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THE MARINE RECORD. = earn ESTABLISHED 1878. Published Every Thursday by THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING CO., Incorporated. GEO. L. SMITH, President. C. E, RUSKIN, : - Manager. CAPT. JOHN SWAINSON, - - - Editor. THOS. WILLIAMS, Chicago, - - Associate. CLEVELAND, ee CHICAGO. Western Reserve Building. Royal Insurance Building. SUBSCRIPTION. One Copy; one year, postage paid, - - $2.00. One Copy, one year, to foreign countries. = - - $3.00. savanenhy in advance. ADVERTISING. Rates given on application. All communications should be addressed to the Cleveland office. THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING CO., Western Reserve p Bnllding: Cleveland, Ohio. CLEVELAND, O., APRIL 1, 1897. nnn ee UU UE UEnnnE DEEN ENE EE SEES SERIES RRR Our thanks are due to Charles D. Sigsbee, Commander U.S. N. Hydrographer, for a copy of the latest current “chart of the North Pacific ocean, showing everything that it is possible to learn in that vicinity. Furthermore, we candidly admit that the Record was the first to sug- ’ gest a Pacific Coast chart. The Secretary of the Treasury may now award the life saving medal distinction to any citizen found worthy of the honor. This departure will take effect on and after June 21, 1897. In the absence of any other means of recognizing signal bravery, we highly recommend the de- - cision whereby a cabinet officer is empowered to award suitable testimonials. ~ W.S. Roberts of Marine City says that he has built no - new tonnage this winter nor does he contemplate doing so, - as the season is now too far advanced; however, we may - hope that some, if even small, tonnage will come his way - ata later date. Morley & Hill, of the same port, are simil- arly situated, although they are and have been good wood- en shipbuilders as all shipowners know. oe or After repeated communications the Marine Record de- ‘sires it to be clearly understood that no attention will be paid to anonymous correspondence. As in the past, letters should be signed by the writers thereof; nor do we care to publish matter above the ‘‘nom-de-plume’” of those - who are not well-known to the maritime fraternity. We ‘now hold several letters from those who are thoroughly capable of identifying themselves, but these letters will not go into print until we learn further particulars regarding our correspondents’ views. or Now, the most direct and logical methods are neces- sary to build up the American merchant marine. Who s “the Soloman to come to judgment,’ and what means are or should be advocated towards accomplishing the _ desired end? It would seme as if even partial discrimina- tion would redound like a boomerang and eventually or -ultrmately do more harm than good. There are methods ' to be devised and the best friends of American shipping might adjust their thinking caps so as to evolve the means _ for our best advancement. As one step in this direction ' we could suggest that every officer of an American ship _ be duly examined and licensed. This would give a fee)- ing of security to those who embraced the profession that they would not be ousted out of their situations by com- parative shoeblacks or ploughboys, and it would further- more trend to the upbuilding of the honorable service. COMMISSIONER OF NAVIGATION. At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Philadel- phia Maritime Exchange, held the 22d day of March, 1897, the following preamble and resolution were unani- mously adopted: Whereas, The many questions coming before the Com- missioner of Navigation for action and decision, are of a technical and abstruse character, and often of far-reach- ing importance to the merchant marine of the United States, and affecting the maritime relations of this coun- try with foreign nations; and, Whereas, The said office is one involving, on the part of an efficient incumbent, a thorough special knowledge only attainable after the practical experience and careful painstaking study of a considerable length of time; cand, Whereas, In the opinion of this exchange the office of Commission of Navigation should be made permanent, during good behavior, and not subject to change for political reasons, believing that frequent changes impair the efficiency of the Bureau; and, Whereas, A precedent for permanency of the et in office may be found in several Bureaus of the Treasury Department, where technical knowledge and experience is required to enable the incumbent to render efficent srvice; and, Whereas, The present Commissioner of Navigation has proved himself, during his incumbency, an exceptionally efficient officer, who, by indefatigable energy, unflagging interest, and the intelligent prosecution of all affairs per- taining to his bureau, has been directly instrumental in bringing about many reforms within his. province, and who has shown himself so eminently qualified for the work of the bureau, that his removal at this time, would be felt by the commercial community to be a distinct loss to the Government sercice, Therefore be it Resolved: That although it has been the custom of the Philadelphia Maritime Exchange scrupulously to avoid making recommendations for appointments to public of. fice, his exceptional fitness for the office of Commissioner: of Navigation impels us to depart from our time honored practice, and to earnestly petition the President to re- appoint the Hon. Eugene T. Chamberlain and continue him in office. Attest: President. (Signet) - GEO. E. EARNSHAW, (Seal.) Philadelphia, March 22, Bar Secretary. E.R, SHERWOOD, rgb rior or TO UPBUILD OUR MERCHANT MARINE, ki Editor of the Marine Record. 3 I note a recommendation of Mr. Frank Henrich of De- troit in your issue of the 25th inst, “that it would be a better plan, when the time. comes, to strike at the root of the evil and tax foreign tonnage carrying American pro- duce and merchandise a few cents per ton.” An improvement upon this plan would be, it seems to me, to pay a bounty to American ships carrying American products abroad. Such a bounty would have a two-fold benefit. First, it would provide for the shipbuilders and ship owners; and, second, it would increase the home price of the farm products to the extent of the bounty. thus offering real and not sham protection to our largest, most important, most neglected and most imposed upon industry. Such a plan would be beneficial alike to the two great industries of our country, agriculture and shipping, now absolutely lacking in protection and being forced to bear the burdens caused by the protection afforded the manu- facturing and mining industries. On Friday last, Llon. Peter J. Otey, of Virginia, offered an amendment to the tariff bill (which was promptly ruled out of order and not allowed to. be discussed) which pro- vided for a bounty on all agricultural exports to the amount of 10 per cent. and Io per cent. additional when shipped in American-built, American-owned and Ameri- can-manned vessels sailing under the American flag. Had that amendment been adopted it would have stimulated exports of agricultural products to at least 700 millions annually thus providing $7, 000,000 for our ships (as soon as they were built.) Such a’sum would undoubtedly stimulate shipbuilding and beside, it might easily be doubled without injury to any one and be of great benefit to the country if Mr. Otey’s idea of paying it in Treasury notes receivable for all Government dues were adopted. _ ness... “mand the FSS) ‘Monadnock, ‘Pacific Station, on Aprit ~gsth. .It'is further learned that Commander J. E. Craig, Such a measure, : ati —Mditig less than. $1.00 pein visions, site compel the circulation of the motleniann now have, more freely among the farmers. and enable them in turn to more liberally purchase the products of t factories and mines. : There exists, however, another ienkene reason aie the idea suggested by Mr. Henrich is impractical for. a tax on tonnage on ships (whether foreign or, American) ca ing American produce and merchandise out of the coun- try (we now. have our internal traffic secured, to. us) is nothing more or less than an export duty and this is pro hibited by the Constitution. Respectfully, ALEX. J. WEDDERBURN, Master Va. State Grange.and Secy. ‘Nat. Equitable Pro tection Association. — a4 Loe Washington, D. C., March 29, 1897. 60 "9 ial a All Americans, whether of Puritan stock or otherwise, will be gratified to learn that the original log of the “May. flower is to be sent to this country. It has been in the possession of the Bishop of London, and its removal thas been sanctioned by a decree of the Consistory Court of Diocese. An application to the court was made by. the American Ambassador in behalf of the President. an people of the United States.’ The only stipulations asked and granted by Mr. Bayard, were that the log shall be -de-- posited in a suitable place, where all persons. concerned may have access to it, the log is not only a record. of the eventful voyage of the little vessel, but a register of births, marriages and deaths, os that property and other, inter ests are involved. The log will reach the hands. of the President and by him be disposed of according » to the declared wishes of the New England states. ae It would now appear as if there is no concerted effort being made to get the several marine insurance com- panies together as in former years, nor will they agree on either a tariff or form of policy suitable for the lake trade. The disposition seems to be manifest to let affairs drift along until shipowners are forced to or required to seek insurance. There is no. doubt but that this policy will have a tendency to. strengthen insurance * ‘rates, that is, if it is persisted in. On the other | hand, the English are reaching for lake tr ade and they are certainly getting busi- There: appeared in the Army and: Navy Journal of last week an announcement detailing Capt: C.-D. Sigsbee, U. S. N., from duty as Hydrographer, April 19th, to com- U.S. N., who came home from the Asiatic station in the Concord last year and who has been stationed at the New York navy yard lately, succeeds Capt. Sigsbee as Hydro- grapher. We may say that Commander Craig will be put on his mettle if he can in any way discount Capt. Sigs- bee as the Hydrographer, ‘U.S. N., at Washington. a aA The tonnage of Liverpool in 1885 was 4,278,881, and that of Hamburg 3,704,312 tons. In 1895 or a. decade later these figures had changed somewhat and we aow find that the Hamburg tonnage aggregated 6,256,000 tons, while that of the Liverpool was only 5,965,959 tons. Ant- werp for 1895 is a very close second to Liverpool, sum-, ming up 5,340,247 tons for the year’s work with Rotter-. dam, following up in a decidedly positive way. -_---eeerrO OO OS § : COMMERCE AT THE HEAD OF THE LAKES. |. Major Clinton B. Sears, Corps of Engineers, U. S.-A., has issued his report of Lake Superior commerce for the ports of Duluth and Superior during the season of 1896. The statistics are made up from the reports of vessel mas- ters, Owners or shippers, made to Major Sears in compli- ance with the act of March 21, 1891. Under the law, every vessel arriving in or departing from the Duiuth-. Superior harbor must deliver to the office of the govern- inent engineer in charge a statement of the extent and character of its cargo. The vessel master usual attends to this matter, and close watch is kept to see that the re- ports are made with care. The result has been that sta- tistics of value and much reliability are nbtained of the commerce of the head of the lake ports. The work of. prepating the.report has devolved largely upon H. C. Bellinger, who, during the season of navigation, looks almost exclusively after this branch of the work of the ud