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THE MARINE RECORD. JuLY 13, 1899. PRODUCTION OF IRON AND STEEL IN THE UNITED STATES. According to the publication entitled ‘‘Statistics of the American and Foreign Iron Trades,’’ for the year 1898, the production of iron and steel has greatly increased in the United States. In 1898 was witnessed the beginning of a movement in the iron trade of this country that has produced a revolution, the progress of which is being watched with the deepest interest by all exporting nations. This move- ment is no other than the consolidation of iron and steel firms, in order to create new corporations, which already control a capital estimated at more than $500,000,000. From these statistics it is ascertained that the exportation of iron and steel and manufactures thereof in 1898 amounted to $82,771,550, against $62,737,250 in 1897, and against $48, 670,218 in 1896 which shows an increase in two years of more than 70 per cent. Included in the exports of 1898 were 253,- 057 tons of pig iron, 291,038 tons of steel rails, 28,600 tons of ingots, blooms and billets, 18,510 tons of steel wire rods,and 24, - 195 tons of other steel rods and bars, 27,075 tons of steel plates and sheets, 74,665 tons of wire, 15,735 tons of cut nails and spikes, 13,714 tons of wire nails and spikes, and 34,038 tons of structural iron and steel. There were also exported 580 locomotives and large quantities of machinery made princi- pally of iron and steel. In the above figures agricultural implements are not in- cluded, the exportation of which amount- ed in 1898 to $9,073,384, against $5,302,- 807 in 1897 and $4,643,729 in 1896. The importation of iron and steel by the United States has greatly diminished as a natural consequence of the enormous home production. Iron and steel, and manufactures thereof, were imported in 1880 in amounts aggregating $80,443,- 362, aud were exported only in quantities valued at $15,156,703. In 1898 the amount of those articles exported represented a value of $82,771,550, and the importation of the same was valued at only $12,473,- 637, which shows that the conditions ex- isting nineteen years ago have been en- tirely reversed. The American manufactures of iron and steel compete favorably with the English, even in the domain of Her Britannic Majesty. There are shipped to-day from the United States to England and her colonial possessions considerable amounts of pig iron, steel billets, steel rails, steel plates, structural steel, wire tods, wire nails, and cast-iron pipe. Late- ly an order has been received for 60 Amer- ican locomotives to be used on two of the great railways running from England to Scotland, the Midland and the Great Northern. As a remarkable fact we may add that the British Government has fj 4 Yj U/ / i, UE fl y, Mita ] 4 lil 2-y ly lata The total weight of Bessemer steel rails in 1898 was 1,976,- 702 tons. The production of all kinds of steel in the same year was 8,932,857 tons. It is estimated that the total consumption of iron orein the United States during the year 1898 amounted to 21,193,000 tons. i oO ; TO INSURE THE SAFETY OF THE MAILS AT SEA. ILLUSTRATED. An American inventer has hit upon an idea for ensuring the safety of the mails, bullion and valuables that ocean- going steamers carry. It is an unsinkable, floating cylinder, in which all the mails, specie, jewelry, etc., are to be packed. This safe will be carried on the upper deck, and, if the ship should sink, the mail tank will float off into the waves, to be recovered sooner or later by a passing vessel. The safe is of metal, 22 feet long and 14 feet broad, fireproof, and, of course, absolutely watertight. It must float upright, and cannot turn turtle, for the heavy metals which it contains will all be stored at the bottom. By night the safe will proclaim its presence on the sur- face of the waters by a flare light of phosphide of calcium, a flame of respectable dimensions, reaching to the height of four feet. The safe will also carry a foghorn and a bell, which will blow and ring automatically by the motion of the Vf / bis hf Steel Company are: LU Myf Yi, NOTES. On the 26th of June, the Bethlehem Steel Company formally took over the property, etc., of the Bethlehem Iron Company, which latter company has leased its works, etc., to the former company. ‘The officers of the Bethlehem sung Robert P. Linderman, President; Ed_ ward M. Mcllvain, Vice-President; Abraham S. Schropp, — Secretary; C. O. Brunner, Treasurer; R. W. Davenport, Gen- eral Superintendent; Owen F. Leibert, Chief Engineer; ~ Charles P. Coleman, Purchasing Agent. ACCORDING toa news agency, aremarkable project for . traveling by means of air ships is attracting attention at 5 5 San Francisco. It is said that elaborate offices have been opened by the Aerial Navigation Co., which advertises that — it will convey passengers from America to the Paris exposi- tion in thirty hours. It is asserted that this will be done by © means of three immense air ships, each 425 feet long, which are being built. More than the proverbal grain of salt will be required for the proper assimilation of this item of news. — a THE Italian government is said to be greatly concerned respecting the unanticipated growth of the shipbuilding and navigation bounties which are the result of a law madei 1896. In the budget for the year 1897-8, the sum of 4,388,- ooo lire was provided, but the amount which actually had to be paid was 7,588,000 lire; in the budget for the current pox the vote for these bounties was 4,888, - 4988 lire, but it is regarded as certain that — not even 8,000,000 lire will suffice. The president of the Budget Committee of the Chamber reports that a change in the law is necessary in order to protect the treas- ury from a drain which is assuming serious proportions. e CASSIER’S MAGAZINE for July has number of articles especially interesting | to maritime men. There is quite a long and comprehensive one about electricity | jin marine work and its growing applica- tions in the United States, by S. Dana Greene, the well-known electrical expert, with 21 illustrations of the lastest devices” for various purposes. The steam turbine, also fully illustrated, is described in detai MM, WY by Hon. C. A. Parsons, the inventor. Th jstrength of the British Navy, itt splendid full page engravings of the 1 types, is discoursed upon by Archibald | Hurd, The story of smokeless powder i related at length by Hudson Maxim, an the mine defense of Santiago Harbor i described by Lieut. Capehart. These ar only some of the features of the table. contents. é CANADA, ‘in an official report of z reaching interests, announces that nex August will be completed and openedith ordered in the United States a steel rail- road bridge, consisting of seven spans 150 feet each, to be placed over the Atbara River inthe Soudan. The Baldwin Loco- motive Works, of Philadelphia, is now filling an order for 45 locomotives for railroads of India. The Pennsylvania Steel Company has a contract for the {construction of a steel viaduct, 2,260 feet long and 320 feet high over the Gokteik Gorge, in India. This work will cost $700,000. The Russian Government has ‘ordered from the Phoenix _ Bridge Company, of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, 12 steel railway bridges, etc.,etc. During the year 1898 the consumption of pig iron in the United States averaged a little over a million tons per month. The exportation of iron and steel first exceeded the impor tation in value in 1893. Five years later, in 1898 the expor- tation of those articles exceeded the importation by $70,297,- 913. ; In 1898 the exports of agricultural implements amounted to $9,073,384, against $5,302,807 in 1897. Mowers formed more than two-thirds of total value of these exports, for they alone represented $6,551,741. The total production of pig iron in the United States dur- ing the year 1898 amounted to the enormous aggregate of 11,773,934 tons: against 9,652,680 tons in 1897, which shows anincrease of nearly 22 percent. In the same year, 1808, the production of Bessemer steel ingots in the United States amounted to 6,609,017 tons. RECEPTACLE FOR MAIL AND OTHER VALUABLES. float. The deck, or top of the safe will also carry a flagstaff and an equipment of flags. —————— Overinsurance.—A policy of marine insurance provided that it should be void if other insurance was made on the vessel exceeding $50,000. The policy also provided that, in the event of a deviation from certain waters, the policy should be suspended, and take effect on return to such waters. The tug, desiring to go outside of the waters desig- nated, applied to defendant company for permission and indorsement on the policy, which was refused. Thereafter it took out a policy in another insurance company, which, with the policies then existing, would have exceeded the prescribed limits. The latter policy provided that, if the assured had other insurance prior in date, the company should be liable only for so much as the amount of the prior insurance was deficient towards covering the property in- sured. This prior insurance was the total value of the vessel. Held, that as such latter policy could take effect only on the suspension of the other policies on a return within the limits, there was at no time insurance in effect more than the agreed amount, and the policy sued on was not void for overinsurance. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co, vs. Knickerbocker Steam’ Towage Co., 93 Fed. Rep. COSS2z03T Soulanges canal, 14 miles long, which will complete her missing link ins canal navigation between the Great La and the Atlantic ocean. She will then have a waterway 14 feet in the shallowest part, from the head Lake Superior to the mouth of the St. Lawrence. In het canals which make this possible, Canada has expended $62, 000,000, or $12 per capita for the entire population, and con siders it money well spent. It makes more imperative then ever the 20 foot channel our own country contemplates . the Great Lakes to the ocean. Not that we need fear the like possibilities of Canada’s canals, for a ton or two of d mite would disable them for a year or more, but becaus cannot afford to be outclassed in far sighted enterprise by | country so much smaller and weaker in nearly every wé The day is coming when the vessels as large as any now the lakes will load direct for Europe and Africa at Dulu Chicago or Marinette and another lot do the same for Asi and the Philippines, going by the Chicago ship canal, M ss- issippi river, Nicaragua canal and Hawaii. The day may no! be as far distant as many people suppose, and the sooner wi get its benefits the better for all.—T’he Eagle, Marinette, THE C.M. Hill Lumber Co., Duluth, Minn. ,has just receiv a handsome naphtha launch from the Gas Engine and P Co. and Chas. L. Seabury & Co., consolidated, Mor Heights, N. Y. Sheis built of cedar and has brass tri mings throughout. st