The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

nee ESTABLISHED 1878. )sonsanqennss VOL. XXIII, No. 5. CLEVELAND---FEBRUARY 1, 1900---CHICAGO. $2.00 Per Year. 5c. Single Copy LAKE CARRIERS’ ASSOCIATION. To consider 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 improvethe character of the service rendered to the public. PRESIDENT. W. C. FARRINGTON, Buffalo. 1ST VICE-PRESIDENT. i Capt. J. G. KEITH, Chicago. SECRETARY. CHARLES H. KEEP, Buffalo. TREASURER. GEORGE P. McKay, Cleveland. : COUNSEL. HARVEY D. GouULDER, Cleveland. EXECUTIVE AND FINANCE COMMITTEE. JAMES CORRIGAN, Chairman, Cleveland. COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION. Gipson L. Doucras, Chairman, Buffalo. COMMITTEE ON AIDS TO NAVIGATION. GEORGE P. McKay, Chairman, Cleveland. THE SHIPPING BILL ENDORSED BY PRACTICAL SEAMEN.—A PERTINENT AND WELL- ADVISED RESOLUTION. Copy of resolution adopted by the American Association of Masters and Pilots, at their annual meeting in Washington, - D. C., on January 24, 1900, and presented to the House Com- mittee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries and the Senate Committee on Commerce, on January 25, 1900, by Past Grand Captain W. S. Van Keuren, of New York, and Capt. Gray, of Portland, Ore.,a committee appointed by the Association. Whereas, In the carriage of American imports and exports several thousand ocean-going ships are annually employed, but nine per cent. of which vessels are built in the United . States and owned by American citizens; and Whereas, The monopoly of our foreign carrying trade now enjoyed by alien ships, to which our people annually pay $200,000,000 in freight charges for ocean transportation, deprives thousands of American shipmasters, and many additional thousands of American officers and seamen, of employment; and Whereas, The lack of an American merchant marine in the foreign carrying trade carries with it a lack of American officers and seamen, thus perpetuating our national weakness upon the seas, while our commerce, in affording employment to foreign ships, foreign officers and seamen, increases the naval, maritime and commercial strength of our foreign rivals; and Whereas, A bill is now pending in each branch of Con- gress, introduced in the Senate by Senator Frye, and in the House by Representative Payne, providing for the upbuild- ing of the American merchant marine in the foreign carrying trade; therefore, be it Resolved, That the American Association of Masters and Pilots of Steam Vessels, in annual convention assembled, earnestly urges upon Congress the immediate passage of the said pending shipping bill, to the end that American ship- masters, American officers and American seamen may secure . additional opportunities for employment upon the sea, so that the $200,000,000 now paid annually to foreign ships may be paid to American ships and thus kept at home, and in order that the United States may obtain the prestige and protection that inheres in the possessisn of an American- built, American-owned, and American-manned merchant marine adequate to all the needs of American foreign ‘commerce. A‘ REAR ADMIRAL HICHBORN AGAINST COAL- ING STATIONS. Rear Admiral Philip Hichborn, U.S. N., Chief Construc- tor of the Navy, will declare himself officially against the proposed coaling station system of the government. This expression of opinion will probably be given to the House Naval Committee when the chief constructor appears before that committee. He believes that specially designed colliers should be built with a view to coaling at sea and he will suggest the innovation that instead of a naval ship towing the collier, while the former is being coaled under way, the collier tow the naval vessel, comsuming its own store of fuel and preserving that of the warship. This appears to bean advantage over the system which was recently tested. Rear Admiral Hichborn believes that the coaling station idea is sufficiently meritorious in time of peace but in time of war it furnishes, he thinks, an additional point of attack by an enemy against whom remote stations must be guarded. The matter of transporting fuel to these stations, he maintains, adds to the cost of the naval establishment without any adequate returns. Coal can be had in almost any quarter of the globe in time of peace and in time of war he believes that the only system for re-coaling ships will be that by means of colliers. The latter can be so constructed as to . tow instead of being towed, and, being equipped with tow- ing machines, they can handle large ships without danger of hawsers parting and other accidents. i or ior RIVER AND HARBOR WORK. That there will be no river and harbor appropriation this session of Congress, is now a foregone conclusion, at the same time the River and Harbor Committee are giving hear- ings to the delegation appearing before them in the interest of waterway improvements. Last week the committee gave a hearing to a delegation interested in the Tennessee river and its tributaries, also to petsons from Sabine Lake, Texas; Feb.°16 lake interests and the Sault Ste. Marie Power Co., concerning the pro- posed power canal at the ‘‘Soo’’ will be heard. The hear- ings are not indicative that a bill will be framed at this ses- sion, as the committee has left that question open, but they will be serviceable when it is decided to frame a bill. Inthe meantime Mr. Burton, chairman of the committee, has been given authority to have printed and bound, such papers and documents for the use of said committee as it may deem necessary in connection with the subjects considered or to be considered by said committee during the Fifty-sixth Con- gress, also that the Committee on Rivers and Harbors sit during the sessions of the House and during the recess of Congress. Evidently Mr. Burton is working along the lines, if not positively accordingly to the dictates of the administration. The forehandness in printing the list of money at disposal on Dec. 31 for all pending river and harbor projects, which makes a most appalling column, is attributed to his keen ap- preciation of the situation, and ina measure to head off those who were and are crowding so hard for fresh appropri- ations that they would hardly be denied. There is a vast amount of money already appropriated under the continuous contract system, which has not been expended, the sums ready for use in the rivers and on Lakes Erie and Ontario, indicate the amount of authorized work that has not yet been carried out. For improvement on St. Mary’s river there was $368,672.27 unexpended Dec. 31. For improvements in Hay Lake chan- nel, St. Mary’s river, there was $100,000 available at the end of last year, and for the harbor of refuge at Sand Beach there was $147,684.15. Detroit river, Michigan, $100,000; Rouge river, Michigan, $13,619; Monroe harbor, Michigan, $4,910; Toledo harbor $129,069, Port Clinton harbor $6,346, Sandusky harbor $57,- 834, Huron harbor $25,000, Lorain harbor $45,963, Cleveland harbor, $391,623, Fairport harbor $120,535, Ashtabula har- bor $43,712, Conneaut harbor $95,202, harbor at Erie, Pa., $78,459; harbor at Dunkirk, N. Y., $1,741; harbor at Buffalo, N. Y., $798,204; Buffalo entrance to Erie basin and Black Rock harbor, $21,075; Tonawanda harbor and Niagara river, N. Y., $22,415; Niagara river from Tonawanda to Port Day, N. Y., $1,790; harbor at Wilson, N. Y., $2,233; harbor at Charlotte, N. Y., $1,843; harbor at Pultneyville, N. Y., $975; harbor at Great Sodus Bay, N. Y., $7,071; harbor at Little Sodus Bay, N. Y., $2,987; harbor at Oswego, N. Y., $34,557} harbor at Cape Vincent, N. Y., $49,577; shoals in St. Law- rence river between Ogdensburg and foot of Lake Ontario, $6,279; harbor at Ogdensburg, N. Y., $14,913. The engineer department made no total footings on the amount of money now available, but the aggregate is well away into the millions, and bears out Mr. Burton’s state- ment made some time ago regarding the improbability of any sufficient demand for a river and harhor bill to be framed for passage at this session. The engineering depart- mentis already far behind in its work, and Mr. Burton be- lieves that so much money already appropriated is unex- pended that perhaps it would be the part of wisdom to post- pone the framing of a bill until the next session of Congress. ee es ANOTHER CANADIAN ROUTE TO THE COAST. Hon. J. I. Tarte, the Dominion Minister of Public Works, has favorably considered the proposition of deepening the French river to such a depth as to permit the large lake steamers to carry their cargoes of the products of the great: north-west to wharves at North Bay. To undertake this work the Minister has decided to ask his colleagues’ to per- mit him to place in the estimates a large amount of money. The river will have to be improved from its mouth at the Georgian Bay to Lake Nipissing, a distance of fifty miles. It is already a navigable river and only on portions of it will it be necessary to expend large sums to make it a first-class waterway for vessels drawing 18 feet. Outside of the build- ing of three dams necessary the work would consist of dredging. Mr. Tarte says : 2 “Just look at the facts. Up to this day, the Canadian Pacific railway has carried our Canadian wheat to Fort William, where it has been left toits fate, or, in other words, has been taken by American barges to Buffalo. Out of ten bushels of Canadian grain, I do not think Iam exaggerating in saying nine have gone to American ports. All that will be changed by the project we have now in hand. “The distance from Fort William to North Bay is 650 miles. From North Bay to Montreal it is 360 miles. The Canadian Pacific will undertake to carry, with a fleet of their own, our Canadian grain from Fort William to North Bay, where it will be transhipped to Canadian Pacific cars, en route to Montreal.’’ SS 2 THE proposition to remove the bones of Commodore John Paul Jones from Paris and bury them in Arlington cemetery will probably receive the sanction of Congress if all doubt can be removed as to the complete identification of the grave of the naval hero, which has been solong neglected that it has been really forgotten. The Secretary of the Navy will send'to Congress the latest informationin the depart- ment. The naval attache at Paris is still prosecuting his investigations, aad expresses confidence that he will be completely successful in the end. reo or THE H. W. Jouns Co. of New York City, manufacturers of asbestos, make a new use of that material as a cover for their catalogue for 1900. They show many novelties in as- bestos and felt packing for steam and other pipes.