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ESTABLISHED 1878. Y d i VOL. XXIII, No. 20. CLEVELAND---MAY 17, 1900---CHICAGO. 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 improve the character of the service rendered to the public. PRESIDENT. W. C. FARRINGTON, Buffalo. 1ST VICE-PRESIDENT Carr. 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. Gizson L, Doucras, Chairman, Buffalo. COMMITTEE ON AIDS TO NAVIGATION. GEORGE P. McKay, Chairman, Cleveland. AN INTERNATIONAL COMMISION TO CONSIDER LAKE LEVELS. The House Committee on Foreign Affairs has acted favor- ably on the joint resolution authorizing the president to in- vite Great Britain to join in the formation of an interna- tional commision, four from each government, to consider the diversion of waters along the boundary of United States and Canada. The inquiry is designed principally to ascertain the effect on the level of the Great Lakes caused by improvements at the Welland canal, Sault Ste. Marie canal and the Chicago drainage canal. -The inquiry covers the entire lake region, including all the waters of the lakes and rivers whose waters flow by the River St. Lawrence to the Atlantic Ocean. The joint resolution has already passed the Senate. Ne THE GREAT LAKES’ FISHERIES. The census for 1900 of the Great Lakes’ fisheries is ex- pected to contain surprises in respect to the extension of the fisheries during the last ten years in the Great Lakes of Su- perior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario. From 1880 to 1890 the number of fishermen actually engaged in these wa- ters increased 53 per cent. The capital invested during the same period increased 110 per cent. and the fish taken in- creased from 68,000,000 to 118,000,000 pounds, or 70 per cent. Lake Ontario was the only one toshowa loss. In fact, the Great Lakes’ fisheries are now the fisheries of the Great Lakes to the west of Buffalo, and Lake Ontario is no longer a factor in the matter. Since 1890 the increase in the number of fishermen, in capital invested in these fisheries and in the amount of fish taken has shown a ratio even larger than prior to 1890, and it is for this reason that some important surprises are ex- pected in the next national census. Very few persons have any clear idea of the wonderful productiveness in fish of the waters of the Great Lakes. An estimate based on the known production showed that in the decade terminating with the census of 1890 1,000,000,000 pounds of fish were taken, which yielded the fishermen $25,000,000. In 1890 6,996 persons were engaged inthe capture of fish in the Great Lakes. These employed 107 steamers, valued at $350,000, and 3,876 vessels and boats, worth $325,000. The apparatus used con- sisted of 3,800 pounds net and trap nets, the value of which was $825,000; gill nets to the value of $400,000; 176 seines and other apparatus. The capitalinvested in shore property directly connected with the fisheries was nearly $1,000,000. These items give, as the total investment in fishing property, about $3,000,0co. The quantity of fish taken was 118,000,- coo pounds, the value of which at wholesale was $2,615,784, and at retail probably $5,000,000. One curious reason given to account for the increase of the lake fisheries is the advent, especially in the more west- ern lakes, of many immigrants from the fishing and mari- time countries of Europe, particularly Norway, Sweden, Germany, Demark and Finland. The Scandinavians, as is well known, are excellent fishermen, and many of these Scandinavians and Germans, after coming to the United States, have taken up here the same avocations as they pur- sued in their own countries, with the result that there is near each of the Great Lakes what may be called a fisher- man population, just as the enormous fisheries of Canada are largely in the control of the descendants of two classes of emigrants—the Bretons from France and the Scotch and north of Ireland fisherman. In similar fashion much of the extensive fishery business of the Pacific slope is in the hands of Scandinavian or Portuguese fishermen, and New Bedford, Mass., still the headquarters of what remains of the once- celebrated and lucrative whale fisheries, has still a consider- able local Portuguese population devoted to the business of whaling. Two-thirds of the catch of the fisheries of the Great Lakes is made up of four kinds of fish—herring, trout, whitefish, and sturgeon. The catch of lake trout, which is one of the most important and highly esteemed fishes of the Great Lakes, increased from 4,397,031 pounds, or 65 per cent., from 1880 to 1890. Itis most abundant in Lake Mich- igan. Next to herring, whitefish is the most abundant and most profitable catch in the Great Lakes. or or CHAIR OF MARINE ENGINEERING. At the next meeting of the board of regents of the Univer- sity of Michigan there will be appointed a professor of ma- rine engineering. Although the course has been authorized for a year, Prof. Cooley has been until now unable to find a suitable man to take charge of the work. But he made the announcement to his class Thursday that he had found two available men, one of whom willbe chosen. One is a prom- inent naval and marine architect, well known on the eastern seaboard, and the other is at present an assistant professor of naval architecture at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. The course which will be offered at Michigan will com- prise a year and a half of work, and will consist of two branches—marine engineering and naval architecture. Prof. Cooley said that there is a great future for the university in marine work. He said he thought the United States is soon to become the greatest shipbuilding nation from purely nat- ural causes. The Great Lakes will be an important factor in the development, and Lake Michigan will be the greatest producing section. TO REFUND INSPECTION FEES. United States vessel owners charged inspection fees by the Canadian steamboat inspectors last year for obtaining Dominion licenses for their boats, made such a strong rep- resentation to the United States government that at last the Canadian government was communicated with in regard to the matter, and the announcement was made that all United States vessel owners who paid fees could have them refund- ed on making proper application. M. W. Twitchell, United States consul at Kingston, Ont., wrote the Department of State “‘that vessel owners had not taken advantage of the proffered refunding, probably from lack of knowledge that it would be returned.”’ i Collectors of Customs have received a letter from Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Spaulding advising them to in- form vessel-owners and masters that by making appli- cation to the proper Canadian authorities they can get back their money paid for inspection fees in the Dominion ~of Canada. $2.00 Per Year. 5c. Single Copy MINORITY REPORT ON SUBSIDY BILL. The minority report on the shipping subsidy bill, oppos- ing that measure, has been filed in the House of Representa- tives by the majority of the members of the Democratic mi- nority of the committee on merchant marine and fisheries. In the main, itis an argument against government subsi- dies, and asserts that most of the proposed $9,000,000 sub- sidy will go to a few favored concerns without building up American shipping in general or encouraging American ex- ports. The report quotes a recent utterance of President McKin- ley on the remarkable increase of our shipbuilding, and says in part: ‘Our foreign trade, then, is increasing with won- derful rapidity and our shipbuilding industry is remarkably prosperous without subsidy. Why, then, should the whole country be taxed to provide gratuities for industries which are now prosperous, and which have every prospect of con- tinuing to be more prosperous?”? “By this bill, which professes to be intended to increase the exportation of American produce, the government is asked to pay to the stockholders of a single steamship line $1,500,000 a year for carrying abroad in its four first-class passenger ships, not American products, but American tour- ists, who can afford to travel and spend their money in Eu- rope. That is, the government is asked to pay, not for the exportation of American produce, but for the exportation of American customers,’’ In conclusion, the objections are summed up as follows: ‘‘First—The objects professed in the title are entirely for- gotten in the body of the bill. ‘‘Second—It is reasonably certain that most of the sub- sidy would go to lines already established and prosperous. “Third—Under this bill the ordinary freight steamers, which carry 80 or 90 per cent. of our agricultural exports, will get but a fraction of the amount of subsidy which the passenger steamers would receive, although the latter carry less than ro per cent. of our agricultural exports. “Fourth—Under this billa ship can run practically in ballast and draw subsidy. We believe that when freight is not promptly offered it will pay a certain class of ships to run empty rather than to wait for cargo. “Fifth—This bill would tax all our citizens to provide ex- tra profits for a favored few in this industry. ‘‘Sixth—The professions of this bill are insincere and its principles are unsound. We believe that the best interests of this nation do not demand the passage of this or of any similar bill.’’ Se A BETTER OUTLOOK. Dun’s weekly review says: With wholesome promptness the country is recovering from the embarrassment of uunat- urally high prices. The proportion of works and of hands unemployed is as yet quite small, and the volume of business transacted, though less than last year in New England and in the Middle State cities, is larger than ever before at 54 out of 63. cities in the entire region west of Pennsylvania and south of the Potomac. Production,stimulated by higher prices, rises above con- sumption retarded by them. The weekly output of pig iron May Ist was 293,850 tons against 289, 482 last April Ist, while unsold stocks not held by the great steel makers increased 44,645 tons. Bessemer pig at Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley No. 1 here are quoted at $22 per ton and market wire has been reduced in correspondence with barbed and plain. Considerable increase of business is reported resulting from recent reductions, but demands for higher wages and also for closing of some iron works two months in the year, whether there is business or not, cause some hesitation re- garding future contracts. The opening of Philippine ports has also reduced the price of hemp from 15 cents last November to 11 cents,