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APRIL, 25, \¥9o0r%. EXPOSITION ON A ROVING COMMISSION. AN AROUND THE WORLD CHARTER—THE CHIEF STATISTI- CIAN ADVOCATES A FLOATING EXHIBIT OF WARES—A FLEET OF VESSELS To GO SEEKING. Mr. O. P. Austin, chief of the Bureau of Statistics, in the Geographic Magazine of recent date, has this to say in regard to his proposed method for. the advancement of commerce: “If a floating exposition were systematically organized, loading one vessel withexhibits of foodstuffs, another with textiles, another with agricultural implements and vehicles, another with manufactures of iron and steel, another with houschold requirements, and another with ‘‘Yankee. no- tions,’’ and sent from port to port and continent to conti- nent, it should prove highly advantageous to our commer- cial relations. with all of the countries visited.”’ : The age of steel, St. Louis, Mo., has the following to say on the subject : “From all standpoints, ethical or commercial, the modern exposition is not only a missionary of business but of morals. It has come to stay, and its itinerary is the world. The orig- inal idea is now supplemented by one equally as forceful, and itis no other but an exposition on the seas. It is pro- posed to fit out suitable vessels and charter the same to cer- tain ports, where an exhibit of manufactured goods, anda prepared list of prices, and well selected advertising litera- ture would develop trade. The ideais noveland not without its possible difficulties, but in these days of strenuous en- deavor, and the stern necessity of utilizing every opportuni- ty to._promote business it is not unlikely that the idea may yet materialize into an actuality. The idea is certainly novel and it remains for time to determine its practical value. . It. is on the line of new efforts of which, perhaps, there will be ho end, as trade conditions are always mutable and changing. THE MARINE RECORD. of the jib, which’ may be used for putting masts or smoke stacks into the ship. It is believed that this crane will prove to be a very useful tool for a shipbuilding plant. The extraordinary success which this company has at- tained has compelled the building of a new plant. It hasa very large amount of work on hand, the orders on its books to-day being more than fifty per cent. in excess of the en- tire business done by the company in 1900. Among other contracts booked recently is a large amount of work for Spain and also for England and Japan. The company has also just been awarded a contract by the Lackawanna Iron & Steel Co, for the entire ore unloading and handling outfit for its new works near Buffalo. lS OO SS A WRECKER’S CLAIM. Wrecking master Harrison W. Baker, of Detroit, is trying to find out where he will get his pay for salving the pig iron from the wreck of the schooner J. S. Richards, which was sunk opposite Walkerville last November, Baker claims that on orders from Capt. A. T. May and one Edgerton Parsons, who claimed to be representing the Atlantic Mutual Insur- ance Co., he removed 595 of the 600 tons of pig iron in the hull, ead then moved the wreck out of the way of naviga- tion. He filed a bill with the insurance company for the amount, and Jan. 5 last, having failed to receive satisfactory answer he filed a libelin the United States court. Since then the insurance company has answered with a statement that neither Capt. May nor Mr. Parsons had any authority to order the expenditure of any money for the company, in fact denying that either werein any ad connected with the company. The Superior Charcoal Iron Co. of Detroit owned the cargo of the Richards, and it when was released by the Canadians, took possession and sold it, receiving, it is alleged, $15,000, THE WORLD’S MERCANTILE TONNAGE. The number and tonnage of vessels owned in each country as compiled for etnondie Register. Book, London, is as follows : STEAM VESSELS SAILING VESSELS TOTAL FLAG. TONS us No. No. TONS No. TONS Net Gross British eae Kingdom....| 7,020 7,072,401 11,513,759 1,894 1,727,687 8,914 13,241,446 ae @olomes;.. ee 5 & GIO 378,925 635,331 1,014 384,477 I 924 1,019,808 America, United Statesof...... *690 594,237 878,564 2,130 1,156,498 2,820 2,035,062 Austro-Hungarian. ............ 214 240,808 297. A7l a, 56 28,613 .270 416,084 DWanishe ietoiee isa aliet, 369 240,599 412,273 433 106,738 ‘802 519,011 DEO ios Srsee ely cers bret saiaisaw atone bie 289 307,574 467,209 I17 63 068 406 530, 277 PPRGUICH ce ere ses cae ees 662 542,305 1,052,193 | 552 298, 369 1,214 1,350,562 German oo eres eee 1,209 1,344,605 2,159,919 501 490,114 1,710 2,650,033 Atelier ooo senee cca woes 312 343,020 540,349 864 443 306 1,176 983,655 Norwegiau Pithes eg posi Beara hy snaiastse; « 806 467,123 764,683 1,574 876,129 2,380 1,640,812 1 UTTSSS CRSA nS 496 292,277 469,496 750 255,405 1,246 720,901 Spenish Ro Mee eee ae ar ame earns et ete s 422 416,882 642,231 175 52,549 597 694,780 SWEGISHM reo ere ee oe 678 260,023, 418,550 755 218,722 1,433 637,272 Vessels under roo tons are not included in these returns. * Excluding vessels trading on the Great Lakes. WELLMAN-SEAVER CRANES FOR SHIPYARD USE The Fore River Ship and Engine Co., of Quincy, Mass., which is building one of the largest shipyards in this coun- try, and has lately taken contracts for two battleships for the U. S. Navy, has contracted with the Wellman-Seaver Engineering Co., of Cleveland, for a crane service over their shipbuilding berths. This construction will be of steel throughout, and will consist of a steel framework, which will carry two pairs of runways over each ship, on which will be operated small electric cranes of about 5 tons capac- ity, so that instead of one cantilever gantry serving two ships while under construction, as is. the case in most ship- yards, each berth will have two cranes for use during the whole time of the construction of the ship. These cranes will be designed for a very high speed, so that the work of ‘putting the materials in place during the building of the ship can be performed with the greatest possible saving of time. The Wellman-Seaver Engineering Co. has also con- tracted with the above company for‘a fitting-out crane of an entirely novel design. This will be an electric traveling gantry wharf crane, with a folding jib, so that the crane can be moved to its place alongside of a ship, the jib lowered to its place, and the machinery or other material taken out of, or put into theship, as may be desired. This crane has two trollers, one of 50 tons capacity and one of 25:tons. There is also a lifting tackle of 10 tons capacity attached to the end Now Capt. Baker asks the court to order that money held intact until the responsibility for the wrecking operation and salvage work can be determined upon. Judge Swan has ordered the iron company to show cause why they should not turn the money over to the court, pending payment or settlement of the Baker bill. re oo WELDLESS CHAIN CABLE. Large works, says London “Engineering,” have recently been erected at Leamington-on-the-Tyne for rolling chain cables direct from the bar. The bars are heated in a furnace 70 feet long, and are drawn direct into the rolls... In the course of its passage a bar of this length, weighing nearly two tons, is rapidly converted into a red-hot 13/ inch cable go feet long, link within link without weld, and with the stud already in its place in each link. The links are connected by webs and fins, which are afterwards removed cold by punch- ing and special planing machines. It is claimed that a cable made in this manner from the usual ship quality of steel is 50 per cent stronger than the best welded iron cable of the same size, and that it is also very tough, The works havea frontage to the river of 3,v00 feet and are equipped with powerful machinery. The rolling-mill engines have 48-inch cylinders and drive a mill weighing over 250 tons. There are punching machines for removing the fins from the links, and special planing machine for cutting the inner connec- tions. The principal machines have been specially designed for this work and patented in many countries. NOTES. THE Boston & Lockport Block Co., Boston, Mass., and Lockport, N. Y., has just issued a poaker iialogde and price list of star baad blocks. Copies will be sent to all who are interested in this subject. CLARENCE E. Lone, formerly of this port, but who has been conducting a nautical school at Milwaukee the past winter, is writing a series of articles for the MARINE REC- ORD on ‘‘The Laws of Magnetism,’’ as applied to the com- pass needle.—The Advocate, Sturgeon Bay, Wis. THE Secretary of the Navy received word on April 8 that the torpedo boat Perry, which is being completed by the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, had not come up to her required speed of 29 knots ina recent official trial. ‘The best speed she could make was 28.2 knots an hour, but the Navy Department will accept the vessel at $259,000, instead of $282,000, the contract price. MEssrs, CoLE & Kunis, of Brooklyn, N. Y., have moved their machinery to their new place of business, corner Third avenue and Twenty third street, which they have bought. Their business in the sale of their Elastic Seam Composition has increased tosuch an extent that they were forced to look for larger quarters so as to beable to fill the large orders which they are receiving. ‘‘DoG- WATCHES AT SEA,” is the title of an entertaining volume by Stanton H. King. The author is an old mariner, and this book is said to be an accurate account of life before the mast. Six years of the author’s career was spent in the- merchant marine, and his pen-pictures of this service are faithfully portrayed. There isa literary flavor about the book which adds to its charm. ‘‘Dog-Watches at Sea’’ will entertain any reader, whether a seafaring man or not. It is handsomely issued by Houghton, Mifflin & ors New York and Boston, at $1.50. JENKINS Bros., 71 John St., New York, and Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and London, have issued an attractive IgoI catalogue of their famous specialties which should be in the hands of all interested in valves, packing, etc. This concern makes the following offer: ‘If you will puta Jenkins Bros. valve on the worst place you can find, where you cannot keep other valves tight, and if it is not perfectly tight, or does not hold steam, oils, acids, water, or other fluids, longer than any other valve, you may return it, and your money willbe refunded.” Thisis an offer which is made by no other concern in the -business. The Jenkins goods are reliable. THE hulls of the Constitution-and Independence, trial cup defenders for 1901, the former being built by the Herreshofft Manufacturing Co., Bristol, R. I., and the latter by George Lawley and Sons, South B>ston, Mass., are both constructed of Tobin bronze plates. Theex-cup defenders, Vigilant, built in 1893, and the Columbia, built in 1899, were con- structed of Tobin bronze, and acquitted themselves admira- bly in defence of the cup. The Army and Navy Journal in speakifig of the Constitution says: “‘May she so conduct her- self as to be known affectionately fifty years hence as Old Tobinbronzesides!’’ It is a cause for congratulation that a Navy officer, John A. Tobin, should be so prominently iden- tified with vessels that are maintaining the yachting prestige of the United States. THE Bullock Electric Manufacturing Co., of Cincinnati, and the Wagner Electric Manufacturing Co., of St. Louis, have effected a combination of their selling organizations. By thus combining forces in the field, they are mutually benefited, inasmuch as the products of the two companies are totally different, and where the product of one is used, the other is likely to be necessary. The product of Bullock Co. consists of a complete line of direct and alternating current machines, from a % horse-power motor to 10,000 K. W. generator; controllers of various types and rotary transformers. The Bullock ‘Teaser’? power system for driving large daily newspaper presses, has become world famous, and is to-day installed in the press rooms of the leading dailies in Hurope and America. The product of the Wagner Electric Manufacturing Co. covers a full line of static transformers, of all types and of the largest sizes; ammeters, voltmeters, indicating wattmeters, switches, switchboards for all purposes and single-phase, self-starting alternating current motors. The entire absence of comph- cated starting mechanism especially adapts the Wagner sin- gle phase motor to pumping plants and machinery of like character. Thus it will be seen that the two lines are ad- mirably adapted to be sold by one organization, which will be under the managementiof Mr. EH. H. Abadie, formerly sales manager of the Wagner Co.