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8.) PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY BY THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING CO., : [INCORPORATED. ] GEORGE L. SMITH, President, CLEVELAND, CHICAGO, WESTERN RESERVE BUILDING, ROYAL INSURANCE BUILDING, FOURTH FLOOR. ROOM 308, C._E. RUuSKIN, ‘ MANAGER. W. L. McCormick, . i EDIror. Tuomas WILLIAMS, Chicago, ASSOCIATE. _ SUBSCRIPTION. One copy, one year, postage paid, One copy, one year, to foreign countries, Invariably in advance. $2.00. $3.00. ADVERTISING. Rates given on application. All communications should be addressed to the Cleveland office. THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING Co., FOURTH FLOOR, WESTERN RESERVE BUILDING, CLEVELAND. Entered at Cleveland Postoffice as Second-Class Mail Matter. CLEVELAND, O., JUNE 4, 1896. SHIPMENTS of ore to the furnaces from Lake Erie docks are unusually light for the time of the year, owing to so many furnaces going out of blast. This tends to put the docks in bad shape, and this may prove an em- barrassing feature of shipments if not renewed at once. The rail freight on ore from Lake Erie docks has been reduced during the past week to $1.05 to Pittsburg and 621g to the Mahoning and Shenango Valleys, the old rates having been $1.15 and 6714¢. THE report of the House Committee on Rivers and Harbors, while couched in courteous language, was a fit- ting, a forceable reply to the narrow minded views and misstatements of the fact set forth by the President in his message vetoing the bills. They found no founda- tion for-his statement that “the bill carries appropria- tions for work which private parties have actually agreed with the government to do in consideration of the occu- pancy of public property.” The committee also pulled the President’s figures to pieces, and showed how super- ficial was his examination, and how much his motives were inspired by prejudice. The immediate cash expen- diture, instead of being $17,000,000, is but $12,621,000 for the coming fiscal year; and the whole bill carries with it not $62,000,000, but $59,616,000. The maximum sum that can be expended in one year is $16,612,000, and not $20,000,000 as the President stated. The average ap- propriations for the past six years have slightly exceeded this, being $16,700,000, while including the present bill and the two others to be.passed in this century the average amount for the six years will be only $13,000,000. This is a sufficient argument against the President’s charges of ex- travagance, and in favor of the contract system. It is also shown that in condemning expenditures under pre- vious appropriations as wasteful because projects have called abandonment, the President acted with undue haste, as it, is pointed out that these so-called abandonment have been only such modifications of original plans as would better provide for the growing commerce of the port, and that had the original project been carried out they would still have been much benefit. Nobody questions the honesty of the President’s views on the subject, but it would be humilating to anyone less conceited to see his vetoes treated with the contempt which they received in so many instances at the hands of the two Houses of Congress. The vote insisting on the passage of the bill was 220 yeas to 60 nays in the House, and 56 yeas to 5 nays in the Senate. The bill is therefore now a law, and the engineers, who have been waiting for the word, will resume work with renewed vigor, on the great projects provided for. THE MARINE RECORD. THE WHITE LAW NOT AT FAULT. The Detroit Journal printed some comment on the Sunrise-133 casualty within the week which echoed the sentiment expressed in the headlines: “Cause Colli- sions—Goyernment Monkeying With the Rules Largely Responsible.” This article was evidently written after hearing such views expressed by some vessel masters. The expressions are certainly unjust to the government. which enacted the new rules at the express request of the organized bodies of the owners and masters of ves- sels, both of which bodies are certainly representative of the principal lake interests. If the bill has faults, and this is by no means proven by the collision case referred to, the blame must fall on the framers and not the enactors of the law. It must be remembered that the enactment of the recommendations of the International Maritime Confer- ence carried with it the repeal of all other navigation laws of the United States, and had some new measure not been enacted, the lakes would have been subject to a set of rules adapted especially to deep sea sailing, and | containing requirements which are now denounced as absurd and dangerous by a large proportion of the prac- tical men who own. British ships. The re-enactment of the old law, to be applied to the Great Lakes alone, would have left the law still in an incomplete state, and those who were mainly interested decided that as a law must be passed which should be intended for use on the Great Lakes alone, one should be framed which should provide for the peculiar features of lake navigation, and which should recognize certain conditions that had been overlooked in former regulations. The exigencies of the case required haste, but there was no lack of care on this account, and the draft of the bill was submitted, through the daily press, to the public, or the interested portion thereof, for criticism, with a view to making such amendments as might be considered advisable. Objections were offered to certain clauses in the bill, and these were reconstructed so as to merit as nearly unani- mous approval as possible. The bill was then presented for enactment, and was passed through both Houses of Congress in accordance with the express request of own- ers and masters. The charge of undue interference by the government in shipping matters is so often made with reason that it is unjust to place the blame where it should not lie. Then, it must be admitted that nothing has been brought forward to show that the law was at all at fault in the recent collision. The published statements go to show that both parties to the collision were fully con- versant with the requirements of the White bill, and the question as to whether these regulations were followed is purely one to be settled by preponderence of testi- mony. The captain of the Sunrise claims that the bell on the barge was not rung. The statements of the crew of the 133 have not reached THE RECORD, but it is not reasonable to suppose that they would have a bell on board and not know what it was for. If such a supposi- tion could be entertained, it would not reflect discredit on the law, for it isincumbent upon all masters to keep themselves informed on these points, and ignorance of a jaw which is fourteen months old would not stand for a moment, inside or outside the courts. This leaves the question, as has been stated before, purely one of fact. Only time will show whether this billis faulty in not providing two sets of fog signals for steamers, one to be used when proceeding alone, and one to be used when towing. It must be pointed out, however, that a ten- dency toward increasing the number of signals in fog is the one feature of both the White bill and the regulations of the International Maritime Conference to which stren- uous objection has been, and is being raised, on both salt and fresh water. It must be admitted that in this respect the White law must be considered by lovers of simplicity in signals to be infinitely superior to the rules which now only lack British approval to secure their general adop- tion. Rt ati 6 pmis tee LAxkg Carriers are beginning to see that the policy of putting the engines of huge steamers in the extreme after end is at least doubtful, and is certain to shorten the life of the ship, and they will soon come around to the point of aliowing builders to place the machinery nearer amid- ships. The art of shipbuilding is almost unique in that the methods which have stood the test of generations can- not lightly be set aside for new theories without involy- ing some degree of loss. The idea that boats handle bet- “are 35,302 tons, and of lumber 2,200,000 feet. ter at the dock witha clean stretch over a single hol seems based upon the wishes of the dock company rather than the vessel owner, as the discharging machinery in use on lake docks is so readily adjusted that it means lit- tle loss of time to the steamer, and the few minutes re- — quired to shift at the ore pockets certainly do not coun. terbalance the strain certain to be put upon the sh D when light by this abnormal placing of her engines. — I the reform comes, much of the credit will be do to FW. Wheeler & Co., and the owners of the Merida and Curry, both of which, with their engines amidships, have prove most successful ore carriers, and have some of the be unloading records that have yet been shown. ee CURRENT FREIGHT STATISTICS. i Shipments from Duluth and Superior for the month of May have been for ahead of any previous month Up to the 29th the amount of wheat sent forward t y lake was 12,000,000 bushels against 10,500,000 bushels up to June 1, last year. Lumber shipments were 3 000,000 feet, against 32,000,000 feet in May last ye and iron ore has made a record of 229,000 tons, against 186,000 tons last year. Gladstone shipments for the week ending May 30 — were: Ore, 13,000 tons; grain, 125,000 bushels; lumbe 625,000 feet; flour, 21,000 barrels; cedar, 45,000 pieces. Marquette ore shipments for the week ending May 30 The ore receipts at Ashtabula for May were 398,393 tons; total for season to June 1, 425,977 tons. Coal shipments for May were 111,425 tons, and for the sea- son 153,842 tons. Both receipts and shipments were t largest for the month of May in the history of that port. Buffalo’s receipts and shipments for the season to June 1 are as follows: 4 Receipts. May. Since Openin Wheat bil. s.so0 os ee oe 10,464,157 12,159,1 Cora Dis oes cee 3,199,667 Oatatba. eee ee 5,023,672 Barley,20u svc. acct wie eres 1,280,693 Rye) phos eer ee 592,998 Malt bags Sci ees ees 7,838 Hlaxgeed; bus: ss. 2e0 ee tk 499,570 Flour, bbls..... cis rien ene 913,163 Millfeed, sacks............... 172,206 Copper matte. tons........... 1,780 Copper; tonsa. isso es 16,947 Copper ore, tons], )o 02.3 cee. 2,573 TVG, PIS} OMS i 6s Fee seis 3,825 Tron-ore, tonsie. os ces os 18,159 heady Pigs eee. eee we 52,673 Lumber feetine cn. <3 ones ste 22,696,283 Lath, pieces cence sic. ee 67,550 Oilcake;-pkgesiic 3 oo ae 14,039 Pork? Dbis 23 ies ee eee 500 : Posts;,numiber ic)... cea s 3,520 6,520 Seed; bars... i ea, 2 earns 6,720 . 6,951 Stavebolts, cords............ 244 44 Shingles, number............ 12,102,000 12,758,564 Spelter,-platesisc 7 os sce 22,853 054 Ties, number: <6 ee 58,939 83,439 Wood; balesie. ie cctentn 2,691 3,241 Shipments. May. Since Opening. Coal, tons 2.2 See ee ee 284,284 330,989 Cement, bbisi. 2 ee 103,395 120,432, Salt; sbblsic en eee 74,297 90,405 Supat, Dbis’ sce. ce ee 128,703 EE EEE — NOTICE TO MARINERS. a Notice is given by order of the Lighthouse Board that the damage caused to light vessel No. 64, by being run intoon May 11, having been repaired, she was, on May 22, replaced on her station, on the W. side of the S. end 128,703 of Limekiln Crossing dredged channel, Detroit River. The temporary light vessel marking the station while repairs were being made, was withdrawn on the latt date. : Official notice is given that, on or about June 1, 1896, a gas buoy, painted black and showing a fixed white light, will be substituted at the same moorings for t! present Lower Hutrance buoy, No. 1, second-class ca located about 20 feet southeasterly of the southeast bank of the straight channel from Lake Brie into Mau mee Bay. Cedar Point, S. {{ E.; Maumee Bay E. ra lights, SW. by W. % W.; Turtle Island lighthouse, 1 %S. Bearings are true and given approximately, The tripod at the head of Portage River was swept. away by the ice this spring and never replaced. Nat : gation is dangerous at nights and even risky by da light to pilots unacquainted with the channel. Ne range lights are being built, but it will take sever months to getshem in place, and some temporary ar- rangement should be made to replace the tripod.