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VOL. XX. No. 8. Hy Li, $2.00 Per Year. toc. Single Copy. *" SUIT AGAINST AN INSURANCE COMPANY. The suit in which a verdict was rendered at Buffalo last week against the Western Assurance Co., of Toronto, was brought to recover a fire claim of $6,000 preferred by the owners of the burned steamer Northerner. Claims _ again the insurance companies which held policies on the “Northerner were decided two years ago, when the greater portion of the loss incurred by the destruction of the steamer was adjudged to be chargeable by the risks. When action was brought to recover on the fire policies the _ owners found that in the natural order of things they would be cut off by the clause limiting claims to one year - from the date of the occurrence of the loss. In the case of the Northerner, however, the loss was incurred prior to the issuance of policies upon risks which had been applied -- for and accepted, and after the burning of the steamer the policies were withheld so that the owners had no means of knowing of the existence of the clause. On finding themselves lame in that direction the companies interested shifted the point at issue to the definition of the meaning of he phrase “laying up a boat.’ The companies con- tended that a boat is not laid up till she is stripped and everything is ready for winter. While some vesselmen agreed to this definition, they all contended that for the purposes of fire insurance, a boat was laid up as soon as she reached the port where it was intended that she should winter. She might even move about in the port after ar- riving, so long as she had no intention of leaving. And this opinion prevailed with the jury. Though the owner- ship on the Northerner is nominally in Rochester, it is really in John Keiderhouse and others who hold the mort- gages on her. Suits against the other fire companies have been entered, but they will hardly be contested upon what seems now to be a fruitless effort of repudiation. The steamer Northerner was burned on Lake Superior December 12, 1893. Others suits will be brought to re- cover sums aggregating $75,000. % $$ TAX EXEMPTION. There seems to be an epidemic, as it were, going the rounds of lake states regarding the taxing of vessel prop- erty. In Michigan, State Senator C. H. Westcott, of St. Clair, has introduced a bill in the legislature providing for the exemption of all vessel property in the state from taxation. A similar law has been in force in Pennsylvania for some years, and the senator said that it had the effect of bringing to that state the tonnage of a large number of vessels that would otherwise have remained out, and that in doing this they have forsaken other states in which taxation was enforced. He claims that the advantage to the state is that the owners of the property feel like spend- ing the money for repairs to their vessels in the state that thus favors them, and that this source of business gives employment to large numbers of men within its borders and puts money into the pockets of the builders as well. Wisconsin, after revising her tax law to somewhat favor vessels, two years ago, has a measure now before the as- sembly committee to raise the tax again. Attorney George H. Markham of Milwaukee, on behalf of the steamboat men, objects to any changes in the law as it now stands. He held that to repeal the present law or to pass Mr. Overbeck’s second bill would place vessel owners at the mercy of the assessors again. The present law is as good a one as could be devised. Under its pro- visions many vessels that were owned abroad had been entered in Milwaukee and were paying taxes there. If the law should be changed these vessels would be driven away and the dry-dock companies, which had invested large sums of money, would lose much of their business. In the city of Milwaukee alone, Mr. Markham said, up- wards of $200,000 had been spent for material and labor in the shipyards, to say nothing of the business which the presence of the boats had made for other industries. He called attention to the important fact that in making har- bor improvements the government was guided largely by the amount of tonnage registered at thedifferent lake ports. Chicago, at the head of the lake, by reducing taxes suffi- ciently to make it an object for the vessel owners to enter their craft there, was bidding for the work that Mil- waukee wanted to keep. If private owners were not given equal advantages on the matter of taxation in ten years the railroads would own all the vessel property. With any change in the Wisconsin laws, Superior will be placed at a disadvantage with Duluth and this fact keeps interests excited at the head of the lakes as well as on the Wisconsin shore of Lake Michigan. oo TO MAINTAIN LAKE LEVELS. The Lincoln Club of Chicago at their last meting, dis- cussed the improvements necessary to maintain the water commerce of Chicago. It was represented that the water CAPT. JAMES O'NEAL. (See Page 7.) in Lakes Michigan, Erie and Huron had receded more than two feet during the last 10 years and resolutions were passed urging Congress to adopt improvements in the direction of damming Niagara River, to retain the usual level of water in the lakes. A committee consisting of S. T. Gunderson, Joseph Downey and William H. Alsop was apopinted to interest other cities in the movement. Capt. J. S. Dunham said that he believed the water in Lake Michigan had fallen at least 18 inches in the last 10 years and possibly more. “The scheme of the Lincoln Club for dams in the Niagara River is one that I~ advocated myself 12 years ago. I believe the plan to be a good one,” he said. Ee Secretary Carlisle has appointed Captain Peter C. Petrie, formerly Assistant, to be inspector of hulls for the port of New York, to take the place of Captain Fairchild, who was dismissed some time ago for violation of a departmental rule. AMERICAN STEEL RAILS FOR JAPAN. According to the Japan Weekly Mail, says the London Board of Trade Journal for January, 1897, the result of the first public tender for steel rails to be used in Japan has been a success for the great American firm of Carnegie & Co., of Pittsburg. Hitherto it has been the habit of the Japanese Government to entrust to its agents the business of supplying rails, and we entertain no doubt that _the commissions were always executed as economically as pos- sible. But a departure has now been made, for the first time, from the regular method of procedure, and the issue is that English manufacturers have been cut out by an American. In the present depressed state of American in- dustries, it appears to be possible for a United States firm to sell steel rails at a lower rate than they can be purchased forin England. The quantity of rails required on this oc- casion was 13,000 tons, in round numbers, and Messrs. Carnegie & Co.’s tender is said to have been some £8,000 ($40,000) lower than any other. That means Io per cent. approximately—a very appreciable difference. It is the custom in Japan to fix a maximum figure beyond which the authorities are not prepared to purchase, and when the tenders in question were opened, three proved to be within that figure, Messrs. Carnegie & Co.’s being the lowest. The attention of the Carnegie Steel Company having been called to this publication by the Bureau of Statistics, Department of State, they replied as follows, under date of January 8, 1897: Replying to your letter of the 5th instant, with inclosed copy of clipping from the Board of Trade Journal of London, would say that the report is correct as far as our having sold the Imperial Railway of Japan 15,000 tons of rails, half of which quantity has been shipped and the bal- ance will go forward within the next thirty days. There was, however, no such difference in price as indicated in the Journal. From the best information we are able to obtain at the time, our price was not over 6d. per ton less than the English price. NAVAL APPROPRIATION. The Naval Bill authorizes the construction of one addi- tional battleship and of one composite sailing. vessel of r,100 tons displacement, to cost $250,000, the latter to be used for the instruction of cadets at the Naval Academy. The bill fails to fix a price per ton to be paid by the Navy Department for armor plate. Instead it makes a lump ap- propriation of $3,210,000 for the purchase of 8,025 tons of armor for the battleships Illinois, Wisconsin and Alabama, which fixes the maximum price at $400 per ton, No increase of the personnel of the Navy is made, the enlisted force being placed at the number allowed by law passed during the last session, 11,000 men. and 1,500 ap- prentices. For the pay of officers and men $8,235,385 are appropriated and for the pay of civilian employes, an appropriation of $307,000 is made, a total of $8,542,385 for pay of the Navy. THE NEW CAR FERRY The first trip of the car ferry, and ice crusher Pere Mar- quette from Ludington to Manitowoc was made Friday night. Thirty cars, all heavily loaded, were put aboard. Seven were placed on each of her two outside tracks, and eight on her two center tracks. She could easily have taken eight on each track, making 32 in all. When the first seven were put on one side, she careened a little, but the next seven on the other side straightened her up in good shape. Her schedule is to leave Ludington each night at midnight, arriving at Manitowoc at five o'clock the next morning. She stays there one hour, starting back at six o’clock,:and reaching Ludington again about noon. There is no doubt but that her builders, F. W. Wheeler & Co., Bay City, made a perfect success of this large, power- . ful car ferry and ice crusher.