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BUREAU OF NAVIGATION REPORT. Owing to the lack of vessels of smaller types in the North Atlantic Squadron, it has been necessary to divert training vessels from their cruises of instruction in order to afford necessary protection to our interests, particularly in the Caribbean Sea, and this, in the opinion of the Bureau, em- phasizes the necessity of commissioning at least two light- draught gunboats for this squadron. The battleships on the North Atlantic Station now number three, and, with the addition of the Illinois in the early autumn, will be in- creased to four,'a number which, the Bureau believes, should at all times be retained in commission on that station, as being a tactical group, and further necessary from the standpoint of adequate preparation for defense. During the autumn of 1900 the British North American squadron was received at Bar Harbor, Me., by the vesse.s of this squadron, it being the first visit of a British squadron to the United States for several years. The usual cruise along the Windward Islands and the North coast of South America was omitted on account of the length of time spent in the Gulf of Mexico. During the past summer Nantucket and Vineyard Sounds were the scenes of the cruises of this squadron, a part of the coast not previously visited by the vessels of the fleet. It is the belief of the Bureau that the South Atlantic: station should be re-enforced at an early date by at least two vessels. | 5 See hapa Among the incidents which might be mentioned in con- nection with the campaign for the relief of Pekin during the summer of 1900, the Bureau takes great pleasure in calling attention to the case of two British seamen, Herbert George and Edward Turner, who, at the risk of their lives, rescued a junk loaded with wounded American seamen. The campaign in the Phillipines, so far as concerns the Navy, has consisted almost entirely in co-operation with Army expeditions against the insurgents, in. which, as evi- denced by the reports of all Army officers concerned, the naval vessels rendered invaluable assistance. A further check upon the insurgents has been the rigid system of pa- trol carried on by the smaller gunboats, which has materially hampered the inflow of arms and ammunition to the islands. Among the many expeditions which might be mentioned, the one for the capture of Aguinaldo, in which the Vicks- burg, commanded by Commander E. B. Barry, U S. N., took part, must be considered as undoubtedly the. most suc- cessful. General Funston in his report states that without the services of the Vicksburg he could have done little or nothing. : hin It is recommended that the appropriation for the collier system be placed under the Bureau of Navigation. _ ‘The preparatory work for the selection of a site for a naval station in the Philippines has been carried on by the officers of this fleet, anda site has finally been decided upon at Olongapo in Subic Bay, and practically co-incident with that selected by the Spanish government. The system of manning naval colliers with merchant crews was successfully inaugurated by this Bureau during ‘the last fiscal year. Two stations for the training of appren- tices—i. e., Newport, R. I., and San Francisco, Cal.—have been considerably benefitted by the erection of several uew buildings and by the completion of various other improve- ments. At Newport the number of apprentices has been larger than ever before, on June 30, 1901, 1,128. boys being present, and at San Francisco 250 apprentices in addition to 230 landsmen for training. The policy of enlisting landsmen from various parts of the United States has been pursued as_ heretofore, but with considerably increased facilities. Recruiting parties des- patched to various parts of the United States, in the Mis- sissippi Valley and to the eastward have met with uniform success. Landsmen to the number of 4,198. have been en- listed;,of these 3,141 men have been transferred. The Bu-. reau has now undertaken a scheme having a still wider scope, that is the establishment of a training station for landsmen to which these men shall be sent instead of to the ‘receiving ships as at present. has been removed to Charleston; an excellent site was - made available there. The Wasp has been assigned to this station :for the pur- pose of giving the landsmen practice with smiall-caliber, rapid-fire guns and for such other service as may be useful. The station when completely equipped will accommodate about 1,000 men. The department has assigned: the battle- ship Ladiana to this duty, and is also about to commission the Prairie, now under repairs at-Boston, and’ the Panther, The Port Royal Navy yard: THE MARINE RECORD. OCTOBER 24, I90I. eee" under repairs at League Island, making in all ten vessels so employed, It, is believed that by this system about 3 500 men a year can be comfortably handled and well trained. The Bureau has continued in operation its plan for the training of seamen to be gun captains, 58 men having by this method been qualified as gun captains, and they have been almost uniformly found to be efficient and serviceable. A certificate as gun captain is not issued to a man unless he shows ability asa leader of men in addition to his qualifi- cations as a gun pointer. In the year,ended June 30, IgoT, 32,311 men and, 6 687 ap- - prentices applied. for enlistment. Of the men 8,115 and 1,781 apprentices were accepted—a total of 9,896. The num- ber of petty officers in service on the date noted above was 4,788, of whom 2,819 were natives of the United, States, while the number of men was 14,037; of whom 7,724 were natives. Sixty-one per cent. of petty officers are native born, and 93 per cent. are citizens; 72 per cent. of the men are native born, and 83 per cent. are citizens; 94 per cent. of the ap- prentices are native born and 6 percent. are foreign born; 73 per cent. of the whole enlisted force are native born, and 83 per cent. are citizens. About 94 per cent. of the whole number of landsmen for training are native born. The Bureau approves of the system of messing men recommended by the board appointed to consider this sub- ject who propose: First. ‘‘That Congress. be asked to authorize the payment of ration money for enlisted men by public bill, monthly, to commissary officers and mess treasurers. This money should-not be credited or paid to members of the various messes, as it belongs to the messes: and'not to individual members thereof; to revise the ration table as recommended; to authorize additional compensation at the rate of $5 per month to marine messmen.’’ Second. ‘Tat the President be requested to prescribe proposed rates of pay to chief commissary stewards, commissary stewards, bakers and cooks, and to authorize additional compensation at the rate of $5 per month for enlisted men of the Navy: detailed for duty as crew messmen.’’ Third. ‘‘That the department establish the ratings of chief commissary steward; commissary steward; baker, firstclass; baker, second class; and amend the regulations of 1900 in conformity with the changes recommended.” The board also propose the adoption of an improved naval: ration. An amendment to. See. 1422, Rev. Stat., on the subject of the discharge of enlisted men is recommended by the Bureau so as to provide for the transportation of enlisted men and apprentices to homes or to the place of enlistment according as their discharges have occurred by reason of medical survey or expiration of enlistment. Also an amendment to Sec. t29 to bring it into comformity with the present practice as to honorable discharges. Attention is called to the necessity for providing suitable ships and training stations for enlisted men in view of the fact that we have no adequate merchant marine in which men can practice seamanship and even had we the training on board of a merchantman does not meet the requirements of man-of-war service, which requires three or four years of special training. The system adopted two years ago of en- listing young landsmen and training them for seamen is giv-. ing good results, notwithstanding the fact that the Bureau has not had as suitable ships as should be provided, and the demands of the service have not permitted keeping the men under training as long a time as was desirable. With suitable barracks larger numbers can be properly housed, the young recruits can be kept under training for six or eight monchs, and their health cared for infinitely better than if housed in old insanitary hulks. Unsatisfactory material can at the same time be weeded out. An increase of 3,000 in the personnel is asked for, making a total of 25,500 men, and 2,500 apprentices under training. More officers are also needed if it is intended to man the. ships now out of commission which will require not less than 1,026 in all on the extremely conservative basis of one-half the force provided to meet actual conditions in other navies. Officers in the line are now increasing only at the rate of ten a year, and the number of cadets at the Academy should be increased, there being accommodations there for each mem- ber of Congress, with ten at large, giving to the Navya total of 350 lieutenants and 600 lieutenants, J. G., and ensigns. Attention is called to the disability under which we suffer abroad owing to our want of navy cfficers of sufficient rank to hold their own among foreign officers when prestige is determined by rank. It is.recommended that we have four vice admirals and fourteen rear admirals. Concerning a Naval Reserve, the report says: ‘‘The grave error of failing to provide a sufficient personnel, which has crept into our naval policy, can in some measure be met by the establishment of a suitable Naval Reserve, and the Bureau recommends that the Department ask Congress at ~ the earliest opportunity to provide for a national Naval Reserve by passing a bill similar in purport to that recently recommended by the general board.” EEE ee A MAN. WHO RIDES THE STORM. An authorized article on the Brazilian aeronaut M. Santos- Dumont appears in the November century from the pen of Sterling Heilig: This young Brazilian inventor works for the love of the thing, not for lucre. He has never felt moved to apply for a single patent. He is a son of the ‘‘Coffee King’’ of Brazil, the proprietor of. the Santos-Dumont plantations of Sao Paulo, the friend of the former Emperor Dom Pedro, and the benefactor and advisor of whole populations. Santos- Dumont, the father, although a Brazilian by birth and na- tionality, was French by descent, and had his technical edu- cation at the Ecole Centrale (Arts and Industries) in Paris. Thanks to this education, he was the first to apply scientfic methods to Brazilian coffee-culture, so that his plantations became the most flourishing in the land, having four million coffee-plants, occupying nine thousand laborers, comprising towns, manufactories, docks, and steamships, and served by one hundred and forty-six miles of private railroads. It was on these railroads that the young Santos-Dumont, before he was twelve years of age, drove locomotive-engines for his pleasure, and developed the taste for mechanics and inven- tion which saved him, coming young and rich to Paris, from a life of mere sporting leisure. Uutil eighteen years of age, when he completed his education at the University of Rio de Janeiro, he remained in Brazil, always returning in vaca- tion-time to the wild back-country of the plantation, where he became a mighty hunter, killing wild pigs and small tigers by preference, and great snakes out ofa sense of duty. Arriving in Europe in 1891, he made a tourist trip and as- cended Mont Blanc. A part uf 1891 and 1892 he spent be- tween London and Brighton, perfecting his English, which he now speaks as well and as often as French; but he always returned to Paris, where in 1892 he was already driving automobiles. In 1894 he madea short trip to the United States, visiting New Y.rk, Chicago, and Boston. He did not begin ballooning until 1897, in the summer of which year he made his first ascent in company with the late M. Machuron, In the same year he made twenty other ascensions, a number of them unaccompanied, and became a reliable pilot of spherical balloons. He has, indeed, an ideal figure for the sport, uniting remarkable strength, agility, and coolness to his jockey’s weight of scarcely one hundred pounds. For this reason he was able to lower the volume of the ‘‘Brazil,’’ his first spherical balloon, to the unusual minimum of 113 cubic meters. The little ‘‘ Brazil” was always filled with hydrogen, and after each ascension he never tailed to bring it back with him in his valise. oo STATEMENT OF THE VISIBLE SUPPLY OF GRAIN. As compiled by George ¥. Stone, Secretary Chicago Board of Trade, October 19, Igor. CITIES WHERE WHEAT.| CoRN Oats RYE B. -| CORN. ; ARLEY STORED. Bushels. | Bushels. | Bushels. | Bushels. | Bushels. Buffalo......... I 983.000] 1,121 000 Serene 3. 461,000 25,000 a) pict ese s mete tig 5 310,000 6,891,000 I 8,0,000 fas a58er08 Bere Bete MBER ee ase : ae pe, so. 00 47,000 150,000 42,c00 con William, Ont. ; epee % es zee, Beatty a 487,000 WEUKEE 6. cccsices 124.000 8 ©» 36,000]... 206, 00t Be ad Ont.... rye'eee Mee - a ASee SPO 98,000 OQIEGAO: Gitaiis da satey 6,000 6,001 ,081,000| 364,000] g,c00 Rereute BSCR ASEAN ALS pee aba 3 ce é nea wise ee secs n Canals........... 457,000] 378,070] 385,000|.......... on. Onnhakesiwicicc cies sovo} 1] =,00¢ peter: On Miss River... 3). hana soa caas ie: i soacaat aes Grand Total.... oco] I 000 Corresponding Date, a ae S44 OS hneneee Ree 2 SH cRgn TEGO Ghia iatern satay ds Ginicinis §8,313,0.0] 4,914,000] 12,310,000 1,017,000] 2,595,000 for week.. 1,185,000 35,000 275,000 76,000 550,000 a es eee While the stock of grain at lake ports only is here given, the total shows the figures for the entire country except the Pacific Slope. Is Wireless telegraphy’s record distance over water has been attained by the Arrogant, which signalled land when 162 miles out at sea, ;