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IN THE ENGINE ROOM. WORK FOR THE NEXT NAVAL SECRETARY. Next spring will be a good time for some needed re- forms to be started in the navy. Legislation is now having a tendency to improve matters, but a new Secre- tary of the Navy will find much to do when he takes his seat at the department, and it might be just as well to begin right. The controversy between the line and staff has reached a stage when it is seriously affecting the interests of the service, and a supreme authority who shall not be influenced unduly by either party is what is needed to set matters right. It will behoove the next President to choose someone for this important post who will not have to acquire all his ideas on the subject of naval affairs after his appointment, but one who has already had some experience, and is possessed of a few original views in naval ethics. All secretaries who have been appointed for many administrations past have been men of high standing in their chosen pros fessions, but men who have had little practical knowl- edge of the duties of their office previous to entering upon them. There. have been repeated charges made of late that there is what amounts to a conspiracy to pre- vent the engineer department receiving its share of rec- ognition, and that there exists in the department a ‘‘smachine’”’ of line officers whose actions are extremely detrimental to the service. These repeated charges would seem to demand an investigation, solely for the reason that the interests involved are so extensive and so vital, even if the charges were not in many cases ac- companied by statistics which show at a glance that something must be wrong. A letter written last April to Hon. Francis ‘H. Wilson, one of the sponsors of the Wilson-Squire bill, by Mr. Asa M. Mattice, a naval en- gineer for a number of years, who resigned because of the disagreeable atmosphere thrown around his corps, has been recently printed and given general circula- tion. The charges contained in the letter are in them- selves very definite, and invite the closest scrutiny; but the argument and statistical portion of this letter are of the most important character, and deal only with facts which, it would seem, can notbe disputed. In this let- ter, which is entitled ‘‘Queer Doings in the Navy,’ he says: : “A glance at the navy register of January 1, 1896, shows that we have but 173 engineers in the navy—a smaller number than at any other time since ‘before the war.’ Atthesame time we have, in the line, or sailor branch, 714 officers, or 4.13line officers to each engineer. 1864 there were 2,846 line officers and 1,728 engineers, regular and volunteer, or a ratio of only 1.64 to 1. Of this number there were inthe regular service 464 line officers and 501 engineers. These numbers. had been fixed by the necessities of war, and it is by reason of wars that navies exist. “Tn 1866, just after the close of the war, there were in the regular service 395 line officers and 379 engineers, or practically equal numbers. Since that date the line has increased and the engineer corps diminished until we find over 80 per cent more line officers and the en- _gineers decreased by 55 per cent. The English navy list has 1,730 line officers and 795 engineers, or nearly twice the proportionate number that we have. “A glance at the United States Navy Registers of 1864 and 1896 will show facts even more startling; for instance, take the following ships of various classes: Year. Ship. H. P. Engineers. 1864 Steam Frigate Minnesota..... 1,000 9 1864 et ss Wabash....... 950 8 1964 Steam Sloop Shenandoah..... 771 7 1864 Ironclad Roanoke............. 997 8 1864 Monitor Lehigh............... 340 5 1864 MeN ANTHCK Ets ccs. sacs « 340 5 1896 Armored Cruiser New York .. 17,000 5 1896 Protected Cruiser Columbia... 18,500 4 1896 Barbette Cruiser Monterey.... 5,244 2 48963: Cruiser Boston, &...... 65800. 4,030 2 1896 Cruiser Morblehead........... 5,451 3 1896 Wooden Cruiser Marion....... 753 1 “In 1868 there were 268 steamers and 77 sailing ves- sels in commission; yet with 20 per cent of the vessels without engineers, there were only 1.64 line officers to each engineer; while to-day, without asailing ship in com- misson, with many ships without a rag of canvas, we have 4.13 line officers to each engineer. Moreover, in 1864 there was not a compound engine afloat; we have now passed through the era of the compound engine, THE MARINE RECORD. and are at the age of triple and quadruple expansion. In 1864 there was not a boiler in the navy that carried over 40 pounds pressure; they now carry 160 pounds and over. In 1864 there was not a ship that had her ma- chinery in separate compartments, but all was under the eye of the engineer in charge; now there are few ships with fewer than four water-tight machinery compart- ments. In 1864 twin screws were unknown, except fora few light draft monitors; now twin screws are the rule, and the rule is seldom broken, except by triple screws. In 1864 few ships had any engines other than the main pro- pelling engine and a couple of donkey pumps; the Colum- bia has no fewer than 90 separate engines, having 172 steam cylinders, and other vessels have machinery in pro- portion. I have rated the Marion among the ships of 1896, merely because she is almost a counterpart of the Shen- andoah of 1864, yet she has but one engineer to the Shenandoah’s seven.” The remainder of the letter is devoted to the methods by which the above changes were brought about, and contains a number of specific charges which the next Sec- retary of the Navy may do well to read before he enters upon the duties of his office. These remarks are not in- tended as a reflection upon the present secretary, who has taken some steps, but whose term of office is toonear a close to warrant himin attempting anything radical. While on the subject itmight be mentioned that the controversy between the line and staff has culminated in the filing of charges against Engineer-in-Chief George W. Melville, by Capt. Philip H. Cooper, the su- perintendent of the Naval Academy. These charges were received at the department some weeks ago from the Naval Academy, and have since been buried in the secretary’s office, the secretary showing no disposition to give them consideration. It is understood that the charges are based upon the article written by the Engi- neer-in-Chief in the North American Review, entitled “The Engineer in Naval Warfare,” in which he made some statements in regard to the engineer cadets at the academy. These were taken exception to by the superintendent with the result that he forwarded a let- ter to the department in regard to them. In it the engineer-in-chief said: ‘‘Annapolis is either unable or unwilling to train naval engineers, and if its work is brought into comparison with that of other, institutions, the Naval Academy will be compelled to extend its en- gineering curriculum or show cause for its existence.” EE OD PEAT IN IRON MANUFACTURE. It transpires that asmall but wealthy syndicate in the neighborhood of Glasgow are working out two separate ideas, the combination of which will, they believe, have a tendency to revolutionize the iron and steel trade of the British Isles, and give them the mastery of the steel trade of the world. The first is a scheme for system- atic and rapid drying of peat, and the second is the ap- plication of this fuel, when converted into charcoal, to the smelting of ore. Peat charcoal is practically pure carbon, and by its use a pig iron is obtained which is malleable, ductile and tensile in the highest degree. Thus, it is claimed, an advance has been made on the way to making steel direct from iron ores, without any intermediate process. It is further claimed that peat charcoal is more efficient and more economical to use in hardening armor plates than is the Harvey process. Certainly, the use of peat for this purpose will go far toward solving social ecomomic problems in Great Britain and Ireland, especially the latter, in giving some value to the vast stretches of waste land and the quantities of low grade iron ore that abound there, even if no greater result is reached. —<—$—$— — — re NEWLY ENROLLED TONNAGE. Following is a list of lake vessels to which official numbers and signal letters have been assigned by the Commissioner of Navigation, for three weeks ending June 27: : TONNAGE. Official] p; Bees shen ea Rig. Name. Where Bu No. g. Groas'| Net. uilt] Home Port 107,277 |St. s. Alert 102.48} 69,69) Buffalo Buffalo 86,354 St. s. |Geo. D. Nau 74.77| 50.85|Green Bay |Milwaukee 100,613 |St. s. \lowa 1,157.47) 846.38] Manitowoc |Milwaukee 81,541 |St. y: Walter J. 9 88 6.72/Tonawanda |Sus. Bridge 127,120 |St. s. Columbia 26.20 17.82|Clayton CapeVine’nt 86,855 |Sch.y G. W. 2408} 19 86)Chicago Chicago 59,466 |Bge |T. L. Nolan*) 118.84) 118.34)Delray Detroit 107,229 |St. s|A. H. Green 79.76| 64.24|Ben.Harbor|Chicago 107,228 |St. s.|Aragon 1,450,09] 1,072.28] Wyandotte |Cleyeland 136,558 St. s./Hffe B. 51.03) .11 56)/Ashtabula |Cleveland 136,561 [St. s,|Enquirer 140.36) 95.45/ Buffalo Buffalo 116,723 |St. s./Sir H Bes’mr| 4,321.10} 3,293.08|Cleveland |Duluth *Built in 1895. TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL NOTES. The weight of a cubic inch of Tobin bronze is .3021 Ibs., as against .3176 ibs. for copper, aconsiderable as regards lightness. When tested for tensile stre two rolled Tobin bronze plates, one-quarter inch th and two plates three-sixteenths inch thick, aver 79,145 tbs. per square inch, and the elastic limit of plates averaged 53,787 tbs. per square inch, figu which compare most favorably with those usually gi by mild steel. Six one-inch rolled rods of this bron turned down to 54-inch diameter when tested, avera 79,600 ibs. per square inch, the elastic limit of three the rods being reached at 54,257 ibs. At a cherr heat this bronze can be forged or stamped, eithe! hand or machinery, as readily as steel, or it can be drop forged. When finished it has a bright golden color, a1 after exposing two samples for five months to th action of, respectively, saturated solutions of salt a caustic soda, they were found to be unchanged. nine-tenths solution of. sulphuric acid discolored tk plate exposed to it, but in five months only caused tl loss of .014 oz. outof the plate’s original weight of 5.5 ounces. The address of the company is 21 Cliff sts ~ New York. “ae The Institute for Home Study of Engineering, Cleveland, is making important additions to its working staff. Prof. Arthur R. Curtis, professor of mechanic drawing and allied studies in the Colorado State Sch of Mines, is taking personal charge of the mechanical drawing course of this institute. Mr. Curtis graduatec from the Case School of Applied Science, was one of the principal draughtsmen for the Morgan Engineering Works, of Alliance, O., and held other positions befor going to the school of mines. He has been partial connected with this institute for several months. | : The Bethlehem Iron Co., of South Bethlehem, Pa announce that they are now ready to roll plates fron high-grade, open hearth steel on their new plate mill the rolls of which are'126 inches in length. Thei product in this line will consist of plates for all purposes, which include ship plate, boiler plate, tank, stacks, etc The Director of Public Works, of Cleveland, has bee authorized by the city council to advertise for proposal for building a wagon and foot-bridge on Seneca stre over the tracks of the C. & P. and L. S.& M.S. rai roads from Seneca street extension to Lake Erie, wi 1 the necessary foundations and approaches. ae The Kilby Manufacturing Co., of Cleveland, has fin ished the first of ten disappearing gun carriages, which it has a contract with the government. The pu is 31 feet long and over 3 feet thick at the breech. throws a 575-pound projectile 7 miles witha 250-poun charge of powder. y Forty acres of the Oliver estate at Duquesne ha been bought by the Carnegie Steel Co. for manufactur. ing purposes. The reported price is $175,000. The sit may be used for the gun forging plant which it is re ported the Carnegie Co. is to build. : The Bethlehem Iron Co. has practically completed it slabbing mill and large plate mill at South Bethlehem Pa. The new piate mills are housed in a building 1, feet long, which forms an extension of the open-heart department. The Crane Co., Chicago, are sending out two very a tractive hangers of their patent metallic disc valve and their high-pressure gate valve. The gate valve hanger represents a valve of 24 inches, weighing 6,200 pounds. - Ene — a NO LIQUID FUEL. Engineer-in-Chief Melville, after exhaustive exper: ments, concludes that liquid fuel is useless for wa ships. Petroleum does not give as good results as ord nary coal, and in consequence it can be stated positivel that this kind of fuel will not be used for spurting pu poses in vessels of the U. S. Navy, unless it be in the pri posed torpedo boat destroyers, and even not then if the Engineer-in-Chief had his way. Reports received from the naval attaches of the United States abroad show that the European nations are abandoning the use of liquid fuelon board men-of-war. The English govern- ment is constructing a cruiser so fitted as to burn liquid fuel but there is talk in English naval circles, according to the department’s advices, that she may after all be converted into a coal burner. For the same square foot of grate surface, it has been estimated at Di as partment that coal is greatly the superior of liquid uel,