a mile or two, ‘There have been some unusually bad fogs within a week: On Friday morning the City of Buffalo actually stopped from four o’clock to eight to wait for it to lift, or if she made any headway the passengers could not perceive it. The Buffalo Canoe Club is just as near being actual marine as possible without having to go into commis- sion. There are no marines in the ntembership, for all that. T. P. Carpenter, late general passenger agent of the Lake Superior Transit Line, and of the Northern Steamship Line, is an enthusiastic member, and hasa new boat, 17 feet long from a’Toronto. builder. The membership is confined to 100 and has already reached the limit. The club house is about ten miles up the Canada shore, in a picturesque retreat, and the club has captured Steward Hilton and his wife from the big passenger liner North Land, and sets up table d’hote three timesaday, The departure of the yacht Hall-