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ESTABLISHED 1878. [Psennnnenaas VOL. XXII, No. 48. CLEVELAND---NOVEMBER 30, 1899---CHICAGO. $2.00 Per Year. 5c. Single Copy. Lake CARRIERS’ ASSOCIATION. Toconsider and take action upon all general questions relating to the navigation and carrying business of the Great Lakes, maintain necessary shipping offices and in general to protect the common interests of Lake Car- riers, and improve the character of the service rendered to the public. PRESIDENT. FRANK J. FIRTH, Philadelphia, 1ST VICE-PRESIDENT. Capt. THos. WILSON, Cleveland. SECRETARY CHARLES H. KEEP, Buffalo. TREASURER GEORGE P. McKay, Cleveland. COUNSEL HARVEY D. GOULDER, Cleveland, EXECUTIVE AND FINANCE COMMITTEE, JAMES CorRRIGAN, Chairman, Cleveland. _ COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION. GrsBson L. DouGias, Chairman, Buffalo, COMMITTEE ON AIDS TO NAVIGATION ; GEORGE P. McKay, Chairman, Cleveland. NEW NAVAL INCREASE. Secretary Long has practically determined to accept the naval programme prepared by the Board of Bureau Chiefs, for presentation to Congress, and embody it in his annual report. As stated in the Army and Navy Journal, there will be no recommendation for battleships, owing to the un- settled armor situation, nor probably none for torpedo boats and destroyers, on account of the difficulty firms now build- ing these craft have experienced in securing structural steel and the delays which will follow their completion. Instead of presenting the board’s plan, in part to Congress later, the Secretary has decided that it would have greater effect per- haps, to make the recommendations in his report, with the strong probability that the President in his annual message will endorse that part of it. From the highest authority it is learned that Secretary Long will ask for these vessels, three immense armored cruisers, of not less than 13,000 tons displacement, the finest of their class afloat. There are now two armored cruisers in the navy, and but three au- thorized. In addition he will ask for three protected cruis- ers of about 8,000 tons, or improved Olympias, though much larger, anda dozen gunboats of the class suggested by Ad- miral Dewey. This programme provides for eighteen ships in all. The gunboats are required for foreign service and the protected crusiers for flagships abroad when battleships are not present. It seems questionable, however, whether Congress will be willing to authorize so many vessels, especially when it is called upon to vote $18,000,000 for ships already building and authorized. re oe eae CANADIAN TONNAGE. According to the annual report of the Dominion Minister of Marine, the total number of vessels remaining on the register books of the Dominion on the 31st December, 1898, including old and new vessels, sailing vessels, steamers and barges, was 6,643, measuring 693,782 tons register tonnage, being a decrease of 41 vessels and a decrease of 37,972 tons register, as compared with 1897. The number of steamers on the registry books on the same date was 1,909 with a gross tonnage of 267,237 tons. Assuming the average value to be $30 per ton, the value of the registered tonnage of Canada, on the 31st December last, would be $20,813,460. The number of new vessels built and registered in the Dominion of Canada during the last year was 278, measur- ing 24,522 tons register tonnage. Estimating the value of the new tonnage at $45 per ton, it gives a total value of $1,103,490 for new vessels. NEW WAR VESSELS. The Naval Board on Construction adopted, on Nov. 17, a program for increasing the navy which will involve an ex- penditure of about $20,000,000, distributed over a period of three years. It provides for three armored cruisers of about 13,500:tons displacement, three protected cruisers of about 8,000 tons displacement, six light-draught gunboats of about 1,000 tons displacement, and six light-draught gunboats of about 800 tons displacement. ri ee A FERRY BOAT RUN BY STORAGE BATTERIES. Isaac L. Rice is president of the Electric Boat Co., which owns several valuable storage patents. The first work of the company will be the building of a heavy ferry boat, operated by a storage battery, which will probably be experimented with around Philadelphia. Should the experiment prove a success, the company will make a feature of this line. Other large, short-distance craft will also be experimented with. The Electric Boat Co. will also organize a number of sub-companies for the purpose of operating launches and boats _ at the several summer resorts, where water forms a princi- pal attraction. oa ge APPROVAL OF THE CHICAGO DRAINAGE CANAL. Ata conference between the trustees of the Sanitary Dis- trict of Chicago and the inspection commission appointed by the governor of Illinois, held on 23dinst., the latter body made known the information that the work of the Sanitary District had been found satisfactory in allessential respects and that a report of approval will be forthcoming as soon as itcan be finished. According to the inspection commission the canal as built will provide for a flow of 360,000 cu. ft. of water per minute, which exceeds the requrements of the law. A comparatively small amount of rock and earth excavation, some dredging in the Chicagoriver, the removal of the cof- fer dams at Adams and Van Buren street by-passes, in Chicago, and a considerable amount of work in connection with dam No. 1 at Joliet, yet remains to be done; but whether the trustees of the canal will be permitted to turn on the water before completing all of the detail work not absolutely essential to the establishment of the channel has not yet been decided. or or oor TO RAISE LAKE ERIE. It is seriously proposed to raise the level of Lake Erie two or three feet by damming Niagara river near the city of Buf- falo, and it is said that a favorable report on the scheme will be made by the board of army engineers that has been invest- gating its feasibility. Lake Erie is the shallowest of the lakes. Its shores are sandy and approach to them gradual;so the question is whether it would be cheaper to construct a dam or to .con- tinuedredging. Raising Erie three feet would, it is believed, raise Lake St. Clair two feet and Lake Michigan one foot. Raising Lake Michigan would allay the uneasiness that is felt concerning the withdrawal of a part of the water of the lake into the Chicago canal. An interesting feature of the forthcoming report will be the estimated expense of the damming project.—The Duluth News-Tribune. orl REAR Adml. Melville, U. S. N., has recently asked for an option as to. whether warrant machinists of the Navy shall be classified as ‘‘line officers,’’ and thus entitled to wear the star indicating that rank on their sleeves. In an opinion rendered by the Attorney General this week it is held that warrant machinists cannot be considered as line officers. The opinion states, however, that boatswains and gunners are rated as ‘‘line officers.’’ It has generally been recog- nized in the Navy that these latter classes were to be put in that list. AN AMERICAN CREW. One of the most satisfactory statements in the report of the disaster to the Hamburg-American Line steamer Patria, is the simple note that most of the crew were Americans. This vessel, bound from New York to Hamburg, was burned on Wednesday, off Dover, England. So swift was the spread of the flames in the early morning, that the passen- gers, including many women and children, six of the latter being babes in arms, had no time to secure their clothing before hurrying into the boats. The Buffalo Courier an- nounces that no such scenes were enacted as attended the wreck of the Scotsman, and as have disgraced humanity on other similar occasions. On the contrary, the discipline was splendid, and the crew behaved like heroes. All the passengers were saved. A large steamer later came up and offered to take off the captain of the Patria and his men, but as the latter were willing to stay by him, Capt. Froelich determined to endeavor to put his ship ashore at some point of the coast where there would be a chance of saving her hull. This plan evidently was attended with much danger, as the iron plates of the vessel were in places red hot. As the press dispatch says, ‘‘the scheme is a bold one that does credit to a gallant crew.’’ —_—_——— DO PILOTAGE OF NAVY VESSELS. Special Circular No. 54, Navy Department, Oct. 11, 1899, publishes a decision of the Judge Advocate General on the question asked by the Bureau of Equipment ‘‘as to whether or not State lawsin regard to compulsory pilotage are ap- plicable to national vessels.’’ In reply J. A. Gen. Lemly quotes from the decision in the case of Josiah Ayres vs. Robert Knox, 7 Mass., 305 and 16 Atty. Gen. Opin., 647, quoting and affirming that decision. The Judge Advocate General says: ‘These two cases seem to have been the only exceptions to a universal recognition of the rule that vessels of the navy are not subject to local pilotage laws. Congress, by an act approved Sept. 19, 1890, gave authority to the Secretary of War to make such rules and regulations for the navigation of the South Pass of the Mississippi as he might deem nec- essary or expedient for the purpose of preventing any ob- struction to the channel or injury to the works therein. The Secretary of War, in the exercise of this authority, has not prescribed any rule or regulation requiring the employment of pilots by vessels navigating the pass. “T conclude, therefore, vessels of the Navy are not re- quired to take pilots, and are subject to local pilotage laws.’’ “The within decision concerning pilotage does not apply to vessels entering harbors outside of the limits of the United States. Cuas. H. ALLEN, Acting Secretary.”’ OO oo oe THE DOMINION MARINE. The Dominion Department of Marine granted during the past year certificates of competency to 63 masters and mates of foreign sea-going vessels. Twenty masters and mates of inland and coasting vessels received certificates of service, while 297 certificates of competency were granted for the same class of marine work. During the year 197 wrecks and casualties were reported as having occurred in British, Canadian and foreign sea- going vessels in Canadian waters, and in Canadian sea-going vessels in other waters. OO Oo a THE output of coal in the United States last year was 219,- 974,667 tons, or about 20,000,000 tons more than the corres- ponding production in 1897. The value of last year’s output at the mines was computed at £41,600,170. The United States now produce 30 per cent. of the annual coal output of the world.