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

$03 b: fae 1oyXPRIL, 08; Igor. Amen VESSEL TAXATION+STATE OR FEDERAL. A call upon the prominent citizens;fon their views on cur- bement topics by the Evening. Telegram,,Superior, Wis., to ‘brought ‘the following communication on vessel taxation -nofrom Mrs James Bardon: “i )35 83 au%itis:to-be hoped that success will attend the efforts: in- 32 sali _-jes@ugurated by Assemblyman jLznropt and warmly supported’ ” ny Senator Mills and Assemblyman Andrew to bring about such changes in the laws réspecting vessel taxation as will! , late Wisconsin on an equal” footing, at least with Minne... -fe sétaand: Michigan, 4. Superior is, vitally interested in the question. Despite ms “the, advantages aff rded by spacious harbor room and the . always resulting from a port headquarters. te only drydocks and shipyard and the best repair shops on “Lake Superior, this city, owing to the high taxes imposed “by the laws of Wisconsin upon water craft as compared with other states, derives but a mere fraction of the benefits Vessels avoid Superior and are listed for taxation at other ports, and hail- ing from these ports, they not only widely advertise, but give prestige to such ports. They winter in them, and Superior loses the benefit of the homes of the officers and sailors, who establish themselves and their families at the port of hail of their vessels; of the watchmen, the host of painters, carpen- “ters, upholsterers, sail makers, machinery men and others usually employed<in overhauling -and: preparing a sail or steam , craft forthe season of navigation; the banking, the _ supply stores, the ship-chandlers, and the admiralty lawyers ' that establish themselves and thrive at a vessel rendezvous. - “Tt has been suggested: that the taxation of vessels should ube assumed. by the general government. Thearguments for -ssuch assumption are many and weighty. The revenue that © =a accrue from even a very moderate tax to be levied ther on a tonnage or ad valorent basis upon the vast oo dae Ant of vessel property owned and: operated 1 in the United «States would add many millions of dollars to our revenue «9 and,relieve the strain of taxation in other directions. It is asppgonbted that under the present system of state control € taxes derived from such movable, though valuable, 3 “Properties; 'aré merely nominal, and that much of ‘such property escapes taxation altogether. “Can the general government assume these powers, and . would the states yield to it? The answer is probably yes. le general government spends millions of dollars annually 8° in’deepening the harbors, building canals, locks, jetties and eh “4 Hulls! it licenses -captains,: - piers, building and maintaining light-houses, fog-horns, - buoys and other aids to. navigation. It surveys, sounds and _ Maps the waters and harbors and furnishes charts to sailors; ~ it’ maintains a lifé- sdving’ ‘service; it inspects boilers and engineers and pilots, keeps ou records: of all vessels; their. types and. capacities to the most .9, minute, detail, Bre: a aAe. compels reports and clearances at custom ouses; in fact, assumes nearly entire control, receiving but e now and then for fees and licenses, yet allowitig the Woe authorities to inrpose.and collect for their own uses “< taxes: which should inojustice go into a fund to lighten these _ immense outlays... .,, “A movein Congress to put vessel property into the revenue list would undoubtedly meet with favor. ‘Today an interior state like Kansas or Colorado, having no harbors, contributes aS i Le Ap proportionately as much as Wisconsin or Michi- . gan; while deriving no benefit from local improvement or 2 sa eenenabute upon the works. “In case the legislature of Wisconsin fails to give relief, te*should we not consider the wisdom of going to Congress O%with ‘this ‘matter? Governmental taxation once applied, wrrlécal! favoritisms and discriminations would cease, and a =; portrhaying advantages and facilities like that of Superior . -would get its fair share of the vessel business. Our citizens oe 5 =“ should at least keep the question alive, for no more import- =) ant'one affecting home interest confronts them today.”’ ye ~, at « Tn lire with the foregoing it is announced that the gov- : ernors of the various states are beginning to make their ap- pointments of delegates to attend the conference on taxation called to meet at Buffalo May 23 and 24, 1901, by the Na- ° tional Civic Federation.’ At the headquarters in Chicago -potice of the appointiitnt of the delegates has been received ta 18 from’ Gov. Dockeryof Missouri, Gov. Hill of Maine, Gov. Lingino of -Mississippi, and Gov. Toule of Montana; The 5° “pall forthe cotiferétice is signed by leading. economists; tax’ @xperts and public men répresenting all sections of the Blgouritry and all interests. ‘Thelatter invitation says: Sno “9fo¥ many decadés the states*have been building up in- -. dependent systems of taxation twithout reference to each other. Until now we havea state of affairs bordering on. chaos, where each statesis:practically fighting nearly every cic State, Some property. is, taxed three or four times, ile. oth property is not tsxed at all. Corporate activity HM ately changed the character of individual investments. chsate lids Gverstepped the boundaries of any one state 1saud commercial interests are: no longer confined. to. mere -ylegal, dimits..- of BARS ie .This.conference :will,.be the first attempt in country to work out some uniform principles. It is not sected to Settlé any of the problems in the two days’ dis- 8 PH will bea beginning and:may result in- the ap- tmesit ‘of a permanent: commission:tow work out some te is for future action. ce. rerun : eoareoee Chiat “Engineer Herliby, whose, license was revoked on the qund of negligence in connection with the wreck of the es de Janeiro; has decided to appeal, on the ground that _he did not get a fair hearing according to law. -to the members: or their employers. ‘and usually last from a.week to eight days. -worked in conjunction:with the Ship Masters’ Association of ptawa, 3 cants per ton. .in,shippiug grain the wharyes were, not used at all, and be- “E shina MARDER ‘RECORD. CAPT. A. B. Wola RENEE RAL MANAGER OF THE FLEET OWNED BY THE nd ky ‘CORPORATION. : vy Tt-is announced that aisseparate:vessel company will be or- ‘ganized subsidiary to the-United States Stéel Corporation, withD »MClemsom-heretofore of the gas.and transportation departments) of thé Carhegit-organization, asipresident. + A B. Wolvin;:president of thei hake Carriers’ Association, ‘will “be 'general! managers imccharge of vessel operation,’ with “heddquarters in: Duluth: :0.Kdwin; S Mills; heretofore mana- ger'ofi the:Pittsbhurg.Steamship;Co.,-and Cleveland:represen- tative of the: Carnegié ore and. sales interests, will be assist- rye ant general managér,; with headquarters in Cleveland, :;;The*® Cleveland offices, it is understood, will have charge of ves-"' sel dispatch, distribution of ore to works and allotment of ore to docks. OO DO OO AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF MASTERS AND PILOTS. The American Association of Masters and Pilots of Steam Vessels appears to have gained a considerable membership at lake ports during the past few years, several Harbors or Lodges having been organized this winter. A brief resume of the aims and objects of the Association are as follows:: For the elevation of the profession, to create a fraternal feeling between the employers and employes and protect their members by employing counsel at all investigations before local or supervising inspectors of steam vessels, where the issue is the suspension or revocation of license, also to look after all matters of legislation in the law laid down for their government, to assist the owners in any matters of legislation and to show the employers that their association is.as largely in the interest of the owners as the men. - The Association being national in scope and character has much . interest in: Washingtonin all matters of legislation of interest The Association was established January 17,1887, in New York city. It has now -fifty-three Harbors and they extend all along theAtlantic coast and the principal cities of the lakes and navigable rivers. Their -annual-conventions are held in Washington every January, They have . the lakes, on the matter.of re-examination after expiration -of thé five years license and succeeded last January in hav- ing the Board of Supervising Inspectors amend the rule so -that all.-men in active service have only to present their - license and receive a renewal without any re-examination, and have also had many laws amended _to the benefit of the licensed officer. ‘ ———— i 2? oo CANADIAN PORTS WEEDED OUT. At a meeting of the grain exporters operating on the New York Produce Exchange, held on March 20, the following vnamed. ports were voted as the official Atlantic coast list; Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Newport News and Norfolk. It was decided to reconsider the action taken some time. ago by which St. John, Halifax, Montreal, Que- bec and Portland were added to the list of ports which, un- der the rules of . the Produce Exchange, shall constitute a good tender on ‘Atlantic seaboard” contracts Letters were read by the exporters, claiming that the system of inspection in operation at some of these ports was inadequate and that the out-turn of the shipments when they arrived abroad was such as to cause dissatisfaction and particularly reflect upon Atlantic seaboard contracts. A motion was made to include - Montreal in the list of Atlantic ports, but it failed. This puts Portland, Me., and Quebec on the ‘‘blacklist’’ although Portland at least has lately made such material improvement in its inspection methods as to entitle it to better considera- tion. The Canadian “Government will now place official in- spectors for grain and lumber at the receiving and clearing ports.” Phe new law will provide for the fixing of grain in- spection districts, one probably for the East and the other for ‘the West, each under the control of a chief inspector, with assistants “under his orders, the whole system so arranged as to make the inspection efficient and uniform, which it has “not been in the past. The Montréal harbor commissioners ‘on March 19, on petition of the Corn Exchange Association, ordered a reduction of one cétit’a ton in the grain wharfage, making the tariff; when approved by the government at Ot- The reduction was asked for because cause: the..reduction was necessary to.put the port onan equality with Quebec. editorial. «The Windsor R ord ‘has just been a. ben ia interest to our fishi he. b among ‘ot ‘provides that white ‘Betaken from ‘Lake’ Erié, Green Bay and the rivers Detroit and St. Clair, border- ing on the state of Michigan; from the rst of January to the 20th of November in each - year. A few days are given after the 20th of Novembér'to get’ ‘the nets out, it means, that practically, there is Ho close’ season for mbitefislitat Michi- gan. Inthe Detroit river the whitefish spawn from the 1st ,t0 the 15th of November, so that Michigan fisherman are ‘Allowed to catch this fish right through the spawning season. The fishery departments at Ottawa and Toronto enforce a close season on this side during the month of November. Last year owing to the whitefish being slow in coming into the river, the open season was extended to November 15th, this concession was so late in being announced that very few of our fishermen were abie to take advantage of it. > For years our Government has been-protecting the fish in our international waters, while our neighbors have been get- ting the benefit. Year after year we have been told that there was a probability of our-néighbors joining with Canada in a close season in international waters, but their are fewer, in- dications of their doing so than there were. ,2 hey. have been humbugging our fishing department. The only possible way ak Fakes ah an, is of <r to induce them to: agree to a close season is for our Govern- f ment to do away with atly close season. This might bring them’ to some reasonable terms. and is the only way it can be done. en FLOTSAM JETSAM AND LAGAN. A dispatch from Ottawa says the WeJland canal will be ‘opened for navigation April 22‘and the other canals on May 1. .The Sage Age.—Although.all.the old British battleships _ had elaborately carved figureheads modern. vessels are not allowed any such sort of decoration by reason of an order of the admiralty issued. some-years ago. An Irish professor created a laugh, when called. upon to speak atthe Birmingham Church Congress, , by. beginning with a rich brogue, ‘‘Before L, begin to speek let_me: sand No one:heard any more of the sentence. i “Well, Johnny, do you want me to elp you ith your arithmetlc again to-night?’ “Yes, Pa, please.’’? ‘What does the teacher say when you show him the sums?” ‘‘He says I’m getting more stupid every day.’? A telegram from Commander Snow, U.S. N., at San ‘Fran- cisco, states that the Union Tron Works will tance: the bat- tleship Ohio on May 18. President McKinley and his cab- inet will be present at the launching also Goy. Nash and party from Ohio. Judge Seaman, of Milwaukee, decided the suit of the Lake Michigan Car Ferry Co. against FE) G, Crosby, in‘ favor of the plaintiff. The suit was for the value of a barge which was lost while in possession of the defendant. The barge was claimed to be worth $4,500, ‘but the question of value was referred by the judge to a master. There is every indication that a number of lake dditeers will lose good situations on account of the strike’ so earnestly worked by George Ubler, president of the engineers’ ‘adso- ciation. Many men who had worked for years to secure a -good standing in a lineof boats will not be re- -engaged 1 on ‘the same terms and others will be replaced. Surfman Ellingsen, of the Fort Point Life-Saving Station, at San Francisco, who’ was suspended on the charge of neg- ligence in failing to report the distress signals, of the Rio:de Janeiro, has been ordered reinstated by the Washington authorities. The report of the» superintendent, showed that there was no proof that the:Rio. made any clearly recogniz- able signals of distress... io j.i3) An important decision: has ‘ists ers dendaiedi by. Inspec tor General Dumont, of thechull inspection service. The Grand. Haven: office. ,has,-been issuing second-class. pilot’s papers: endorsed: “Empowered to.take charge. cf.a.watgh, as assistant to a first-class;pilot.’’... Many inspectors, refused to accept this as lawful, there appearing to be.a clause, in;sthe law by which on boats over,one hundred tons burden none ‘but. first-class pilots might, bein. charge. General Dumont supports: the, opinions, of, the Grand. Haven inspectors, Ahat their.endorsement was right,.thereby, settling a point. which has been of no. little interest .to owners and insurance,com- panies. word: ‘only’? had been,added to the endorsement it;jsynot yet. understood : that.. the second-class pilot can take: ;sole charge of a watch or. if he-is only tobe there as assistant to the first-class pilot and both be on deck at the same time, » Lert ‘This is a very,negative..sort of ruling... Unlegg;the fe