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a ae 878.) PUBLISHED KivERY ‘THURSDAY BY THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING CO., [INCORPORATED. ] GEORGE L. SMITH, President, C. E. RUsKIN, ; : ‘ ‘ MANAGER. W. L. McCormick, . pa 5 é EDITorR. THOMAS WILLIAMS, Chicago, . ; ASSOCIATE. CLEVELAND, CHICAGO, WESTERN RESERVE BUILDING, ROYAL INSURANCE BUILDING, FOURTH FLOOR. ROOM 308. SUBSCRIPTION. One copy, one year, postage paid, $2.00. $3.00. One copy, one year, to foreign countries, Invariably in advance. 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. EE CLEVELAND, O., AUGUST 13, 1896.' HERE AND THERE. This is truly a record-breaking season. Even the lowest rates of freight that have heretofore prevailed have been undercut. The record is also broken in that it is the first year in which vessels have had to be tied up to the docks during the middle of the season, simply because there is a shortage of cargoes, without regard torates. But there seems to beasilver lining to this last cloud—and by this phraseology we have no reference to present issues nor to the low esteem in which that metal is held by the industrial interests. Through their inability or refusal tocarry ore, the vessels are uncon- sciously combining, in connection with circumstances, to make next season a better one than it would be other- wise. If one or two million tons of this year’s contem- plated output remains up the lakes this season instead of coming down at less than living rates, there will be so much added to the volume of tonnage for the season of 1897. when disturbing influences will, it is hoped, no longer have their effect on the market, and when freight rates will, in consequence, be on a better basis. The sad turning out of this year’s trade is due entirely to a wave of demoralization which it was impossible to foresee, and while owners who refused to contract their boats for carrying ore at $1 have had to accept as low * as 60c as a wild rate, yet the conditions are so unpre- cedented that this fact should cast not the least dis- credit upon their usual good judgment and keen ‘foresight. * = * The friends of Cuba’s cause, while well warranted in their efforts to secure for that island freedom from the oppression of Spain, should not allow their enthusiasm to blind them in regard to their own national, or local interests. The annexation of Cuba by the United States, for example, would have an effect most detrimental to lake interests, in that it would throw into competition with the Lake Superior ores the immense quantities of Cuban ores, which can be pro- duced, at a small expense, and which, even now, with a protective duty enforced, have made their way into the market as far west as the Alleghenies. A few years “ago, when it was proposed to wipe out the tariff on foreign ores, a large and influential delegation of ore and vessel men went down to Washington on behalf of the lake region, and secured the retention of about half the former duty, which was cut from 75c to 40c per ton. Even the late Mr. George H. Ely, of Cleveland, used his efforts until his sudden death to secure this protec- tion from Cuban mines in which he was himself a large owner. Mr. Ely never better demonstrated his true THE MARINE RECORD. greatness than when he thus made his private in- terests secondary to what he considered the rights of the large investors in the Lake Superior mines, rail- roads, docks, and vessel property. * 3 * The unsettling effect of the discussion of money prob- lems is weekly becoming more apparent, and the speil of comparative idleness which has tied so many lak vessels'to the docks is almost directly traceable thereto. But itis not wellto lose sight of the great truth that money will always be scarce—whether it be sound money or cheap money—so long as there is a steady flow of it in a direction to eventually carry it out of the country in volumes in excess of the amount of money coming in. The United States has labored under this disadvantage for some years now, and not enough at- tention has been paid to the seemingly smaller channels of drainage. It was to prevent this that the protective tariff principle was adopted; but nearly everything was lost sight of but manufactures and a few agricultural and mineral products. The principle of protection was not carried far enough; American labor and American shipping were not duly protected. Hordes of for- eigners have come to the United States to earn money, much of which has been expended in their native lands. The thought of subsidizing shipping was at once put down ds unconstitutional, though why the Constitution can forbid the purchase by the United States of certain privileges to be available in time of emergency, and yet allow out-and-out bounties to be paid on maple sugar and the like purely for the sake of encouraging the indistry, is one of the questions which only the wily politician could answer. If the McKinley bill had provided for a differential in the duties, favoring all goods brought to this country in American ships, the good effect of this single provision would have been clearly demonstrated, and wou'd have increased very largely the volume of money to come directly into the commercial coffers of the country. The amount of freights paid annually by American importers and ex- porters to foreign ships is something stupendous, and only the most minute proportion of itis spent by these ships and their owners in American territory. Con- gress can hardly do better than to enact the Elkins bill as soon as it convenes in short session. There is nothing likely to show such speedy results. we Sag The practice of utilizing as a source of revenue the passenger licenses taken out for nearly all freight boats is beginning to obtain on the lakes. Owners show, still, as a rule, some hesitancy in adopting this plan, as they are so accustomed to carrying their own and other people’s guests all season that they are afraid of seeming inhospitable. The practice, however, has a great deal to recommend it, and will be hailed with great pleasure by the hundreds of people who would enjoy this manner of taking an outing better than any other, but who would not ask such a favor unless they were allowed to pay a sufficient amount to liberally defray all expenses connected with their trip, The changes which are being made in the instances referred to amount to little more than the cost and inconvenience to the steamboat owners and their employes, some the latter receiving higher wages than they would be paid were no passengers carried. % * * The plan is a good one, too, in that it will tend to ren- der extinct in time a most obnoxious class of ‘‘guests,”’ a class more numerous than is generally supposed outside of marine circles. Of course the shippers and their families, with others in a position to give return favors to the vessel interests, will be carried up and down the lakes as formerly; but there are many people who secure passage on these trips through shippers or others, who are in no position to do anything in return, and these are the people who almost invariably make the most trouble. These third parties through whose influence the passage is secured often ask the privilege for people whose only claim to the trip is the, amount of nerve they possess, and who are granted the privilege because good-natured people hate to refuse them. These usually belong tothe class who manage to keep boats waiting a few minutes, who lie in bed late in the morning and expect the steward to get them a second breakfast; who look for the bill of fare of a four-dollar- per-day hotel, and who expect fruit and wines to be left on the sideboard for their use during the day. The quarters afforded on the modern lake boats areehettye than these people enjoy at home, and the bill of fare is usually superior; and the snobbishness of this class ¢ guests is usually stamped upon their actions very so after leaving port. sett. get or ee ches OBITUARY. Capt. Conrad H. Starke, one of the owners of the Milwaukee Tug Boat Line, and prominent in Milwauke marine and commercial circles, died suddenly last Tuesday morning as the result of in juries sustained b being thrown from a buggy the day previous. Capt. Starke was extensively interested in steamboat, tug, dredging, and dry-dock property. CAPT. RICHARD D, GARDNER. Capt. Richard D. Gardner, of the steamer Commodore, died last Saturday, August 9, after an illness of three : weeks. He was only 44 years of age, and has been sail-— ing in Western Line steamers for 26 years, having ~ entered the service at the age of 18. He has been in command of steamers of that line for a great portion of © that time, sailing the Arabia, Milwaukee, and Commo- dore. He has lived in Buffalo, and his wife and five © children survive him. : CAPT. HARBOTTLE’S CAREER. Capt. Thomas E. Harbottle, of the steamer Havana, whose death was announced in last week’s issue, had been ailing for two years past. On Sunday the 20th inst., while the boat lay at the Quincy dock, he became very ill, and his stomach refused to retain either food or medicine. A physician was called promptly, but his best efforts were without avail. His brother Neville was with him at the time of his death, which occurred the following day. ahd Capt. Harbottle was born in Hamilton, Ont., in 1857, and had sailed the lakes for twenty years. His father and namesake formerly lived at Toronto, and was supervising inspector of steamboats for Canada. Among : the late captain’s commands, beside the Havana, was the steamer Como, which he sailed during 1881 and 1882, and the schooner Foster during 1889 and 1890. He was — for a time mate of the propeller Ontario (Br.) and of the © Gogebic. * rr NOTiCE TO MARINERS. BRADDOCK POINT LIGHT STATION. ae Notice is given that on or about August 17, 1896, a fixed white light, of the three-and-one-half order, will be established in the tower recently erected on the point of the south shore of Lake Ontario about 2% miles west-northwesterly of Braddock Point. ‘The light will illuminate 180° of the horizon and will be visible from all points of approach from the lake, excepting from the eastward to the southward of the bearing W. by N. The focal plane of the light will be 92% feet above mean lake level and the light may be seen 17.8 miles in clear weather, .he observer’s eye 15 feet above the water. The light will be shown froma black lantern sur- mounting an octagonal, pyramidal, red-brick tower at- tached to the west side of a two-story red-brick dwell- ing with black slated roof, The parapet and gallery of the tower are brown. The tower and dwelling are on ground about 7 feet above lake level and stand about 100 feet back from the shore line. A small one-story red building and a red-brick barn are located near the tower, to the southward, and a red-brick oil house stands between the tower and the lake. The approximate geographical position of the light, as taken from Chart No. 66 (Lake Ontario Coast Chart No. 4) of the United States Survey of the Northern and Northwestern Lakes will be: Latitude, north, 43° 20’ (28’'); longitude, west, 77° 45’ (52’'). Tangent to shore to the eastward, SK. by EK. % E., 1% miles; Genesee Light-house, S. 56° 45’ E. (SK. by EB. 74 E.), 934 miles; tangent to shore to the westward, W. by N., 10 miles. — Bearings are true, and distances are in statute miles. D0 bere THREE BIG CARGOES, iat! Three of the largest cargoes on the lakes, have lef Chicago with grain during the past eight days. On the 7th inst. the Queen City took on 205,500 bushels of grain amounting to 5,754 tons. She drew 16 feet 6% inches The steamer W. D. Rees was the second, with 124,500 bushels of corn and 61,650 bushels of wheat, amounting to 5,335 tons. Then came the Coralia, which got awa on the night of the 8th with 186,130 bushels of corn, about 5,212 tons, drawing 16 feet of water. pStEh