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

12 THE MARINE RECORD. SEPTEMBER 20, I900, | Truscott VAPOR MARINE MOTORS. HIGH GRADE PLEASURE CRAFT. {) TRUSCOTT BOAT MFG. CO. ST. JOSEPH, MICH. SEND 5 STAMPS FOR CATALOG. lighting. Pintsch Gas Lighted Buoys. Adopted by the English, German, French, Russian, Italian and VESSEL. United States Light-House Departments for channel and harbor Over 1,000 gas buoys and gas beacons in service. Burn Continuously from 80 to 365 days and nights without attention, and can be seen a distance of six miles.-.. . 2. % Controlled by THE SAFETY CAR HEATING AND LIGHTING CO. 160 Broadway, New York City. BAINES BROS. PROVISION MERCHANTS £2 SHIPPERS OF EEF MUTTON PORK & POULTRY LARD, SAUSAGE,ETC 43.44845 ELK STREET MARKET BUFFALO. KY. PHONE SENECA A SPECIALTY coesen sag Cleveland Telephone, Glen. 87 F. CHAS. R. DITTRICK, SUBMARINE DIVER ~7™~Nte> 21 Everton Street, Day or Night Calls GLENVILLE, 0. Answered Promptly. THE—~_ il i od Ui Bliss LIQUID (iri) COMPASS Made in seven sizes by JOHN BLISS & CO., 128 Front Street, New York, is finely finished sensitive, accurate and durable. Moves quickly and is extremely steady. pass ever made in this or any country. For sale by ship chandlers generally. Is the best Liquid Com: DULUTH WHEAT TRANSPORTATION. The shortage of the wheat crop, according to a Duluth elevator man, may not be as serious for the head of the lakes roads and elevator companies as might be assumed. He says that the elevator companies and the roads tributary to Duluth are not going to lie down and let anything in the shape of grain get away that may be won by fair competi- tion. “The Great Northern and Omaha roads will, I expect, wheel more corn into Duluth this year than ever before,’’ said he. ‘‘You may look out for the Milwaukee line, with its traffic arrangement into Duluth, to bring some corn this way too. Chicago is not going to get the corn: in Duluth territory this year without a struggle, and they will have to hustle to get it in strictly competitive territory, the time has gone by, and the elevator roads here and the Duluth toads have too much at stake to continue to allow Chicago to run off with business which might be diverted through this point as its most natural and desirable channel. For this reason I think the quantity of coarse grain that will be received here will be surprisingly large this year. We know that we can depend upon the Great Northern and I guess the Omahais beginning to feel pretty friendly too. This matter of a Banning’s line will be a real transportation reality in the near future, and we may find it necessary to shove it a point or two to the southward.”’ ec THE SUB-MARINE TELEGRAPH. The submarine telegraph systems of the world number Over 1,500, with an aggregate length of wire of more than 170,000 miles, or about equal to six times the circumference of the earth. The total cost of maintaining this great enter- prise,is estimated at $250,000,000 annually, while the num- ber of messages transmitted beneath the sea is about 6,000,- ooo per year. In the last fifty years and since the practica- bility of submarine telegraphy has been demonstrated, electric wires have been laid under every ocean except the Pacific, and there are two lines projected under the latter. More than a score of lines have been laid across the Atlan- tic, and thirteen of them are now in successful operation between the United States and Europe. There are three lines between South America and African and South Euro- pean coast lines. The Mediteranean Sea is crossed and re- crossed in its entire length and breadth by numerous cable lines, Lines connect the Far East with Europe and America by way of Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea is traversed in all directions by lines which bring its islands and colonies into speaking relations with each other and with South America, Central America, the United States, Europe, Africa, and in fact the whole world. Along the eastern coast of Asia cables are laid from port to port and from island to island. South America is skirted with cables along its entire coast except in the extreme southern por- tion where the communication is by land. There is a cable line from Australia to New Zealand, and another from the New Caledonia Islands to Australia. The developments in the laying, constructing and operating of submarine cables and their availability for public use have kept pace with their general extension throughout the world. From a mere gutta percha wire the submarine conductor of electricity has developed into a. great cable having a cen- tral copper core surrounded and covered by many layers of non-conducting material and protected by steel wire wound spirally about it and by water-proof and _ insect-proof wrappings. The effect of the submarine cables in the trans- mission of thought and words from one end of the world to the other is shown in the rapid development of interna- tional commerce since the system was inaugurated. The first successful cable line between the United States and Europe was put into operation in 1866. With a direct cable communication across the Pacific Ocean and direct water communication through the Nicaragua Canal and an in- crease in the number and capacity of the American steam- ships itis not improper nor visionary to suppose that a material addition may be obtained by the United States in the commerce and carrying trade of the world. ed WAVE-POWER SCHEMES ARE DISAPPOINTING. Wave motors and tide power schemes have been almost endless in number, says a writer in Cassier’s Magazine. The former have, in a few iustances, been used for light pump- ing work at seaside places, but such pumping outfits have been very far from demonstrating that the wave motor could ever be seriously considered as a prime mover where large powers were demanded; in fact, the wave motor is little bet- ter than a toy. As to power from the tides, there is little to be said, except that such money has been wasted in vain en- deavors to turn it to practical account. The tide-power scheme probably always will be alluring and also disappointing. The disappointment comes from the fact that very few people seem to take the trouble to figure out how much water and how considerable a fall are required to give any useful amount of power. A horse-power for a day of ro hours, for example, would require something like 120 tons of water falling from a height of 100 feet, so that a 500 horse-power factory, say, would need 60,000 tons of water at a 100 foot head. On the basis of 36 cubic feet of water to the ton, there would thus be over 2,000,c00 cubic feet of water, and this would make a fair-sized pond, say about 1,000 feet long, 200 feet wide and 10 feet deep. There is in these few figures something that may help to open the eyes of the tide-power plan inventor and of those who are in the habit of putting money into such things, CHICAGO. : Within the past two weeks lake steamers have been libeled for alleged damage to Chicago river bridges and their own- ers have been put to much inconvenience and annoyance in their business by the apparent littleness of the Chicago city authorities. Were the frequent collisions which occur in the Chicago river the result of carelessness or incompetence on the part of vesselmasters there might be some excuse for the petty avarice exibited by the much vaunted municipality; but as the real cause of the trouble lies in the reckless granting of franchises by that same municipality, the excuse is entirely wanting. : With the building of Chicago’s drainage canal a menace ‘ to the marine industry of the lakes was created. Under the conditions of the franchise, the quantity of water allowed to pass from the lake into the canal is limited, but, unfor- tunately, the limit is placed at a figure which, if allowed to continue, will serve to drive shipping from the Chicago river entirely. -At present the full limit is not reached,and yet vessel own- ers of undisputed varacity declare that with two tugs towing navigation is almost impossible without damage to the in- ferior and decaying structures termed bridges, which span the river. Even if no damage occurs, there is much delay and a greatly increased towing bill for the vessel owners as a result of the swift current caused by the drainage caual. When, added to these conditions, vessels are seized by the authorities for a puny damage bill of $roo and detained for hours because the apparent spleen of the authorities prompts them to serve the papers after the close of business hours, as was the case with the Syracuse of the Western Transit line, only receatly, patience ceases to be a virtue and even the long-suffering soul of the average vessel owner waxes wroth. To cause a corporation like the New York Central rail- road, which handles many thousands of dollars’ worth of freight through its port annually, a full day’s delay under the circumstances attaching to the libel of the Syracuse, is a piece of petty meanness and littleness unworthy a great city government. Poor old Chicago! She is striking the hand which feeds her when she declares war on the merchant marine of the lakes, and, though she may not realize the fact, is driving trade in other directions which by wise diplomacy she might retain, One hundred dollars’ damage to a bridge, caused by care. lessness on the part of city officials, is not sufficient excuse to warrant the tying up of a great transportation company’s business for a day, especially when, as in the case of the Syracuse, nearly a full day was allowed to elapse before any action was taken to detain her—a delay which made quick release impossible. Alas! poor, avaricious, misguided Chicago! How hath thy glory departed!—Buffalo Courier, /